When you’re first dreaming up the face of your brand, most of us aren’t pausing to consider the advertising materials our logo may appear on. That’s something especially important to consider when it comes to good design.
Don’t use too much fine detail or complexity when creating a logo. Any designer worth their salt that you hire should be well aware of this before sitting down to explore ideas. Your logo needs to appear clearly no matter the size or distance you are from it. If it looks like a smudge when it shrinks down, you need to rethink it.. That’s why some of the best brands in the world are composed of the simplest, most elementary shape and don’t appear overly sophisticated. Elegance exists within simplicity when it comes to branding.
Color is expensive in reproduction, especially on items like t-shirts. Nowadays more business than ever are purchasing custom made t-shirts to get word out about what they do. Also, remember that there will be instances where your logo will most likely need to be reproduced using a single color. If you have a logo that is 10+ colors, and you’re getting it silk-screened onto a t-shirt, that’s going to be a huge cost, especially to a small business just starting out. Instead, try limiting your logo to no more than three colors. When we create logos, one of the things we’ve found is that it’s best to start with a black and white version. Chances are if it’s bold and has strong impact in black and white, it will in the colors you choose for it.
Sometimes your logo will need to be printed on materials that will cause issues with your design if you don’t have a backup plan. That’s where a secondary logo comes in.
Is it being printed on horizontal or vertical space? Are there proportional constraints on the object it’s being reproduced on? This may require shifting certain facets of your design and creating something that fits with your brand that can be adapted on another medium.
Ensure that the font you use in your design will scale well. Large or small, the font needs to look good, and not be illegible or needlessly complicated. Remember, you want to be able to read it well from up close or from at a distance. Stick to no more than one or two fonts in different weights, with a maximum three. If you have more than that it will detract from your design and begin to look confusing, as if there are elements of it that don’t visually complement the message you’re trying to communicate.
Many people start out trying to come up with a logo idea in Microsoft Paint or Photoshop. The problem with this is that these programs don’t offer proper file formats for reproducing your logo on materials for silk screening, embroidery, or various other types of printing.
A professional designer should design your logo in a program that offers vector formating (such as Adobe Illustrator) and will give you the .EPS file. This file is a highly versatile format that gives you the best option for reproducing your logo on virtually any medium.
Whew, that’s a wrap. We hope it’s given you the insight you’ve needed about where to start with creating your dream logo for your brand. This concludes our three part series on What Makes A Great Logo.
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