The veterans of the logo design industry have achieved their success for a reason. Sure, it's partially due to the years of practice, blood, sweat, tears and inky fingers. But mainly, it's because they stuck to the ten solid-gold principles of world class logo design.
Bonus trivia: can you guess which logo the image for this post is taken from? It ain't that hard, but you still get a cookie for getting it right, just because we're fans of yours.
1. Ensure a thorough design brief is received – David Airey
As with all design projects, the brief outlines the plans, desires and expected outcomes of the job. With logo design, the design brief is a valuable piece of documentation which directs the designer towards the correct goal.
David Airey, a well known logo designer from Ireland says:
A solid logo design brief ensures that no time is wasted, and that you receive targeted logo options as soon as possible. The logo brief also helps me focus my attention on the areas that best serve your business, making you much happier with the final result.
When you’re dealing with a graphic or logo design project, it’s vital to write a detailed design brief at the very beginning. There are two main reasons for this:
Firstly, it ensures that you, as a business owner or in-house manager know exactly what you want to achieve from your project.
Second, the brief acts as a point of reference for designers, giving them key points to focus on.
2. Research the client’s industry – Jon Sandruck
A comprehensive knowledge of the client’s business and industry plays a key role in the creation of a logo that not only portrays the correct message, but also helps the client stand out in their sector.
Jon Sandruck is a freelance graphic designer living and working in Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. In his article on the creation of the Alliance Business Insurance logo, his research into the company led to a well-targeted idea for the logo design:
It struck me that a big part of what an insurance company like Alliance provide their customers is assembling the best mix of products for their clients...or build an Alliance. To that end, I focused on the idea of assembling multiple pieces into a whole.
Because the company's name is Alliance, and the capital A is a triangle, and the triangle is THE most visually stable shape, and stability is a key attribute in the insurance industry, I decided to focus on icons that formed the letter A.
3. Use a sketchpad to quickly flesh out initial ideas – Dainis Graveris
With computers being the centre of all design in the modern world it is often easy to get stuck in with the digital creation, although this sometimes results in a vague direction for the logo design process. Sketching out initial ideas can help you quickly consider and review various ideas.
Dainis Graveris is a designer from Latvia. In his Logo Creation Process article, he talks about the use of inspirational sketching:
Sketching isn’t time consuming and is a really good way to put your ideas from your head right on the paper. After that it’s always easier to actually design it on the computer. Sketching helps to evolve your imagination - once you understand it, you always will start from just white paper.
4. Design the logo to work in a single color – Patrick Winfield
Logos are used in a huge range of environments, some of which require the logo to be reproduced at small scale or in limited colors, therefore it is important to ensure that the logo design works in mono format.
As an author of the 10e20 blog Patrick Winfield shares his inspirations and ideas with his readers. In his article, The Logo Design Process, from Concept to Completion he deals with the topic of color in design:
I like to work first in black and white to ensure that the logo will look good in its simplest form. Color is very subjective and emotional. This can distract from the overall design- say if you saw your logo in all red that color may be the first thing that you respond to and not the composition of the design elements. I will not even consider submitting color suggestions to a client for review until they have signed off on a final black and white logo.
5. Create the logo in vector format – Chris Spooner
Vector applications such as Adobe Illustrator create artwork based on mathematical equations, whereas raster based applications such as Adobe Photoshop rely on the underlying pixels of the document. In order for a logo design to be scaled without the quality of the imagery being affected the logo must be in vector format.
Chris Spooner is a freelance graphic and web designer. In his article 'How to Design a Logotype from Conception to Completion' he talks about the need for vector graphics in logo design:
Always design your logos in a vector application such as Adobe Illustrator, rather than a raster application such as Photoshop, the reason being the logo must be scalable without losing quality and needs to appear crisp when printed on anything from business cards to 20ft vinyl banners.
6. Present only the best concepts to the client – Angela Ferraro-Fanning
Once a range of design concepts have been created, it is time to select the best examples for presentation to the client for review. This stage is a halfway point in the overall process and determines whether the project is on the right track.
Angela Ferraro-Fanning, the owner of 13thirtyone talks about some of her processes in her walkthrough of the logo creation for shoe boutique; Kick:
It is my policy when working on a client’s logo that I present them with three concepts. I try to create three entirely different looks while utilizing the three different types of logo formats: just type, image only, and a combination of both. Just because my client sees three logos though, doesn’t mean that’s all it takes. With Kick’s logo conception, I literally created 35 different logo ideas.
