Corporate Branding and Professional Logo Design

Any business with the minimum interest to be successful should concentrate on developing their corporate image and when I say "any business", I mean it, absolutely any business--even if it's a mom-n-pop shop. "Corporate image" might be a big word for such small ventures, however, what I meant by that is how the business wants themselves to be perceived by their customers. Irrespective of the size of the business it is very important to determine how do you come across to your potential customers? How do you compare to your competitors? These factors are largely determined by your branding and marketing strategies. Branding tools like logo designs, business cards etc goes a long way in creating your corporate image. Any marketing communication material should ideally have your corporate logo on it, which would give more credibility for your business as well as help your client to perceive your business as a professional enterprise.

Logo design is an absolutely indispensable part of corporate branding strategy and should always be assigned to professional logo designers. A professional logo designer is not just a graphic designer but he should also have ideas about branding and positioning of business. Depending on your requirements he will create a logo that would successfully exude the nature and attitude of your business. He also needs to understand the media in which you are going to use your logo; it can be web, print, electronic media (TV commercial etc) or a mixture of all of these. The logo should be compatible and equally attractive wherever you might choose to use them. While working on any of our logo design orders we ( Custom Logo Design )always try to capture as much as information possible, from the client.

Basically there are 4 types of logos, glyph, alpha-glyph, alphanumeric or a combination of any of these. There are a number of factors that should be looked into to determine what would be the ideal solution for you. A professional logo designer or a specialist logo design firm can definitely help you with decision making in this aspect.

Types of Logos

Glyph: This includes symbols, icons, pictures etc that represents your company. These are most widely used for secondary communication rather than business logos, except for few like, Apple. Glyphs though used rarely as logos, if created properly by talented logo designers can be extremely sophisticated and create a deep impact as a corporate identity. However, we need to be careful that glyphs need to be done by well experienced professionals, an amateur attempt can simply male your logo unattractive and useless and might even cause loss of credibility to your business.

Alpha-Glyph: An alpha-glyph logo uses a letter from the name of the company to graphically convey the nature of the business. At times picking the first letter of the company name and designing it in a particular way also do this. Ideal examples of this type of logos can be seen with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), IBM, Honda, Motorola, and Oklahoma State University. This type of logo is also not used very commonly and shares the same advantages and disadvantages as the glyphs.

Alphanumeric: This is a very common type of logos and is also used by some of the most reputed and well-known companies in the world. To name a few, Microsoft, Sony, Fed Ex etc. These logos are nothing but the name of your company written in a unique way with typographical effects. The typographic treatment gives a unique look to the logo and there is generally no issue with getting a Trademark. These logos are comparatively easier for amateurs to create however to get the best effect from an alphanumeric logo it's always better to work with a professional logo designer. Choice of font, color, letter spacing etc can make big difference in creating an impressive corporate logo.

Combination Logos: This is the most common type of logos and is found everywhere. Most of these are actually glyph or alpha-glyph with an alphanumeric company name. It is the arrangement of the company name and the image and their color combination that plays the most instrumental role in the effectiveness of the logo. Some good examples of combination logos are UPS, Red Hat Linux and Intel.
Placing your corporate logo on all marketing collaterals including business cards, brochures, flyers etc helps you to mark those collaterals as your company property and establish your corporate identity.

Logos and marketing materials are integral part of a company's brand establishment strategy. A logo done by an amateur can ruin the credibility of your business in no time but when done by a professional logo designer can definitely add value to your business. A professional logo designer can help you to decide which type of logo is best suited for your business and can make people perceive your company as a huge corporate house with much credibility even when it might be just an one man shop.

It's the image of the company that matters, if you intend to portray a positive and impressive image of your company go for a professional logo design today.

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Selecting the Proper Logo Design Services For Your Organization

It is a well-known fact that a well-designed logo makes or breaks the image of a company. Most people know that all the leading organizations and brands of the world have their own individual logo that sets them apart from the rest of the pack. When people go out to purchase a product, they recognize the same more by the design of the organizations logo rather than by their products. Hence it pays to select proper logo design services to create an eye-catching logo for your company. Just do a bit of research and if required check out on the internet and you will come across organizations that specialize in logo design and most of them have their own portfolio.

