Principles Of: Logo Design

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principles of logo design
 Have you ever noticed how certain logo designs
stand out from the crowd?
 Take, for example, the logos for companies like
Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Toyota, Sears, Kelloggs and
Nike.
 These corporate logos also have certain innate
qualities that make them more memorable and
easier to distinguish from other corporate
symbols. .
 Here is a list of these qualities and short
descriptions as to how they work together to
create a logo design that’s both original and
unforgettable:
simplicity
 Simplicity is one element all effective logo
designs have in common.
 People are drawn to clean, uncluttered logo
designs that can easily be recognized at a
glance.
 Busy, crowded logos, such as designs
featuring many intricate details, images or
pictures are distracting to the viewer and
tend not to be as well recognized as cleaner
designs.
proportionality
 Ideally, a logo should function as a discrete unit
with a width not much greater than its height
(think of shapes that can fit in a square or circle).
 Remember that a logo design should work well
on anything from a business card to a billboard,
and logos that are too long or too tall become
difficult to read when they are reduced or
enlarged.
small colour palette
 It is no coincidence that 80% of the world’s most
widely recognized logos use either one or two
colours.
 Few good logo designs use more than three
colours; this is because using more than three
colours usually turns a logo to mud.
 A basic colour palette of one to three colours
(which may or may not include black) keeps things
simple and allows the selected colours to clearly
convey a mood or emotion.
 Use CONTRASTING COLOURS for visual impact.
easy-to-read fonts
 Creating a logo design in elaborate script fonts may
look classy, but what good is a logo if nobody can
read it?
 Your best bet is to choose a font that is distinctive
but still easy to read.
 FYI – 2/3 of most logos are designed with sans serif
fonts, such as Arial and Helvetica, with the other 1/3
designed in serif fonts such as Times New Roman
and Garamond.
A sans serif vs. A serif

practical & adaptable
 What this means is that a logo design should be
practically designed so it can be affordably and
easily used in a variety of mediums. For example, a
logo:
 Shouldn’t be designed with so many colours that it
costs you a mint every time you want to print
business cards or letterhead.
 Shouldn’t be designed with a gradient (such as a
picture), which is difficult to reproduce.
 Should be created so it can be easily converted to
black-&-white.
 Should be created using Web-safe colours so your
online logo looks the same as your printed logo.
originality
 A primary task of a logo design is to clearly
distinguish a company from its competitors,
which means a logo design should be unique,
one-of-a-kind and “ownable” - meaning the
company should be able to trademark the logo
within Canada.
 This means it cannot “borrow” too heavily from
existing logo designs. This is copyright
infringement.
works within industry
conventions
 Often there are consistencies among logos in
certain industries, and following these
conventions can help customers more easily
identify what you do or what you sell (such as
many car companies using circular shapes for
their logos – name a few!).
 This doesn’t mean you should sacrifice originality,
but it does mean you (or the firm creating your
logo design) should be aware of patterns among
logos in your industry and somehow incorporate
these consistencies into your design.
the process
1. Start Without the Computer:
 The computer can be a wonderful tool for
designing. You can work up ten variations of
a design in a matter of minutes, often
designs that might not have even occurred
to you without the flexibility of a computer.
 Designing without the computer really forces
you to focus on the job at hand. Instead of
just grabbing the rectangle or ellipse tool,
you begin to really think about what that
rectangle or circle says about the company.
the process
1. Start Without the Computer (contd.):
 You don't have to show anyone your initial
sketches. It only matters that they have
meaning to you. Sketches, or thumbnails,
are the visual equivalent of brainstorming.
 Be sure to make some notes on your
scribbles so you remember where you were
going with that idea.
 Make as many sketches as possible, then
look them over and pick the best to develop
further on the computer.
the process
1. Start Without the Computer (contd.):
 The thumbnail process serves another
function: it saturates your brain with the logo
you're working on, and visual images are
often more powerful than words.
 You may very well have one of those "aha!"
moments when you sit down at your
computer: suddenly the logo just comes
together.
 That's because your brain has been working
on it subconsciously from the time you
started making sketches to the time you sat
in front of your computer.
the process
2. Start Designing in Black & White:
 It's easy to change a black and white logo
into colour, but the reverse is not necessarily
true.
 In addition, most companies need a black
and white version of their logo for fax or
copying purposes.
 Do yourself a favour, begin designing in
black and white.
the process
4. K.I.S.S.
 KISS stands for keep it simple, stupid.
 The best logos tend to be simple logos.
 Think IBM, AT&T, Apple. If you've used two
graphics in the logo, can you get the same
impact with one graphic?
 Do you need graphics at all, or will a simple
text treatment be eye-catching?
 Will one typeface be better than two?
the process
5. Use Appropriate Colours, Fonts & Shapes:
 Serif fonts tend to be traditional: you'd use a
serif font for a lawyer or a doctor, for
instance.
 Sans serif fonts tend to be modern:
computer and tech companies often use
sans serif fonts.
 Handwriting fonts tend to be used for
companies that cater to kids, such as
daycare or children's software. Script fonts
can be viewed as feminine, and sometimes
traditional, too.
the process
5. Use Appropriate Colours, Fonts & Shapes
(contd.):
 Colour can play an important role in logo
design.
 Your customer doesn't want to hear that you
chose that blue because it looks cool; they
want to know what psychological
connotations it has.
 The next slide discusses some common
colour associations…
the process
5. Use Appropriate Colours, Fonts &
Shapes (contd.):
 Blue: trust, loyalty, water, relaxing, power,
dignity
 Yellow: energy, joy, light, hope
 Pink: calming, feminine
 Green: life, growth, money, jealousy,
nature, fertility
 For more psychology of colour…
http://visual.ly/color-psychology-logo-design
the process
(contd.):
 Purple: richness, power, love, sophistication
 Brown: credibility, stability
 White: purity, cleanliness, innocence
 Red: heat, passion, danger, power
the process
(contd.):
 The shape of the logo can also effect the
company's image. Below are some of the
associations we make with common shapes:
 Circle: connection, community, movement,
safety
 Rectangle: solid, security
 Triangle: exciting, powerful, aggression
a few samples for inspiration
even the PROS make changes
sometimes…
MSN – Best & Worst Logo Redesign

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logo

A sans serif vs. A serif

MSN – Best & Worst Logo Redesign

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