In choosing the logo designs for Kick to consider, I first have to decide which ones I truly feel are my best work. It is important that I present clients with pieces that I’d feel happy about showing in my portfolio. Work that is published is work that will be seen by prospective clients as well. Therefore, I must be sure each concept given to the client is of the utmost quality.
7. Show how the logo would work in context – Veerle Pieters
A logo can be used for a range of purposes, from business stationery to vehicle graphics. Knowing the proposed use of a clients logo can help tailor the concepts to give a preview of how they would work in context.
Veerle Pieters is a graphic/web designer living in Belgium and one half of the design team Duoh! In a recent blog article she outlined the process of her logo design for Scroll magazine:
Since this logo's main purpose is to fit on the cover of a magazine I thought I’d present it to my client using a fictive cover photo. Depending on the cover illustration or photo I thought of using the logo either in black or in white.
8. Keep it Simple (Stupid) – Jeff Fisher
A popular principle in the world of design is the acronym KISS, which stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. The idea being to aim towards simplicity in a design rather than unnecessary complexity.
Master logo designer and book author Jeff Fisher makes some in depth points on the use of simplicity in logo design:
While in college in the mid-70's an instructor introduced me to the K.I.S.S. Principle of design; which translates to: Keep It Simple, Stupid. It does convey a very important design consideration. Simple logos are often easily recognized, incredibly memorable and the most effective in conveying the requirements of the client. A refined and distilled identity will also catch the attention of a viewer zipping by signage at 70 miles per hour, on packaging on the crowded shelves of a store, or in any other vehicle used for advertising, marketing and promotion. Remember, the basis of the hugely effective international branding for the world’s largest shoe manufacturer is a very simple graphic swoosh.
9. Make educated choices when it comes to color – Ryan Nichols
Color is one of the key aspects of any design, the psychology and impressions that each color gives can dramatically alter the message and overall appeal of a design. With logo design being closely related to presenting key values, color choice is of high importance.
Ryan Nichols worked as Creative Director during the branding of the popular Future of Web conferences from Carsonified. In an in-depth article exposing the process behind the branding project he talks about the color choices behind the FOWA, FOOA and FOWD conferences:
We believe color is a very important communicator. It contributes a lot to the tone and intended message of a brand. From the information we gathered in the design strategy phase, I knew that we wanted to create a palette that had some energy and boldness to stand out against the bland competitors. Our first step was to put together a mood board to take a look at some palettes that had this quality.
Eventually, we decided on using a single energetic color for each conference paired with a conservative chocolate brown. This would give each brand a fresh look, while the brown balanced it and kept it from being too wild or energetic. This also allowed the brown to act as a unifying thread throughout the conferences, effectively tying them all together.
10. Rebrand with care – David Turner, Michael Bierut
Logos should be designed to avoid trends, making them timeless pieces of design that will look great today or years in the future. Every now and again however a brand needs a refresh. Two popular rebrands of this year include Metallica and Saks Fifth Avenue. It is of utmost importance when rebranding to pay particular attention to the history and established views of the original design, especially when taking into consideration brands such as Metallica, who have a die hard fan club to please who may have the original logo tattooed on their arm!
David Turner was the designer behind the Metallica rebranding, whose studio Turner Duckworth also worked on the famous Coca Cola rebrand and designed the logo for Amazon. During an interview on his thoughts behind the Metallica logo he says:
The logo itself was a big deal and it convinced me that we were a good fit with Metallica. We looked at their history, how they’d adapted a logo they’d originally created, but it had been taken beyond recognition. It runs parallel to the Coke identity work we did where people had designed the soul out of it. Lars said that he would love it if we would look at the old logo and see if there was something in it; an authentic quality to it. The interesting thing was, once we put the logo on the web, the response from fans was great. It’s very important to them. And there’s an iconic M that works with the title of the new album. It all fits together.
Similarly, Michael Bierut, partner of Pentagram, talks about the research into the history of the Saks Fifth Avenue brand and takes inspiration from the original logos:
Examining their history we found the store had used literally dozens of logos since its founding. Of these, one stood out, the logo drawn in 1973 by Tom Carnese, adapted from a signature introduced almost twenty years before. In many people's minds, this still was the Saks logo.