They send their representative with a collection of the designs that they have created. For other clients and this will help you to decide whether you can entrust them with the task of logo design services for your organization or not. There are many organizations that depend on the words of the alphabet for their organization's logo design. They just select a font face that is matching the image of their organization and make subtle changes to the same for their organizations logo. Case in point is the logo of the famous PC manufacturer, "Dell" They have used a simple type for their corporate logo design. Just tilting the letter 'E' has given a new dimension to that word and nobody who has seen their logo once will ever forget it.

This is what logo design services should be able to offer. They should be able to dream up and deliver a design that will be attractive and at the same time simple. People should co-relate a product with that logo and once this is achieved, the organization can be sure that an Englishman seeing their ads in China can recognize them. Even though the Englishman does not recognize the Chinese characters, he can be sure that the ad being displayed on the massive billboard is of a particular organization because they have been able to interpret the logo and have co-related it with a particular product and a specific brand image.

Before you select an organization offering logo design services for creating the masthead of your organization, make sure that they have got the capability to deliver logos that speak for themselves. Request them to send their sales representatives along with samples of their work. It is not necessary that the organization you will be hiring for a professional logo design should have done work for reputed international organizations. Check out the quality of their work for that is what goes into making a successful or unsuccessful logo. You will be amazed to hear that professional designers or artists have not designed some of the revered logos in the world.

People who do not hold a degree in painting or draftsmanship have created them. People like you and me have created them. People who have a passion and ability for creating something better than the standard have designed them. The custom logo designs of these organizations started off by simple ads in the papers. People were requested if they were willing to become famous and earn riches overnight. Those who read the ad found out that they could earn millions and a place in the annals of history by creating the custom logo design of a company. Of the thousands of designs received by the organization, one got selected and the rest is history.

You need not believe my story. Get in touch with any leading business logo design agency and tell them this story. They will tell you that this case is not related to just one organization, but a number of famous organizations have had their logo designed in this manner. Logo design services are all about having a creative mind on one's shoulders. The perfect designer should have a spirit of never say die and must be willing to churn out hundreds of permutations and combination using a few pre-selected designs and text and make them into an outstanding work of art. There are many budding artists who want to join reputed logo design services but cannot stay over there for long because they do not have the patience.

They want to create a design in 1-2 days and desire that they gain instant recognition all over the world for the logo they shall be designing. Most artists who posses these mindsets are those who rely too much on professional designing programs. These programs come pre-built with thousands of designs and all one needs to do is select any one of the designs that has got a resemblance to the design the client has approved. These new generation artists then make minor changes to the readymade design and colors and add some text to the same and presto! They have created a logo successfully in less than a day. Logo design services that employ such artists armed with those programs can never strike it rich.

It has taken world-renowned graphic designers up to 3 months to come up with a basic idea and this new entrant is trying to achieve that feat in less than a day? This is not what professional logo design services is all about. One has to visualize the design from the eyes of the general public. The logo should have a mass appeal. It should convey the feelings of the organization it is being designed for and yet it should be simple enough so that viewers can associate it with a brand name or a product. Check out the studios of reputed logo design services organizations. The scraps over there will tell you the story of the pains that an artist undertakes before he/ she is able to come out with a successful logo. Logo designing is not such a simple task, as it seems.

Simon is a graphic designer and creative writer on various business related topics which help others to start up and boost up their business.

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Did You Select a Professional Logo Design For Your Company?

There are some professionals who are over confident about their abilities. Being confident is good, being over confident is dangerous and at times it can create problems that leaves them with no escape route. These professionals try to save money when it comes to get a professional logo design done for their organization. They have no idea of logo design yet the call the professional designers to their office and direct them to use his ideas. One can be rest assured that the custom logo design made as per their directions will ultimately spoil the image of the company in the eyes of its clients. A professional job is best left in the hands of professionals and then nobody should interfere when they are going about their work.

The same stand good for all type and fields of work and it is true for the designing and printing industry too. However, the smart executive thinks he knows more about Professional logo design than the accomplished artists are. When you are utilizing the services of a professional for your organization's logo design services, it is understood that you are the boss and will be pulling the strings. This is understood and accepted by the designing agency that will undertake the job of designing the logo for your organization. These artists know that the executive will make corrections in the logo designs submitted by them and they know that some of the changes will not be suitable for the logo.

