Company Logo Design Guide

Recently, we were asked to create a logo for a new company and asked for some information to help us establish the concept. The client told us that he had a concept and just required us to do the artwork. We were very surprised to receive a varied selection of highly complex sketches.

Tip#1. Keep it simple because logo design is not as quick and easy as some people imagine.

Tip#2. A versatile and durable logo will work well in a single colour and in greyscale.

Tip#3. A logo should be scaleable and look good as an icon. Of course, there are some exceptions, for example, if the logo includes or is comprised of a name, such as Johnson, Jackson, Jones and Partners.

Brainstorming and designs by committee can be a great idea but unless you include your professional designer, the end result will probably not be the end result. When researching, look at your competitors' and suppliers' logos because you want to be different but in a good way.

Some designers like to go straight to the computer but most will doodle, quickly sketching out multiple concepts and variations first, generally 'playing' with shapes and colours.

Consider where the logo is likely to be used: on business cards, stationery, emails, website, maybe promotional gifts, T-shirts, company vans, perhaps advertising on the web, in magazines or newspapers, on posters or even massive billboards and building wraps.

Quite often, a strapline will be used with a logo therefore attention needs to be paid to typefaces or fonts. The logo should be tested alongside various fonts as might be used on a website or brochure. Also, the logo should work well wherever it is placed (left, right, centre, top bottom) as well as on its own.

Keep it Simple and keep control of the budget.

sending a strong message yet keeping it simple

Sadly, we were not commissioned to design the above logos - here are links to more inspirational logos and examples of our clients' logos.