But simply reinstating a 30-year-old logo wouldn't be enough. Saks was happy to emphasize its heritage, but it was even more eager to signal that it was looking to the future, a place of constant change and surprise with a consistent dedication to quality.
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Nate October 31st
This is awesome. Thanks!
( )Geoff October 31st
There’s plenty more useful info when you research pivotal designers like Paul Rand.
( )I’m extremely surprised his work didn’t make it on the list here… I know he’s dead, but his work with corporate logos was/is amazing and his work laid many of the ground rules for all logos.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_rand
dude October 31st
I agree with Geoff. Paul Rand was THE logo design master. These guys have nothing on him.
( )penflare October 31st
Thanks for a great post, some of these are no brainers like the vector and show it in grayscale/b&w..
but others are often overlooked by many designers. Showing the logo in context and showing clients sketches really is a great way to show the amount of work and dedication you are putting towards their project.
Great post
( )Érica October 31st
woww very interesting!
( )Ali October 31st
Very useful, nice post.
( )Timo October 31st
Very nice. Great post and good outbound links.
( )Diesel October 31st
Brilliant roundup – thank you!
( )FHRIO October 31st
FORD
( )Mr Kuzio October 31st
Very good tips.
They are useful and necessary.
( )BStaff October 31st
Ford Motor Company! Excellent Post!
( )Brian October 31st
This is a great post. Logo design absolutely requires planning to be executed effectively. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve went back and forth with a client because the brief was unclear.
( )Mr K October 31st
Great article although I have to say it ended on a bum note. The Sacks 5th Ave logo is a let down, too flowy & too loopy – doesn’t exude the class I’d expect from Sacks … looks like it’s trying too hard
Otherwise, great blog post, with some great advise!!
( )Grafiko November 1st
Great post. Simplicity is so important in making a logo memorable. Also, many designers undermined the importance of designing a logo for black and white first.
( )Josiah Jost | Siah Design November 1st
Excellent post. I was ‘Amen-ing’ every point!!
( )Sam Masterson November 1st
Awesome post! I have been following the work of Patrick Winfield and also Chris Spooner for awhile and have learned A LOT from those guys.
Thanks for laying it all out like this, so helpful!
( )Ani November 2nd
Great post. However…I think there’s an important factor concerning all of the ‘tuts’ sites at the moment. The matter of concern is that posts like these should be made under the Creattica blog and the ‘tuts’ sites should contain just tuts.
Don’t get me wrong, these are great posts, but they are just taking up space here and all of the ‘interviews, features etc’ should be placed on the ‘design and creative news’ blog and not the tutorial blogs.
Can we see more tutorials guys and keep these posts on the blogs that they should be under?
( )Rishi Luchun November 2nd
Very helpful, Thanks
( )brandi reeves November 2nd
very nice!
( )Jeff Fisher LogoMotives November 2nd
Thank you for including my comment in your collection.
( )Vonster November 2nd
I realize this may be as well received as drop kicking a baby, but to hold to an ironclad rule that a logo HAS to work in B&W is “Design-O-Saur” mentality.
I like what “Bill Gardner” author of the “Logo Lounge” books and site had to say about this subject “We live in an RGB world.” Meaning the old rules were geared for the old world limitations of reproduction, they had no idea of digital methods. Thus the B&W rule is no longer ironclad because technology in most cases makes them null and void.
Granted you may do a logo for a small business who needs simple B&W and in those cases it’s appropriate. But when you’re developing a logo for a client who is a national brand or whose existence and usage context is either completely online or onscreen it’s a moot point.
That said, turning a well crafted logo into a B&W mark is always easier if that mark is birthed from a solid refined creative process. If you’re just jumping on a computer and playing around looking for a design than your end product more then likely won’t translate to B&W very well.
The key will always be your core concept (idea) and your creative process that brings that to life. Fall short in any of those area and the rest will suffer.
Von
( )Swapnil November 3rd
This is really helpful, thanks!
( )Muhammad November 3rd
Better Idea
( )Bagus November 3rd
thank you,,,
your information is very usefull,,
great job!!!