They can then suggest what they think is not good for the logo and hope that the executive will agree with their point of view. However, this does not happen all the time. Since the executive has called the agency to do the work, he believes that he knows the entire job, even though he cannot even draw a circle or even a square. Yet he will try to impose his views on the business logo design of the company. Suggesting changes in the design to the advertising agency after they have submitted a few samples is one thing, but telling them how to design the logo from scratch is blasphemy. You can be rest assured that the professional artists will lose all interest in the job and they will not focus their minds on the same any more.

If you are interested in getting a professional logo design made, leave it in the hands of the professionals instead of trying to impose your point of view. They have undertaken many such tasks before are know more about logos that you might ever learn during your lifetime. It will be wiser if you spent you time telling them some details about the company and what it does. This will give the designers a base on which to conceptualize their design. Check out any professional logo and you will find that there is a hint of the work done by the company it depicts. There are some companies whose logo does not portray anything. These companies are so famous that they need no add any other things to their organization's logo.

For the first few days the professionals from the designing agency might bother you to know more about the company. This helps them to provide you with a professional logo design. They might even check the existing stationery of the company to learn about the color schemes used. This will help them to plan the color scheme of the logo so that it's color does not clash with the colors of other elements in the page. One classic example used by many organizations is to use a cream colored paper with the text in jet black and the logo in red. This makes an excellent combination and if the types and logo used are appropriate, they are sure to attract one's attention. Professional logo design means that the logo should be catchy and at the same time it should be simple.

It should not leave the viewers wondering what the logo means. If people start thinking about what you logo stands for, it is high time you got a change over done. While your sales representatives work for 5 days a week, and take holidays during Christmas and summer holidays, the logo keeps on working without complaining 365 days a year. They are the best friends your company has. Is it not their due that they were made using professional logo design? If you are an executive that wants to poke his nose in the initial stages of the professional logo design of your company's logo, here is a hint. There are many books available which have collections of the world's best and award winning logos.

Purchase a few of them and go through the different logos they contain and try to visualize which one would best represent your company. Once you have been able to target a few of them, get Photostat copies made of them. This can be showed to the professional designers when they pay you a visit in context with the professional logo design of your company. Do not try to impose yourself on these artists and let them guide you. If you are patient enough you will see that they will soon come down to your wavelength and then you can also make your views regarding the professional logo design understood by them easily.

Professionals are professionals and they take pride of their work. If pinches them when someone who does not know anything about their profession tries to pass on advice to them. It is best to approach them in a friendly manner. Once you approach them as a friend, the entire scene changes. They will be willing to hear you out patiently. If you want to get the best-designed logo for your organization's logo, it is best to leave the entire thing to them, right from the visualization to the printing stage.

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The One Concept Approach: How a Professional Designs A Logo

When it comes to logo design, many designers deliver multiple concepts to the client in order to let them to pick their favorite one. Many even have different concept packages and an allotment of revisions.

But what is the purpose of these multiple concepts? On what merit are revisions based?

I submit to you, if a designer has arrived at two concepts, his work is not done. Design is an iterative process. You start with many ideas and you continually refine. You dismiss the less effective ideas and distill down to the one that best serves the project goals.

It is the designer’s job to establish a process that concludes with the most effective concept. If a designer cannot determine which of two remaining concepts most effectively serves the project goals, then they are not to the point where they should be taking on clients.
The Problem With Multiple Concepts

If you believe that a professional designs a logo for their client, you are mistaken. A professional designs for the client’s customer. You do not design for your client. It is not your job to serve the preferential whim of your client.

This preferential whim is exactly what is being served when you deliver multiple concepts. The client picks their favorite. Their subjective preference. But again, who is the logo for? The client’s customer. It does no good for a client to love a logo that is not effective with their audience or does not meet their project goals.

    “If you’re looking for options, I’m not your guy.”

This is precisely what I tell my potential clients. I’m not afraid to be honest and up front with them. In fact, it’s a requirement that I am as straightforward in the preliminary stages if I am to set the right precedent for the relationship.

