Home | Sitemap   Your logo should be compatible with the image you desire to have.   This means that the logo design for a Real Estate company should be more serious than a logo for a toy shop.     Your logo design should be defined by simplicity.   Don’t use fancy fonts or complicated images or graphics. No one likes logos that take several minutes to understand their meaning.     Your logo should be easy to remember.   That is the essence of a logo creation: the customer or the potential customer should easy remember the logo design and associate it with the product or the company.     A logo should look good in black and white.   That is because a company often uses the logo in black and white, in faxes for example.     Separate the graphics from the text.   That is why you probably need to use them, especially the image, alone.     Take care about proportions.   Assure yourself that your logo keeps a proper proportion between height and width. You don’t want a logo too tall and skinny because this is not visually agreeable.     Take care about sizes.   Does your logo look nice on a business card and a street banner in the same time? If this condition is not satisfied you should definitely change your logo design.     Pay attention to colors.   The combination of colors must be agreeable, but don’t choose silver or gold for your logo because you increase the future costs of printing. Also don’t use too many colors on your logo 1 to 4 colors are enough.   1. Give consistency to you logo.   Use your logo on all communication materials like prints, website, newsletters etc.     2. Don’t change your logo design.   If your customers already know your logo, changing it means take all the work from the beginning.     Think before we design Logo   What about your own logo? Is it complex or easy to reproduce? Simple shapes are easier to remember - and that's part of the branding process; catchy rhymes and jingles, brief slogans and simple logos. Artistic statement is nice, but easy recall is the key. If your logo requires the skills of an artist to reproduce, it might be time to consider something less complex with fewer lines and colors. You'd be amazed what a skilled logo designer can do with a word or symbol. Your reworked logo doesn't have to be a total departure from your current logo as change can confuse clients, but a good graphic designer can take what you have and make a simpler version of it; allowing current customers who are somewhat "branded" to still make a rapid mental association. Brand recognition takes a while to develop, so try not to threaten what you've already built by creating a logo that's a total departure from your current one.     Logo types   You'll need to decide whether you want an: Illustrative logo Iconic logo Font-based logo Text-Based Logo Design Letter-mark Based Logo Design Brand-mark Based Symbol Icon-Based Logotype     Illustrative logo - depicts your products or services   Iconic log - a stylized/abstract representation of your business's product   Font-based logo - a sometimes decorative font with the words arranged and presented in a way that makes it distinctive.   Remember that it's not critically important to have an image that represents your products and services. Think of the big companies like Shell. It uses a shell icon - nothing to do with oil. McDonalds is the same, the golden arches don't represent burgers or food in any way. Pepsi's logo has no connection to soda.     Text-Based Logo Design   The mainly extensively used of all logo types; the Text-Based design focuses on text and style but can include other elements as well. A Text-Based design may be best suited for corporations whose name successfully portray what they do (TCS Couriers, Home Freight) devoid of graphical essentials to communicate that message, a literal explanation of the words is often necessary. (For example, all of us know it very well that Wal-Mart is a very big mart because its actually explains it all.) A Text-Based design is often text only with exclusive typographic behavior (e.g. Microsoft, Yahoo). Most frequently however, the business name is included mutually with easy graphic elements to create a clean, simple individuality. The depiction of the word in essence turns out to be a representation of the business.     Prefer a Text-Based design when:   Communication funds are inadequate and should be paying attention on name recognition. Your name is logically distinguishing but not (yet) a household word. You want to correlate products or subsidiaries with the parent more clearly and directly than a symbol permits.     Letter-mark Based Logo Design   Comparable to a Text-Based design, a Letter-mark Based design is entirely typographic mark, typically concerning initials or abbreviations. Monograms and anagrams are Letter-mark Based design. The illustration of the letters fundamentally becomes a symbol of the business.   Prefer a Letter-mark Based design when:   Your initials interpret graphically better than your genuine name. You need to link subsidiaries to the parent and can't easily use the name. You can afford to teach the public what the Letter-mark means.     