( )www.axzm.com November 3rd
In my experience, less s more. A lot of the time clients want to incorprate things into their logo that won’t work well in print. When you try to convey this to them, they think you are either trying to make the design the way you want it, or they are suddenly an art director who has more knowledge of what looks good and works than you.
A good logo design starts with the typography and good color theory. Try telling that to a client who has been in business 20 years though… a lot of pride and hubris. Learning how to work around that and still create a quality product in the end is what separates the men from the boys…
http://www.axzm.com
( )Abu Shamil November 4th
Great post and yes it is FORD logo.
( )Igor November 4th
Useful information.. I also present my clients with a couple of logo variations. The one they like most I develop further. I always try to make the logo work in black and white only.
The first thing I usually do is I ask them to fill out a short questionare so I get more information about their service, plans, expectations, … I ask questions like:
( )- name of company (short and full name)
- prefered colors (if there are any wishes)
- main services which they offer
- short term, long term goals
- their target group
- what is the message they wish to convey on the outside
- their company values
- which are their competitor companies
- what do they like about those specific companies
- and.. other comments
dey April 17th
Hello, i agree with you, i would like to write you if you like
( )Ifad Ardin August 17th
Your addition completed this awesome article. First thing i would like to ask after read this article is what proper question when meet the client. You did answer it well. Thank you, Igor.
( )seansteezy November 4th
thank for the tips, they’ll come in handy very soon!
( )5ivedance November 4th
Great post, thank you for sharing.
( )Puneet November 5th
Cool post!
( )Aaron Irizarry November 5th
thanks… great tips!
( )Eric November 8th
regarding “we live in an rgb world”
You do have some points when it comes to the digital domain,
but still
a full color logo is much more expensive to print.
And that is especially true when it comes to huge corporations which churns out a lot of stationary, businesscards and the like.
Not to mention the international aspect, some countries still use the fax a lot. (imagine!) And colorful logos tend to become a smeared blotch in the fax.
So although your primary logo may still be fullcolor, i suggest you give the ol blacknwhite one a real thinkthrough.
( )Sean Hodge November 8th
@Von and @Eric
I think Von made some excellent points. There are quite a few clients that designing in full-color completely fills their needs.
Personally, I like to develop logos that function as a 3-D style vector graphic, but also reduce well into simple one color versions (black/white). Often the planning for this type of design can be seamless and it fits my design style well. Also, it works for all client needs.
I usually start with a full color version, after sketching, but in the back of my head I visual the one color look as well while I’m making it. Basically, you need to just pay attention to the overall shapes.
Before final client delivery I create a two color flat version and I create a one color black and white version. This gives the client a dynamic full color logo, but also covers them really for any needs they have with the flat and one color logo versions.
Thx.
( )submyt.com November 9th
very good.
suraish Patel
( )http://www.submyt.com
daniel November 12th
great roundup! a must!
( )weblizzer November 26th
great logo list, can you tell me what fonts are they? thanks
( )Sketchee December 2nd
Every one of these tips is so important. The first one is too often skipped. It’s so important to have a brief not only to flesh out the project and avoid excessive proofs, but also as a place to point to when the client is backtracking or indecisive. It helps both designers and organizations in understanding the project.
( )◄IVAN► December 12th
GREAT Tips from profz
!
( )VERY USEFUL .. ThanQ .
eyetuts December 17th
GR8 ARTICLE ………. VERY USEFUL
( )one question for the author .. > can i use this article for my personal website or for a non-commercial need? <
Mike December 30th
I designed a logo for a menu design i created and looked at the above post for inspiration. Great article very useful. Thanks.
( )dammy February 12th
this is a educative, it’s inspiring
( )Shiv April 4th
the suggestions are extremely useful
( )Fabian April 4th
Yep! Always design first in black n white…color can always be added later. Get the concept down first. Listen to the clients needs and wants…then show them the right direction based on your knowledge and skills.
( )Jeff Crosby April 18th
as a self taught Graphic Designer, I’m always looking for hints and clues from the pros about how to do this thing, this is a gem of a post and I am very appreciative of it- I’m sure my future customers appreciate it also- Thanks
( )Claudiu Ludosan, Master of The Luggage April 23rd
Good hints. Tons of information in minimum words. The Golden rule in copy writing! I like this article!
