What Makes a Great Logo Design?
A great logo is a combination of technical, strategic, and creative factors combined in just the right way. Often, if the typography was just slightly larger, or the color was just a shade brighter, the logo wouldn’t work.
Designing a logo that conveys your brand identity to your audience in a smart and successful way can be difficult. Sometimes, it can be tricky to identify why a specific logo seems to work and others do not. Cheap and poorly designed logos are a dime a dozen; here are some suggestions to help ensure you end up with a quality logo.
Your company's logo is how your brand communicates its identity to the world, so, obviously, it should be created in the correct format. Initially, you may only be starting with business cards but eventually, a company will need their logo on promotional items like coffee cups or t-shirts. For this, you will need an EPS (also called “vector”) logo.
When you begin vetting graphic designers to make your logo, it is very important that you ask what design software they use. The only acceptable answer is Adobe Illustrator. If the designer uses Photoshop, the logo file will be a raster or bitmap image based on pixels. This means that once it is enlarged past a certain point, you will lose quality and clarity and have a blurred image. An EPS/vector file can be enlarged to any size, even a billboard size, and still be the same crisp, clear image.
A Graphic Designer should be able to provide web-friendly files (usually a JPG or PNG file) from the EPS.
Design your logo in black and white – at first.
It is best to avoid color while in the first round of logo design. If you design a logo that works without color first, you can avoid the possibility of the logo relying on color for its visual impact. This is important because most logos end up being displayed in black and white at some point—in a newspaper or on a fax or copy. Once you do add color, it is best to limit it to two if you can. Too many colors can confuse the eye rather than help to focus it.
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Keep it simple!
Overly complicated logos are often difficult to read and understand, especially when reduced in size. Companies often mistakenly perceive their logo as their entire brand platform. So, they try to communicate everything about their company in the mark, instead of the essential, overall qualities. You do need to put a lot of complex thought into your logo behind the scenes, but you do not want the viewer to see that in excessive detail work, color, or font usage. It is best to communicate a company’s brand characteristics with a clean, simple logo design.
Always consider your logo's size and ratio
As a rule, logos should be recognizable and readable at a quarter inch. At some point, most logos will need to be reproduced at a very small size—for example, on a promotional item, like a plastic pen or key chain. It is also best if your logo is not overly horizontal or vertical. Most logos will not be a perfect square, but a conservative width to height ratio is ideal. A balanced mark is adaptable, making it easier to successfully place in a variety of layouts.
Conclusion
A lot goes into creating a great logo design, but an experienced graphic designer can help guide you through the process and deliver quality results. Contact Galan Graphix to set up a logo design consultation today.