Brand-mark Based Symbol   An easy but strong graphic figure, often abstract, that harmonizes a facet of a business or service and symbolize a company by relationship. (Think of NIKE or Apple Computer.)   Prefer a Brand-mark Based design when: You need an emblem on a product. Your name is too long, too common, doesn't interpret well globally, or has no qualities. You need to link auxiliary to the parent and can't easily use the name. You can afford to teach the public what the symbol means.     Icon-Based Logotype   Icon-based logotypes are also referred to as combination marks. An Icon-based logotype generally combines a brand-mark Based symbol with a word-mark Based. The combination can be loose or integral. With a loose combination, the elements can be used together or separately. A good icon based http://www.logodesignpros.co.uk/ can effectively communicate what a company does as well as reflect the company personality.   Prefer an Icon- Based design when: You are a startup enterprise or small business with limited funds. Your name is reasonably distinctive but not (yet) a household word. You need an emblem on a product, but want more than just a symbol.   Since Icon-based Logotypes communicate more readily than other logo design types, less marketing is required for the logo to be effective. Therefore, icon-based logotypes are the most cost effective type of logo design available and are ideal for startups or small businesses with limited marketing budgets.     Some Important Points while design Logo   1. Keep it Simple!   These are probably the best words of advice, and it ties into almost all of our upcoming tips. A complicated logo will not only make your logo difficult to reproduce and maintain, but you will also fail to engage your audience. The logo is the ultimate 'elevator' pitch to your potential clients and business partners. You don't have time to recite your entire business plan in an elevator pitch, and the same concept applies to corporate logo design. Sometimes when a logo design isn't working out right, there will be an inclination to add elements and complexity. Often times, it's better to start over with a new concept or remove distracting elements rather than add them. Simplicity isn't always an easy thing to achieve, as you don't want your logo to appear too boring or conservative. This is why at the end of the day it's best to leave it to the design professionals! Try creating logos that convey as much information as possible while also being as simple as possible. This is the mark of a professional designer. Having a simple logo will help in a number of ways, including the ease of distribution. For instance, they are easy to place on letterhead and business cards because they don't require much space to be recognized and understood. If your logo is the Mona Lisa with some text slapped on top of it, you would always need the logo to be quite large just for people to be able to see what it is, and this is the kind of thing you will want to avoid.     2. Engage your Audience   The logo design should above everything entertain and engage your audience. Your logo should not be so literal that the message is spelt out for them. They should be given the opportunity to discover the meaning and intention of your logo themselves. If people are able to discover the 'trick' of your logo within a reasonable amount of time, this will help to create a memorable and entertaining experience between you and your audience. Too much abstraction will on the other hand work against you. If the logo is too obscure, the message that you are attempting to communicate will be lost, and so will your potential client. Remember, today's consumer culture is accustomed to very intense and stimulating media, and therefore you cannot be too demanding on your audience either.     3. Logo Longevity - Think Ahead!   The durability and longevity of a logo is worth considering. Although it's impossible to see into the future, it is useful to picture your company 10-15 years down the road, and think about what kind of products and services it will offer, if any at all! Even the strongest companies update their logo every 15 years or so, but often the changes will be subtle in nature. Very seldom will they take on a radical re-design. There are many long-standing companies whose logos have stood the test of time. Type-based logos are good for this. The IBM logo is a great example. They offer a variety of products and services on an international level, and also provide research, design and consulting services. They've succeeded in communicating all of this through their logo, but we think they are due for an update very soon! For small start-up companies, it may not be the end of the earth if you decide to change your logo after even a few years, depending on what transpires with your company. But it's always nice when a logo design is able to stand the test of time.     4. Vector is better   Although it's tempting to use detailed illustrations and complex 3d effects in a logo, chances are that it will not serve you well. Clean, crisp lines with very limited colors are almost always more effective than an illustration or complex 3d rendering. A well-drawn vector-based logo will provide you with the contrast and balance that is so important in logo design. New capabilities in vector based programs can now give you the illusion of a 3d effect without losing contrast, using tricks such as the canter effect.     