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A logo is that concept, symbol, graphic element that represents the main feature or the basic orientation of one company, site or product. In other words the logo is the element which provides feed-back to the potential customer.
The purpose of one logo is to make people say something like that:”Hey look at this, here we can buy swatches of the very high quality, I saw this symbol on the Tom’s swatch which is really fabulous, it shows the time with no error”. A great logo instantly connects the people with the product. For example the logo of Coca Cola is worldwide known, when you see the it’s logo, you immediately feel the taste of juice in your mouth.
It has an important quality which is essential for logos: is timeless, since 1885 they are using the same logo and that is something that bring an invisible, but important advantage for them.
The idea of logo seems to be something born in the same time as the Internet, but its history is longer than you ever imagined. The Mesopotamians and Egyptians used to stamp their bricks in order to reveal the intended construction place. The Romans evolved, they stamped on their bricks place of origin, final destination and the mark of the manufacturer.
The Middle Age wasn’t a good period for logos, but the Industrial Revolution was a step further for logos and their creators. The second part of 20 Century was the real development of creating trademarks and logos and since then we have been witnessing an identity (r)evolution.
Unfortunately there is no rule to make an outstanding logo, the process of creation is an art in my opinion (this is also the opinion of the majority of web & logo designers), and everything depends on the creativity and the power of expressivity of the designer. In spite of that, the logo designers tried to make a set of rules in this field to help you in the process of creation. Here is a list which is based on the common principles you find in all the lists of principles for logo design. Anyways, nobody has a definite list of basic principles for logo design, and I believe that it will never be established as it is art, not math.
The development of media represents an important fact in logo design. In the past any marks, logo or trademarks were used only in print; much more the quality of color and even style wasn’t as important as nowadays. A modern logo can be used in print, in a very high-resolution, on a site, on a banner, on business cards, and even on T-shirts. A solution for this is to realize a logo that is very simple or versatile. A very good example is the logo of “Nike” which is only a small black swosh; it looks the same on all means of media. This quality is also called versatility.
Once again simplicity is the key of logo design. In the creation of one logo we should consider the human mnemonic value, it makes it memorable.
When we see blue it make us dreaming about the sea, red means for me,danger or forbidden things, green makes me feel calm and makes me think of grass and nature. Using these colors in the right context controls our thoughts in a good way.
An adapted color combination is also a step further; for example if we are making a logo for a kindergarten it is not recommended to use red with black-it is a very strong message even if the font type suits the message. A color combination of white which in this case inspires the feeling of purity can be used with blue or maybe some variation of green.(I repeat, this is only my advice, there is no rule).
The shape of a logo is another important part: a complicated shape puts people in a difficult position, it is hard to see the drawing…the message surely is totally strange for them.
A logo shouldn’t explain what the company does (the logo of “LG” have any connection to the IT items or TV screens? It sure doesn’t but they are an important and big corporation in this field). Nevertheless you can’t use everything for everyone; the logo should inspire us to think of the product in the way the company that produces it wants us to. If you want to make a good logo for a client you must have the answers to these questions:
Understanding these is a must, not a dispensable point in the process of creation, skipping it can cause a very embarrassing situation: maybe you will make a great and modern logo with disco style for a company that produces classic furniture; a strong disaccord between the style adopted for logo and the essence of manufacturer will occur.
I mentioned earlier Coca Cola, their logo is timeless. Being timeless means that time does not alter the quality of the logo. Style changes, you can easily find on the Internet many articles that sound like :“New trends in design for 2010”.
A company that wants to be in trend with the latest fashion in design might think they should change their logo every year …but that is a grave error, the customer hardly learned the logo and got use to it in a year, you can not change it. The ABC logo was designed by Paul Rand in 1962 and it has never been modified. This is another relevant example of what is timeless.
This rule is an invitation to simplicity; in my opinion I think that the concept itself makes the difference and not the way the concept is materialized. The logo of Nike, LG, Coca Cola, ABC are easy to draw with a pen, they do not need high-resolution, special effects or shadows in Photoshop, Illustrator, Gimp.