Options are a disservice to the client. Much like a doctor or mechanic who suggests a myriad of possible operations—I’d much rather their single, professional recommendation. The best solution. The most ideal choice based on their extensive experience. That is where I receive the greatest value.

I conclude by telling the potential client that if they are interested in having someone with experience dedicate themselves towards crafting something that will be effective for their needs, we will be an excellent fit.
Why Do Clients Want Options?

Clients want multiple concepts because they are conditioned to expect multiple concepts. They expect what designers project.

Because the design industry is rampant with unprofessional practice, clients come to expect such behavior after consistently observing it. Designers perpetuate the expectation because they continue to work unprofessionally. They are not competent enough to establish a process that delivers a single, most effective concept and instead erroneously subject the client to a design decision (for which they are not qualified) and cater to the subjective, preferential whim of the client.

All of this is at the expense of the project’s effectiveness and at the expense of the perception of the industry as a whole. Though these designers may consider themselves professionals, many of them having worked in the industry for years, they are in fact only technicians for the do not provide solutions, but merely “options”.

Removing Subjective Preference
If you present two options to a client, red and blue, and ask them to pick their favorite, they will. However, if you instead position your services as one of providing a valuable solution, the situation looks quite different:

With subjective preference out of the picture, you inform the client that if they hire you, you will tell them which color will make them more money. The client in this scenario is not concerned about their personal preference for it was never solicited or brought into the picture. He will of course desire for you to deliver the solution that provides the greater value.

This is the difference between a technician and a professional:

    Technicians perform tasks.
    Professionals provide a solution.

When you simply deliver multiple options, you are acting as a technician. The focus is on your time and your output. You are an expense, and you are a commodity.

When you provide a solution, you are acting as a professional. The focus is on your results and the value you create. You are an investment, and you are worth paying relative to the value you create.

Let’s look at how to lay a foundation for establishing the kind of trust that is necessary for this type of client relationship.
Define Roles

It is imperative that you set the groundwork for a successful project at the very beginning. This is done through your communication during the preliminary stages. You must take care to very clearly establish what you and your client are each responsible for. These roles should be defined in your contract and personally communicated to the client.

What is the client responsible for?
The client is responsible for two things and two things only: Content & Goals. This amounts to the information that you will have obtained through your questionnaire. These two things should be acquired before the start of that project and remain constants; they do not change.

(Related: e035: Crafting the Right Questionnaire to Attract the Clients You’ll Love)

What is the designer responsible for?
The designer is responsible for design. The includes any and all design decisions. Selecting the most effective concept is a design decision—one that you should not subject to the client. Your job is design, and as a professional you do not subject others to decisions that pertain to your job.
Set Expectations

Your client should know what to expect at every single stage. From beginning to end, there should be no confusion or unexpected steps. This is where your process comes in. You should have two processes – A General Process, and a Project-Specific Process:

    General Process
        Your general process is an overview of how you work. It should contain all stages and steps that are common in every type of project you do.
        A general process can and should be placed on your website where it is publicly viewable by potential clients.
    Project-Specific Process
        This process is something you create on a client-by-client basis.
        You provide this specific overview to the client at the onset of the project.

(Related: e024: Finding Clients While Maintaining Professionalism)

Establish Credibility
The General Process publicly displayed on your website lets a client see how you work. This gives them an idea of what they can expect. Your Project-Specific Process takes this a step further and customizes the General Process to fit your current client’s specific project. This goes a long way in preventing future problems.

Trust
Being transparent and communicative about how you work and when the client can expect things is how you build trust. This trust is necessary to facilitate the type of relationship that will allow you to deliver one, single, most effective concept.

Case Studies
As a way of further establishing credibility and building trust, use Case Studies to show how you work. Case Studies work to provide a multifaceted look at your process. Yes, the client can read your General Process, but the more unique Case Studies you display, the more well-rounded the client’s idea of how you work. Yet again, this is a very important part of building that trust.

(Related: Examples of Logo Design Case Studies)
Begin Designing

Once the relational groundwork has been laid, expectations have been set, roadmap has been laid out, contract has been signed, and you have been paid, you are now ready to begin the design process.