( )tobyct April 23rd
Nice round up. Cheers for the post.
( )Simon Jae April 23rd
A small though often overlooked aspect is SIZE.
( )Make doubly sure the design fits a small area… and that should include both a square and a circle. Remember there are instances when the logo will appear nearly tooooo small to print correctly and also will be required to be reproduced on the web (so be mindful of diagonals)
Size is important and I don’t mean size as in the size the client might like to see it… I mean the size it will be required for reproduction. This also drags in considerations like negative space, so think about size next time you design a logo… like black and white… size is an important issue
Jake April 24th
I cant believe you put Michael Bierut’s name beside these terrible designers. None of the logos above are good except Michaels work. Embarrassing !!
( )David Henderson April 24th
Great Principles here, good to get a refresh on these. Thanks!
( )jim odell April 24th
Great article
( )Dominique May 4th
loved it
( )Brent May 14th
Always stay Gangsta…
FOWA is a great logo.
( )vee August 17th
hi, thanx…very nice tips..
( )Thomas Speck September 3rd
Great, Thanks a lot!
( )praveen September 14th
useful post, thanks !
( )KRUNA October 11th
THIS IS GREAT, A REAL REVELATION FOR ME. THANK YOU FOR THE TIPS.
( )Andrei October 19th
nice post , thanks.
( )Chris October 21st
This post has it all. I just don’t think it can get anything more comprehensive. Kudos.
( )murraybiscuit November 1st
1. stop. plan.
lack of experience leads to lack of planning, leads to lack of options across media, leads to inconsistent usage of the logo, leads to dilution of the brand.
2. create flexible solutions
lack of separability between logotype and emblem is the most common mistake made by amateur designers. either make your word the logo itself, or make your image and text work together and apart. keep the elements as simple and recognizable as possible. as the saying goes, your design is complete when there’s nothing else that can be taken away.
3. put it in context.
your lovely new design might look great on a white page with plenty of space, but how about when it’s got to fit in a magazine layout or online banner? orientation and proportion are critical. something square isn’t beautiful and something wide and skinny or tall and skinny is going to give you nightmares when you have to design a skyscraper or regular header banner. this is where separation of emblem and logotype can give you flexibility, allowing you alternative configurations for different space constraints. try to keep things in a harmonious shape – a 2:1 rectangle or thereabouts is good. landscape is better than portrait.
4. think opposite
the next mistake is to assume that your background is always going to be white. sorry, somebody is going need to slap your logo onto a dark background at some stage. design a reversed out option.
5. always design for the lowest common denominator
inexperienced designers start off with all kinds of raster effects, images etc.. okay, so perhaps some brands do happen online, but you’re going to need to use print media, or do something using flexo or vinyl eventually. google, amazon, youtube, flickr, microsoft, apple etc can all testify to a simple basic logo first up.
6. don’t be selfish
72dpi raster logos in powerpoint presentations are just not cool. sure, i could be all arrogant and tell the client to get me a high quality logo, but we all know that leaving logo requisition to the client ends up with the designer worse off… i generally save my logos with an emf option, which i import into office. vector information is preserved for the poor sod who gets the powerpoint file next. and when client prints it, it maintains its quality.
7. make a ci
i don’t care if it’s a 1 pager. just let me know the technical details so that when i get the logo and you’ve left the planet, i can recreate it without having to trawl through my font program or faff around on whatthefont. i don’t want to guess the colours.
8. understand colour gamuts.
if you don’t, look it up. make sure that cmyk and rgb values stay faithful across media. pantone swatchbooks are a good starting point. if you don’t have one, make friends with someone who does.
9. educate your client.
critical and too often overlooked. manage expectations. most clients don’t understand any technicalities around colour variations across media, costs involved in spot vs cmyk printing, vector vs raster quality, various file formats, file sizes, resolutions, aspect ratios etc. if you don’t educate them, frustration on both sides is bound to occur.
( )logan November 12th
lololololololololol it was cool
( )logan November 12th
Awesome i think that kick one was weak though
( )bzbgjvu December 22nd
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( )Luke Southwell December 25th
Hi Chris.. great post. just read another blog which I totally agree with an effective logo should be timeless – that is, it will stand the test of time.
( )seo December 27th
Really great article! Thanks very much Chris Spooner.
( )