A logo is the first answer to the following question:”Why I am better or different from others?”. Having an impressive & seductive logo brings you closer to potential clients. An impressive mark gives your partners respect and trust in your power. It is possible for a logo that does not respect these rules to impress people. The originality of the company starts with the logo, so an original logo is an important plus in an economical competition. There is a dilemma: if I make an original logo it can be appreciated as a new construction, a mini-revolution maybe, but it can be seen as an element that stands out in the world of logo design.
Everything can be resolved in life with a kiss, even in logo design. Here kiss stands for “Keep It Simple and Stupid”. I believe that this is the most important rule and the conclusion is: in many cases simple things explain and contain the message better than a complicated things. The logos below are a good proof.
Don’t for get to share your thoughts about the article via comments section.
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Thursday, November 24th, 2011 18:02
Thanks for the helpful hints. I need to design a logo for myself, at the moment the logo I have is very crappy, not much thought put into it. These tips will help me a lot :-) Oh btw nice blog, always find good stuff here
Thursday, November 10th, 2011 09:29
Really thanks , I Translates this article to my language and I make a project (powerpoint) about it
and of course I WROTE your name to reserve your rights
really thanks
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 16:38
I think so many people are oblivious to how important these aspects are when coming up with a logo.
Monday, November 7th, 2011 18:02
Number 3 is imperative. Ideally your logo needs to tell the story about who you are and what you do.
Thursday, September 1st, 2011 20:15
well done and thanks coz I couldn’t know the rules of creating good logos but now i know so keep on helping us guys.
Sunday, June 12th, 2011 21:22
Its a nice article, i real needed some thing like this…as am in the same industry :)
Thursday, April 21st, 2011 08:48
Nicely put together. Corporate branding is increasingly important in this world where anything unrecognized is immediately ignored.
Thursday, April 14th, 2011 04:39
VERY VERY useful…thanks for the tips, sooo very helpful..
Thursday, March 10th, 2011 19:13
if a client wants me to design a logo and i have to give him first samples of the logo.
what color mode i design samples with rgb or cmyk ?
and if he agree about the logo the final one should be cmyk or rgb?
and what is the best software to design logos photoshop or illustrator?
Thursday, March 10th, 2011 17:33
I’m glad I stumbled upon this site! I’m planning on starting a new business next month and am really struggling with logo/branding ideas, I’ll be self employed doing a wide range of things. As you said, keep it simple! I’m going to have to get my sketch pad out and start working on a simple look.
Thursday, January 6th, 2011 19:38
Good article, but you should really proofread your stuff before posting. For example, “2.Your logo should be easy to memorize and understand for everybody.”
I hope my logo is easy to memorize and will undertake the action of understanding for everybody.
Thursday, December 9th, 2010 00:59
This is a really good article. I will definitely be referring back to this when I design logos in teh future. Thanks for sharing.
Thursday, November 18th, 2010 04:35
Great article. I’m thinking of a logo to use for my business. This article will be helpful.
Monday, October 25th, 2010 18:39
If you guys want excellence go to a technical design school and stop crapping on those good enough to want to help others. This article is golden compare to some of the other grammar stricken crap out there on the web.
Monday, September 6th, 2010 01:07
Excellent post. Can I translate to portuguese and put on my blog?
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 02:50
Great post!
Thanks for outlining how to make a logo, I hadn’t even thought about making logos that look good in black and white.
Friday, May 14th, 2010 00:15
HP has the greatest logo of all time. HONDA is sexy. And have you seen the logo of polish gas company ORLEN?
Sunday, May 9th, 2010 14:19
Some great examples here of both good and utterly awful! Nice set of tips.
Friday, May 7th, 2010 22:53
This post now has me thinking about some of my favorite timeless logos. (and the Kit Kat comment above has me thinking about candy logos in particular-LOL)
Your points are great reminders for logo designers.
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setia nugraha
Sunday, April 11th, 2010 23:43
Great article!! Thanks for sharing
Travis Ulrich
Monday, April 12th, 2010 17:30
Good summary. I’m a big fan of using negative space as it’s own element (as I’ve tried to do with my own logo). WWF is another very good example of this.
I have a lot of experience doing artwork for screen printing and I’d stress to designers to limit colours and stay away from gradients or at the very least, make sure your logo is legible without them as well.
