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Creating a logo to get you noticed.
When you’re branding a
company with a name, a color scheme and a logo the logo is often not
given enough care and attention. It should follow the chosen color
scheme and reflect the business that your company is in. Too often,
particularly on the WWW logos are seen as a way to show off the design
talents of the author. To create a free logo I have created this easy
to follow step by step guide.
Planning
Your logo should
reflect the company it represents. Create a list of all the services or
products the company supplies and try to find some common ground.
Sit
down and choose the colors you will be using. This is best achieved by
studying the corporate colors and maybe adding a few more shades of
these colors. You should aim for a maximum of 12 but ideally you will
want only one or two colors. Avoid very dark colors unless it is
relevant to your company. If you send out a letter on headed notepaper
to a client you will want your logo to jump off the desk at them to
remind them who you are.
Remember that your design may have to be
very small (a business card) or very large (the side of a van) so
whatever you come up with must be scaleable. Try imagining your logo as
a tiny image and then as a large image. If your using lettering will it
must be readable at a very small size. Will the font appear correctly
in a user browser on the internet?
Consider every place your logo
might appear and work out what you will need to design for. A company
that deals with older people does not to be bright and modern,
something a little more sedate would be more appropriate.
Until you know the answers to all the questions above don’t move on to the next section.
Creating
Keep
it simple. Look at any major company in the world and see how simple
their logos are. Nothing fancy for the experts so why should you have a
fancy design? Look at what the
completion are doing. DO NOT COPY
somebody else’s work. Sometimes I get me best inspiration from studying
other people ideas and coming up with a really original one based on a
concept they have used. As long as it’s not a copy of somebody else’s
work your not infringing copyright.
A tip for doing this is to
use Googles Image Search. Type in some key word and select the image
search with the word logo. For example if you were selling cars search
for “cars + logo”. You will be presented with a selection of rival
logos for other sites. Use this to see what works and what does
not. You will be drawn to the good designs and you will recognize what
represents a company that sells cars. This search brings up the Alpha
Romeo logo in the first few entries. This logo is slightly more
complicated than you will want but works perfectly for a company
producing cars. Now start sketching some designs on paper. Keep
all of the designs you make to hand as you never know when you might
decide that the picture you drew before could be the one. When you have
an idea don’t over develop it. You should aim to have at least 15 to 20
rough ideas before choosing 2 or 3 to work on further.
Developing
When
you have chosen your two or three best ideas ask some friends what they
think. Use your friends and family to test your logo. Everybody loves
to give their opinion on everything so use that to your own advantage.
Listen to what people have to say about your designs and you may learn
something. Little things that you have not seen can be very obvious to
someone that has never seen it before. Take a note of all the comments
and go back to the drawing board. Look over what was said about every
design and then, based on your own feelings and the comments you have
collected, decide which idea you are going to develop more.
Create
a slightly more refined drawing, or if you have some computer skills,
make up an approximate design using a graphics program (don’t worry if
you can’t do this as the next step will take care of that anyway.)
Unless
you’re either a graphic designer or a printer, employ a professional to
finish the work to a high standard. Your logo will appear on every bit
of literature your company will ever produce and if it does not look
professional then you don’t look professional. You will have saved a
lot of money by developing the logo yourself so it is now time to ask a
professional to finish the work.
Well done. You have just created
an effective and attractive logo for your company. Be proud of your
work and display it everywhere...
Philip Gillespie is a proffesional website designer and graphic artist. His works include
www.echo-art.com,
www.thekimberleyinn.com,
www.yellowsands.com and www.integratedbodytherapy.com. Please contact for any further information or help.philipgillespie@hotmail.com
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