Preserved Topic: Logo design samples, tips, tutorials, advice

I'm helping my brother-in-law get his construction company off the ground by doing some basic graphics/web design work for him. Part of what I want to do is to create a solid logo for him but I don't have much experience in the logo design department.

I've done a few google searches but all I seem to come up with is logo design companies (crap ones at that) looking to sell their services.

What I am looking for are samples, tips, tutorials, or advice on designing a simple but effective logo. I figured a few of you might have stumbled across something like this.

Any ideas?

Just hang on about an hour or two until I get home, and I'll whip something up for you

Well you can read this it might help... http://www.webreference.com/dlab/9701/

Another place that I found has good links to reference material is About..com I have found a lot of things there regarding logos...from concepts to samples to design to the history of companies logos.



[This message has been edited by Indus (edited 10-01-2002).]

OK, here we go.

As I understand things this is to be the new logo, not just a logo for online use. Correct?
Anyway, I'll base my ramblings upon that assumption.

Inspiration and getting the brain started in the right mood
Look at some of the well known big corp-logos. Don't just look at logos within the same area of business, but look everywhere. Examples range from Coca Cola, McD and Kraft to Caterpillar, Chevrolet and Hitachi. Hell, you can just open up your fridge and look at whatever is in there (not the green moldy stuff though). Try to just focus on the logos. What makes you like some of them more and other less? What do they make you feel, and why? Don't worry that you're just looking at groceries. A logo is a logo! (And just ignore your friends comments when they catch you staring at a carton of milk for 20 minutes straight).

What's the story?
Since this is a construction company, try figuring out what emotions you want to convey.
Is this a small, agile expert company you might go in the direction of something more elegant signalling awareness, expertise and exclusiveness.
If the company is bigger and more down-to-earth, you might want to go more rugged and "massive" signalling trust, "no-bullshit-approach" and solidity. "We do what we do, but we're damn good at it!"

It basicly comes down to what competitive advatages they have. The logo has to reflect the company mentality in some way.
A logo is in it's essance a promise and a compressed story. What do you want this company's customers to expect and feel when they see the logo?


Graphics, text or both?
One decision you need to make is if you want the typography to be the logo or is you want to use the name together with a pictogram (nike's swoosh, the HP superellips, or the chevy "wings").
If you're heading down pictogram lane, remember to keep it simple. The logo should work on 2*3 meter format as well as on a business card. If it's too complex, the details will blur when the logo is downsized. Pictograms are usually a real simplified interpretation of something. Look at the Burger King logo. It resembles a hamburger, but done very simple. Play around with a few shapes that signifies the company and see how much you can simplify them, without making totally unrecognisable. There's no need to keep enough detail so that you see what it is at first sight, but some resemblance is good. Associate freely about what this company is all about and write down the words. Then look them over and see what words that could be used in a graphic.

I guess many logo-designers (and especially not very experienced ones) go crazy with the pictograms, making them the prime target for the logo. Not saying that it's all wrong, but it's not necessary. Look at Compaq, WalMart and Avis.

A middle road here is to play a bit with the typography itself, creating some uniqueness from a standard type. (Dell's twisted "E", Microsofts chipped "O"). Or you can combine and go crazy, like Sun's logo where you can read sun from every angle with a bit of creative vision.


A bit about usability and vision
Don't make your logo to vertical. A high and narrow logo has some disadvantages.
First of all it's often cumbersome to use in most areas. If you're using it in an ad you need to buy a lot of adspace to get a legible size of the logo, since you'll want to keep the graphics proportional.
Second, the eye is much better at noticing wider items to some extent. (dont make it very low and wide tough). There's a good bit written about this in some book by Jack Trout I believe, but this is basic graphic common sense. Good proportions makes for greater impact.
Think sig-design!


Some basic practical guides:
1. Vector not bitmap!
Make sure you create the logo in a vector-based program such as Illustrator of Freehand. A vector/bezier logo will be scalable so that you can use the same logo-file for creating business cards and letterheads as well as posters and putting it on a big ship. Scalable is the key.

2.Multiple colours.
No I won't tell you which colours to use, but it can save you a lot of hassle afterwards if you make sure your logo is functional in three settings (mebbe four): Full colour, all black/grayscale and inverted (white/grayscale). Inverted colour is optional. By inverted colour I of course do not mean control+I, but rather a logo that works on a really dark background. You don't want your logo to blend in too much. (I'm assuming that the original logo is designed for usage on a light BG. If not, reverse what I said).

If your brother-in-law ever plan on advertising he might want to go B/W some times since that's a lot cheaper. A clear B/W-logo also comes in handy when it comes to letterheads, faxes (doesanyone still use them?) and so on.
Try out your logo on different BG-colours, and try to set guidelines for when to use which logo. You can also work in guides for usage of the logo on a cluttered bg, which most often means that the logo will rest on a solid-colour plate.

3.Colour space
Since you're designing the logo, make duplicates of it in both CMYK and RGB to cover both on-screen and print usage. Try to find CMYK-colours that exist within the wider colour range of RGB to give an as coherent approach as possible. Creating another version in PMS-colour for extra points, but in my experience they do not get used that much, except for logo-printing on merchandise etc.

OK, I've probably left out tons of info, but I hope I could help in some way. If you want more, just ask



[This message has been edited by Nimraw (edited 10-01-2002).]

Gracias nimraw. I shall soak that all in.

Here is a link I had bookmarked.
Don't know how good it is... the page design itself is pretty horrible, but it might
have some useful info on creating a logo... http://www.unleash.com/gary/logo/logo1.html

That's some good advice there Nimraw!

This belongs in the FAQ but under what?

NJ: Good point good question. I'll have a ponder, as I have Nimraw's permission to archive anything I'll grab hispost, slap it in somewhere and if it doesn't fit we can move it. But where?

[edit: OK it fits in here just fine:
http://faq.ozoneasylum.com/803/

Thnaks for that Nimraw ]

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

NP

I was just asked to create a logo for a local DJ. His *DJ name* is DJayS - pronounced "Dee Jay Ess".. so that was my first problem - getting it to look like it reads as it should.

I quite enjoyed this - the easy bit is to create in B+W, and then to work some mad magic in PS to give them a metal/wooden copy. They LOVE the fancy ones - but of course its the b+w one that matters.

anyway, here's what I created:



Bigger, woody style. 69k
Bigger, metal style. 45k

[This message has been edited by sonicsnail (edited 10-02-2002).]

i like the orange on darker orange

I also agree with sonic .. the b&w is the MOST important part of any logo or even interface design .. once you have the layout done .. doing the coloring is the easy part and the most fun of course

sonic .. sweet logo!


.::. cEll .::. 513

Just a thougt, Krets.

Since you're making the logo, you should perhaps also set guidelines for "corporate colours" as well.

That gives you an easier task when designing the logo, since you know reasonably well in which colour context it will be used.

I also found this for all you logofreaks: http://www.logo.nino.ru
The site containg almost 60 000 logotypes that have been uploaded by their designers. All logos are available for download in Illustrator-format, and are to be used for inspiration.

Have fun!

Oh! and this could be useful!

And sadly in spanish, but useful too....

Wakkos
follow the white rabbit