At this point, the client knows that you will be delivering a single concept that most effectively meets their project goals because you have thoroughly communicated this to them in order to make it to this stage.

It’s time to refine, refine, refine. You start with many ideas and you hone it down. This is the only time are ever multiple concepts: within your own process. Your output should only ever be a single solution. This comes from a process that refines a number of explored concepts down to the very best, most effective form. You must possess the design competence to be able to determine this based on the project criteria else you have no business taking on clients.

There are no revisions except within your own process: and there should be many. This is no overnight process. You should be repeatedly taking breaks and returning the next day with fresh eyes and reevaluating. Look at your concept in different contexts and in different light.

Assess the concept’s effectiveness at different scales, refine your vectors, print out the logo and look at it on paper, view it on different screens and different mediums. Even after I’ve reached what I believe to be a candidate for final concept, I typically spend about a week on the refining process.

(Related: My Logo Design Process)
Present Strongly

This is arguably one of the most important steps of the whole process. You should make no small deal about this presentation. This is the result of weeks of research, work, and testing, and your documentation of that process should be thorough and exhaustive.

Let’s first talk about what you DO NOT do: You never simply send over a design and say “What do you think?” That is the mark of a novice. A professional walks the client through the objective design decisions that were made and shows the client how they work to serve their project goals.

This means you should be documenting your process as you go. This typically takes the form of things like taking photographs of preliminary sketches and iterations and explaining why you pursued one direction over the other. Every design decision should be objective. Every serif, every swash, every icon, every illustration and shape should be purposeful. Explain it all in your presentation.

Do you see how this is starting to come together? You laid the foundation for a successful project, you’ve done your best work—the work you specialize in—and now you get to show the client the value that they receive as a result.

The Presentation
What does this kind of presentation look like? Here’s the fantastic part: because you’re putting so much effort into documenting your process and explaining thoroughly, the presentation you send to the client works doubly as a Case Study that you can display on your site. Typically there are only a few minor changes you’ll need to make to such an exhaustive presentation for it to function as a great Case Study.

This means the Custom Type Logo Case Studies I’ve published are perfect examples of what my presentations look like. You would of course address them more personally to your client, but the structure remains the same:

    State the project goals as provided by the client in the questionnaire, and reiterated in the signed contract
    Show your work and how you focused on those goals while demonstrating mindfulness of the constraints.
    Frame the final concept in light of those goals and explain its effectiveness.

Call To Action

Now that you’ve sent the presentation, what’s next? Well you are the designer, which means you should be designing the call to action. It should be very clear what is needed from the client.

Let’s once again restate what you DO NOT do: You never conclude a design presentation with “What do you think?” That is the mark of a novice. You as the professional have thoroughly explained your process and shown the value of the result. This is the service you provide. There are no arbitrary revisions, there are no subjective requests for changes, so do not conclude by soliciting them.

You have positioned your professional service as one of providing an effective solution, and your client has demonstrated that they are on board with that—it’s why you took them on.

Final Payment
The final step is payment. This is the call to action. The presentation contains raster process images. At the conclusion of the presentation, you inform the client that the vector deliverables will be sent upon receipt of the final payment.
Conclusion

No doubt you have some questions right now. I’m aware that these are very challenging concepts I’m presenting. They require an uncompromising approach and without the necessary understanding of design professionalism they can not be put into action. Chances are, these ideas are new to you and you’re still wondering about some things and are looking for answers.

The good news: this is exactly what my podcast addresses.

I anticipated that this article would spur many questions. For this reason just yesterday, I recorded an accompanying episode of my podcast to go over The One Concept Approach and provide even further context.

The podcast was broadcast live, and I answered questions from the listeners in the chat as well as from people on twitter.

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Logo Designer: Education Requirements and Career Information

Logo designers require some formal education. Learn about degree programs, job duties and requirements, and employment and salary information to see if this is the right career for you.

Essential Information

Logo designers are graphic designers who create distinctive branding that represents companies or products. They might work for a design firm, publishing house or advertising agency or as a freelance graphic artist. A bachelor's degree in graphic design is usually necessary for entry-level positions. During their studies, students learn about basic principles of design, computer design software and marketing concepts.