5. Adaptability - Be Ready for Change   Your logo should be flexible enough to adapt to every business situation. If a logo is too literal or specific, you may have a hard time using it when catering to different markets. Generally speaking, the best thing for small business start-ups is to have an icon and logo-type designed at the same time. This will allow you to use the logo as a stand-alone image, or use it along with the type-font name as well. Often times, companies will use only the icon on its products and packaging materials. This is a common practice among software companies and book publishers.     6. Make it Memorable   A great logo design will imbed itself into ones sub-consciousness. This can happen for a variety of reasons, but for a logo to be memorable it needs to use simple lines and be very easy to recall from memory. A good test to ensure that your logo design is memorable is to show it to a friend and ask him/her to retrace it a week later. A good design should use a recognizable shape or element for it to be easily remembered. You want viewers to become used to a logo, and they will do just that if you make it unforgettable. Think outside of the box and try to create a unique quality that's never been seen before. Making your logos memorable will, if you are or wish to become a designer, help you in the same way it helps the business it represents, with recognition. If your logo is well-known, that's a great mark for the portfolio.     7. Relevance - Keep your Products and Services in Mind   A memorable logo is great, but it should also get your customers to start thinking about the products or services that you offer. You should ensure that the logo relates to your business in some shape or form. Yes, the monkey can sell just about anything from cigarettes to cell phones, but there's a limit! Isn't there?     8. Choose your Colors Wisely   Colors can play a very important role in logo design as they can illicit different feelings and emotions from us. Interpretations of color may vary depending on age, gender, and cultural demographics, so your choices of color should be carefully considered depending on your target market. Also, colors tend to follow trends, just like in fashion. So a new, vibrant company may want to follow the current trends, whereas a bank may want to stay with a more conservative color set that will work well for them over a long period of time. Try to keep your selection of colors down to two or three. Too many colors will increase your cost of production and make it more difficult to reproduce. One interesting idea that we've seen used is to change the color of the logo on things like business cards and stationery depending on the market segmentations of the clientele. Use a color scheme. If you use too many colors, typically your designs will begin to look tacky and unprofessional. This does somewhat depend on the business type, however. If you're creating a logo for a toy store, this would be an exception. But you'd definitely want to stick to only a couple colors if you're designing for an insurance firm, for instance.     9. Keep it Unique   This should be straightforward. You want to be sure that your company is easily identified among your industry and competitors. Be sure to carefully research your industry and target market before embarking on a logo design. You need to know and understand the common styles of your industry, but you also need to make sure that you don't infringe on anyone else's trademarked logo.     10. Versatility Pays Dividends   One of the most important attributes of a good logo design is versatility. You want to portray a consistent image across all of your marketing materials, including signs, letterhead, business cards, products lines, and web sites. Often times, a complicated logo design will work fine on a website or billboard, but when you shrink it down to fit on a pen or coffee cup, the illustration or lettering will become illegible. Your logo should also work well in black and white. You may often find that start-up companies and even well-established law firms will not consistently brand their logo across all their marketing materials. For example, they may have their logo on the front door of their office, but will end up using something different (or nothing at all!) on their website. In order to build brand recognition you need to market your logo and image as consistently as possible. Be sure that when you're having your logo designed that you receive all the file formats necessary for use in your various marketing channels.       Dots & Coms       Website design services. New Business, E-commerce & Web promotion packages at affordable prices.             DotCom Graphics       Exclusive Print design website, providing you with Brochure, Poster, Leaflet, Flyer, Invoice Template, Post Cards, Labels & Stickers & More                     Copyright © 2006 Premium Logo Design Company, London, UK. All Rights Reserved.