Nicole Phillips
Monday, April 12th, 2010 16:59
Great article. I will definitely keep these things in mind when designing for a client or for myself in the future.
Mircea Alexandru
Monday, April 12th, 2010 09:29
great article Daniel.
Allan Davies
Monday, April 12th, 2010 15:27
I love the black on white and white on black ideas, also how it should be able to be drawn with a pen. I think keeping those ideas in mind while creating a logo will help to keep it nice and simple. It’s really easy to get carried away and creating a design that is too complex.
Jared Detroit
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 05:29
Excellent points! My favorite points are keeping it simple, timeless, and having your logo work on a variety of mediums. Too many logos try to be complex and trendy for the time but like many of the “trendy” companies and logos of the time, they’re quickly outdated.
ChrisDigital
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 23:11
These are great tips, a lot of people forget about the process of working in black and white which is relevant to things like faxing and photocopying, and making stencils, etc. I also like to view my work at 25px, 35px, 50px square on screen, this in relevant to digital applications and metaphorically speaking viewing the logo from 100 yards away on the street. I need to write down all the things I do in my design process… it might be a fun post :-)
ZuTroy
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 21:01
Thom is completely right. even though this article points out some really great things to remember when creating a logo, the use (or mis-use) of English made my head hurt. I find this quite commonly among design blogs. We designers tend to have the attitude of “Hey, I majored in Art, not English” but I say that’s crap. How hard is it to find someone who speaks well to proofread an article for you? When you are outsourcing your writing to the Philippines for $3/article or page this is what you get. Still, not very hard to have it proofread.
Jeff, you are an idiot. And yes, I’m making fun of you. Thom however wasn’t making fun of anyone, he was giving some badly needed feedback.
edEngine
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 13:49
Cool article ! Thanks !
Mary Lou
Sunday, April 18th, 2010 06:09
Thanks Daniel for an interesting and informative piece. The tips are clear and usable~
Web Risorsa
Friday, April 16th, 2010 01:24
Impressive rules for new designers. They must have to read this for good exposure in their domain…
Stephan
Monday, April 12th, 2010 13:50
This is a great check list! It covers all the basics needed for logo design and leaves enough wiggle room for unexpected client “upgrades”. ;) Thank you!
Ad
Monday, April 12th, 2010 06:35
i’m thinking of making one. this really give me a breakthrough. thanks.
Poonam
Monday, April 12th, 2010 07:37
Gr8 post………learned good points about logos, thanks :)
Gopal Bhattacharjee
Monday, April 12th, 2010 07:04
A good article….thanx to Daniel.
Larry
Sunday, April 11th, 2010 23:39
Great post!
I wonder where logo designers get their inspiration from..
EnriqueG
Friday, September 3rd, 2010 18:46
We get it from a well crafted process and tha ability to see shapes everywhere :)
Great article btw.
Saad Bassi
Monday, April 12th, 2010 04:19
There are a lot of logo galleries like Creattica, logo poond. Go check them out
Nico
Monday, April 12th, 2010 02:33
The most important point you mentions was logo looking good on both black and white since sometimes people get fixated on a logo that looks amazing on a dark/black color and then when they need to print it on letter heads or invoices the logo looks fad and weak.
The 360 automated logo would most likely suffer from that sort of problem since its power comes from the combination of blue and white.
designfollow
Monday, April 12th, 2010 01:52
great Tips.
thank you very much.
Scross
Monday, April 12th, 2010 02:40
Cheers for the great breakdown and examples of logo design. The design process can be so arbitrary and particular to the designer involved that sometimes it seems like a mountain far too high to climb.
Just a note on Timelessness – I think once you’ve made the decision on a logo for your company, it’s very important to allow your target market to get used and become educated in what your logo (and therefore company/business) stands for. This can only happen over time and if you continuely change the logo, your target audience will lose any idea of what you stand for. Longevity (as in coca-cola’s case), is one of the keys to Timelessness.
mintocity
Monday, April 12th, 2010 06:00
You are absolutely right having an impressive logo brings you trust and potential clients… nice article.
Manjit Sohal
Monday, April 12th, 2010 11:12
very useful article. will certainly help on future logo projects. Thanks!