Required Education	Bachelor's degree in graphic design
Projected Job Growth (2012-2022)	7% for all graphic designers*
Median Annual Salary (2013)	$44,830 for all graphic designers*

Source: *U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Education Requirements to Become a Logo Designer

Employers generally prefer bachelor's degree holders for entry-level designer positions, though more technically focused positions and assistant roles might be available to those who complete an associate's degree program in graphic design. Relevant courses include graphic design history, composition, drawing, typography, photography, computer graphics, advertising and corporate marketing concepts.
Most programs include courses devoted to the development of an individual's professional portfolio, which is commonly required of applicants for graphic design jobs. Elective courses in art history and modern art may stimulate creativity, and courses in psychology might be helpful for understanding consumer behavior.

Career Information for Logo Designers

Job Description

Logo designers create graphical and typographical symbols that represent a company or product in presentations and on websites and packaging. During the course of design development, a graphic artist confers with clients to discuss concepts, prepare initial sketches of ideas and layout the logo design, often using computer illustration software. Logo designers might work with researchers who study a target audience, as well as with advertising specialists to effectively produce a logo that achieves brand recognition.

Employment and Salary Information

A graphic designer who specializes in logos can work as a member of a corporate design department, design firm, advertising agency, publishing house or Web development firm. Many designers also work as freelance artists.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment of graphic designers was projected to increase 7% from 2012-2022, and these professionals accounted for approximately 194,000 jobs overall as of 2013 (www.bls.gov). In May 2013, the BLS reported that graphic designers earned a median annual salary of $44,830.

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Six Things to keep in mind when designing a logo

So you fancy yourself a Paul Rand or Saul Bass and want to design some logos for iStock? Great! You've come to the right place! Logo design needs to begin with a great idea or concept, backed up with some jedi-like vector skills to bring it to life. In this article you'll find some design and technical tips to get you started and keep you on the right track. I've included some important things for you to think about as you are creating, as well as some reminders on how to keep your files technically sound for submission to avoid the dreaded "Subpar" rejection.

Thought and planning are a huge part of Logo design: preparation is key. We've prepared a set of considerations here for any illustrators ready to plunge into Logos. Keep the following in mind during your planning and throughout the process.

Please note: The 'good' versions of logo design seen below were each designed by some of our amazing logo contributors. They'd never dream of submitting anything like the 'bad' files you see here, which we created for illustrative purposes only!

It All Starts With a Great Idea

Start by selecting a Business Category or something that inspires you. Try to envision who the client will be or what kind of company or business may want to buy your logo. Creativity sometimes strikes when you combine a couple of ideas. For example, you may decide on creating a logo for a security company. For this business category you probably would want to convey trust, strength and reliability. This can be accomplished by choosing appropriate subject matter and using style, colors, weight, balance and shapes. The idea could be a bear with strong angular or masculine shapes and bold, dark colors combined with a sturdy font to finish it off.

By clearly visualizing who your client is and with some forethought, research and planning, the end result should be an appropriate symbol that immediately identifies the company, and clearly communicates the product or service. This is absolutely key to a successful logo design and should always be foremost in your mind while conceptualizing your design.

When you have your concept, start sketching it out to quickly come up with ways you can execute the idea. Starting in black and white can help ensure that your design is clear, legible and reproducible without any distracting features. Adding great color, style characteristics, or subtle effects will help make your design unique to stand out amongst the competition. Add some type to bring some context to your design and choose a font that compliments the symbol and communicates clearly. To ensure a successful logo remember to keep your design, Simple, Memorable, Timeless, Versatile, and Appropriate.

Reproducibility

It's extremely important that Logos are created with versatility in mind. As the main component of a company's corporate identity, the logo acts as the cornerstone of their visual brand. This means it must be reproducible using a huge variety of formats and processes while maintaining the integrity of the logo as it is utilized. Logos may be printed on anything like small business cards and pens to extremely large billboards and signage. They need to work well using traditional print methods like offset lithography and screen printing for T-Shirts, as well as other things the buyer may want like rubber stamps, stickers and embroidered golf shirts. Of course, it must also look fabulous on screen for use on websites and other pixel based media. It's a good idea to test your logo file at a monitor resolution of 72ppi at an inch or so wide to see what issues may pop up.

Here are some things to watch out for to keep your design from ending up on top of the reject pile:

— Consider carefully how much detail to add to your logo design. Lots of small shapes and skinny lines should be avoided as they could disappear or print very broken and rough when reduced to small sizes.

— The white spaces, or negative spaces, between shapes should be consistent and not too close together or they may fill in causing a loss in the definition of objects.

— Gradients should be used selectively, creatively, and only when they enhance the design. At one end, if tints are too light, they can disappear when printed and only show up as white. Conversely, dark tints can fill in to solids causing the logo to look muddy and unclear which can happen easily when printed in a newspaper. Also, gradients may not work with some reproduction processes that can not use continuous tone.

— It's easy to get carried away with our design by adding tons of fun and interesting things but the bottom line is it has to reproduce really, really well. In the end, ask yourself, "Does this help or hinder my design?" If the logo communicates the intended message just as well (or better) without it, take it out.

The excessive use of detail in this logo will seriously compromise its ability to be reproduced. Fine details like the sharp pointed tail and thin lines will disappear when printed at smaller sizes and the small white shapes will fill in losing their definition. Outlined type with extreme gradients will print poorly as well, making the type hard to read at any size. On the right, the elephant is drawn with bold shapes, leaving ample white space in between for definition. Just the right amount of detail is used to help convey the idea and the solid flat colors used will ensure that this design will reproduce great with pretty well any process. I wouldn't recommend using multiple colors like this in the type all the time but in this case it works to make it fun and exciting.

In these examples the differences are noticeable mostly through the addition of a heavy black drop shadow and the application of gradients to every shape. Gradients can work when used sparingly but in this case they are far too severe, and would look dreadful at a small size. The tiny hairline strokes on all the shapes will also be problematic especially when this logo is printed as a 4 color process job. The example on the right is clean, clear, and looks great at any size.

Reversals. What the heck are these?

Nope, we don't want you to create a mirrored image of your design and it is not necessarily a negative. A Reversal Logo is simply a version of your file that is created to ensure it looks great when used on black or dark colored backgrounds. Logos with dark or mid-tone level colours may not be visible so another version is needed. Again, its all about versatility so the buyer can use your logo design anywhere they want. A common method of doing this is by changing all of your colors to white. It doesn't have to be all white, as light or bright colors may be used, but by using white, you are keeping it neutral and making it usable on a large spectrum of dark colours. It also gives the client an added bonus of having a 1 color version of the logo if you chose to not create a solid Black Version or created a Black Version with tints of grey. Solid, 1 color logos are great to use as watermarks or as a reference for a die-cut or foil stamp.

Please do NOT place any kind of colored box behind your design. "But no one will see my design!", you say with despair! Yes, it looks invisible as it is now an all white logo in an all white document. Don't worry, we've thought of that! When you upload your white PNG file (with transparent background) it will show up on a nice black background conveniently supplied by iStock so your wonderful creation will be available for all to see.

The concept of a 'reversed' logo design can be confusing if you've never designed a logo before. In the example on the left, there is a black box placed in behind the design. While it may look nice on screen, this could look awful if the logo was placed on top of a photograph or different colored background. The logo itself has also been 'reversed' by mirroring the design! The example on the right shows an all-white logo selected in Illustrator: No background necessary. This design is ready to place onto any color the client wishes.

Color Palette

Never underestimate the power of color! There is so much emotion inherent in color and its psychological power can be extremely persuasive. Warm, cool, neutral, vivid, complimentary, analogous, soft, light, dark, bright, saturated — all of these color types can be used effectively to enhance our intended message. How we combine these colors is also equally important as they can create contrast, balance, and weight to help convey our idea.

Have fun choosing colors for your design and experiment with many different options and combinations. Color selections need to be appropriate for the subject matter. For example, it wouldn't be a good choice to use red for a dentist office, that's scary! Red is alarming and can symbolize blood. Instead, choose professional, calming colors. Soft blues or browns may be more appropriate.

Full color logos, or designs that use a large range of CYMK colors can look really great, but can also be very expensive or difficult to reproduce. Consider keeping your design to a couple of colors to keep costs down, and use tints of those colors when more levels are needed. Smaller color palettes can also work to keep logos from looking too busy and cluttered. Be inventive with your color choices and step out of the Illustrator default color swatch trap, there’s a whole world of color to explore!

The sample on the left is using far too many colors than is necessary, making it very busy and more difficult to define the individual objects. The use of fluorescent and uncomplimentary colors makes the overall composition unappealing and less attractive. Using default colors straight from the swatch palette and plain black for the type make the design much less sophisticated than it could be. The sample on the right utilizes a beautiful main palette of custom mixed complimentary colors of orange, green and brown. They all work together in harmony to bring the cute kitties to life while adding a warm and cozy feeling. The use of dark brown for the type keeps it complimentary to the graphic and maintains a good contrast necessary for legibility. Using the same orange that's in the kitties for the "petcare" type offers additional visual interest and helps separate it from the main type. This helps give the eye a break and enhances legibility as well.

Simple is good right?
That's a yes and no answer. YES, logo designs should be simple to effectively communicate an idea and to be easily reproducible. NO, they shouldn't be limited to simplistic stars, circles, ovals, squares and rectangles. It's important to keep logo graphics relatively simple to make them useable in many applications and print processes, but not at the expense of style! Chances are if you create something too simple it may look like like hundreds of other icons out there already. Not good! A company's logo has to work to differentiate them from their competition in order to be successful, and they don't want to buy logos that they could make themselves using Illustrators Shape Tool.

Think about what you can do to add you own style or flair to make your design unique. When designing simple logos it's important to find ways of adding subtle but highly effective visual interest. You can do this by giving equal consideration to both positive and negative space and the careful placement of each shape. Use different perspectives can add tons of visual interest putting a unique spin on your design. A little twist, shape or tapered line here and there can simulate motion or other effects making the design much more dynamic than it would be otherwise. Simply styled directional devices (shapes that lead the eye) can add real excitement. Get in there with the Pen Tool and add some personality!

The left example is very simple in its execution, using only basic square and circle shapes. The placement of all of the objects has left the overall composition looking static and boring while the plain black type is under considered, effectively ensuring that this logo generates about as much excitement as flossing your teeth. The example on the right however, has cleverly used positive and negative space to create the plate. The entire logo is comprised of only four shapes by creating two simple arcs to help define the plate and by letting the cutlery bleed off the bottom edge. The combination of these design choices and using Tragan for the font, give it a simple, classic, stylish feel appropriate for this audience.

Choosing a Typeface

OK, you've got your award winning logo design in the bag and now its time to add some text and a name. This will help add context to your design and give the buyer a clear idea of how it may be used (like it doesn't already do that!). A quick reminder here to remember to research any name you would like to use to help avoid any potential copyright or trademark issues. You must make sure it is not currently in use by any other company and a quick search on the internet should help you along the way. A safer bet is to stick to generic terms like, Construction Contractor, Attorney Logo, Retail Business, etc. It's not necessary to add a tagline or brand statement but if you do, make sure you have done it in such a way that it works well with the logo and any other logotype and that it is clearly legible without being too small to read.

Next step, read the font licensing agreement for your chosen typeface. Yes, these can be long and boring but it's important to make sure you have the rights to use this font in a manner that is compatible with the sale of your logo to iStock clients. Specifically look for the Usage Agreement section that states it allowable for Commercial Use in this way. Just because your font was 'Free' does NOT mean its OK for Commercial use! Also, 'Free' does not necessarily mean 'good'. Use quality fonts to add to your great logo design to keep the whole package looking good.

Choose a font that is appropriate and looks great alongside your logo. This can mean choosing a font that has complimentary shapes to match the style of your design or match the mood of the idea. A very professional business such as an attorneys office, would require a more formal looking font perhaps using caps or small caps. A font for a children's clothing store could use a more casual, friendly font using lowercase letters. Try not to choose fonts that are too funky or illustrative. Yeah, they're fun but they can seriously compromise the legibility of your logo and are really more for use in headlines, posters and other media.

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