What are the golden rules of logo design?
10 golden rules for your new logo
There are ten golden guidelines to keep in mind while creating a new logo. Let’s get this party started!
“Ain’t nobody got time for that,” is a common refrain when it comes to reading about logo design. As a result of this, we’ve compiled a list of 10 golden standards that you should keep in mind while designing your new logo. There we go!
Getting back to the fundamentals is the first step.
Before you get started, you need to ask yourself a few simple questions. When starting a new firm, it’s important to reflect on your purpose for being there. What exactly do you do, and how do you go about it? What sets you apart from the rest? Who are you here to serve, and for what purpose? What’s most important to you? All of these responses form the core of your company’s brand identity, which you must convey via your new logo.
Secondly, make it stand out.
The most crucial aspect of a logo is that it is readily remembered by your consumers or clients. Try to build a distinctive logo that your consumers will appreciate in the midst of so many conflicting demands for our attention. It’s a good idea to keep in mind that simple forms and characteristic colours are more likely to remain in people’s minds.
Keep things basic.
Your consumers or customers may have a hard time remembering a complex logo, making it tough to sell. They may also find a complex or abstract logo to be annoying or distracting. When someone sees your logo, they should be able to identify your company and brand. Adding extra details may excite you, but be aware that it will make your design more complicated and open to interpretation. Being simple might be difficult, but it’s worth a go whenever possible. Apple’s iconic logo is a great example of how simple and effective a brand identity can be.
Don’t lose sight of the goal
Keep an eye out for mockups and design concepts that illustrate how your logo will seem in real life before making a final decision. Our mock-ups like business card designs and other brand touchpoints help you better see how your new logo will represent your company when you create a logo with Logoshuffle.
Make it last for a long time
How do you know where your life is headed? Even though you may not be able to foresee every obstacle, you can build a logo that will endure. A firm can always rebrand, but it is an expensive and uncertain enterprise. For example, the IBM logo is a good example of a typographic logo that has been around for a long time and still works for a wide range of audiences.
Consider your goods and services.
It’s wonderful to be inventive, but remember that you’re attempting to sell something. Make sure your logo serves as the foundation for a strong brand that attracts new consumers and establishes a personal connection with them. So, while developing your first logo, consider about your industry and what you’re attempting to convey and sell.
Don’t be afraid to stand out.
Before you build your first logo, yes, it’s important to think about a slew of factors, but that’s because each logo must be distinct. Consider your competitors’ logos as a source of inspiration: a source of new ideas. A logo that has the potential to upend a whole sector of the economy. The only way to make it better is to do things differently. Not to worry, we’ve got you covered there, too.
Choose your colours carefully!
Colors may be able to communicate louder than words, if that’s possible. As a result, use caution when selecting a colour and make sure that it complements both your desired image and the unique individuality of your company. Classic and reliable colours like hues of blue are more suited to consulting firms, financial institutions, and insurance companies. A bold colour like yellow or orange is perfectly acceptable when you’re establishing a hot new restaurant since there’s absolutely nothing stopping you.
Do it the way you want.
Doing things your own way is the only way to get the results you desire. Ultimately, you are the only one who understands your brand like you do. So, put your faith in yourself, in your knowledge, and in your abilities, and create it from scratch. You’re just a few clicks away from a brand new logo. Here’s where you begin.
Make a logo that you adore.
Finally, but certainly not least: Have a blast! Your brand and logo should always be something you’re excited to work on. But don’t stop there: make something you’re proud of. It is because you are the most significant representative of your brand.
Every logo designer should adhere to these seven golden rules.
You’ve always had a penchant for colour mixing and sketching since elementary school. This enthusiasm for design developed with your age, so much that you chose to make it your job. A superb logo designer is one who has a keen eye for detail, a sense of humour, and the capacity to experiment with colour palettes.
If you want to be a professional logo designer, you should work for a firm that offers such opportunities. At some point, though, the fundamental principles of logo design begin to go away in favour of more trendy approaches. This strategy may work, but it may also backfire, so when designing logos for brands, stick to the essentials.
You’ve come to the correct spot if you’d want to brush up on some of the fundamentals of logo design. From logo design expert David Airey, here are seven golden guidelines of logo design that can help you become a better logo designer.
Build a Strong Base
You may learn something new from every project you work on as a logo designer. When it comes to designing a logo, each client is unique and each designer has a unique approach to the process. Consensus-building is essential if you want to keep everyone on the same page. Asking the appropriate questions will lead to this outcome.
A strong foundation for your logo design project and a clear understanding of what the customer wants from you may be gained by following these steps: Establish a solid foundation for your logo design projects by doing thorough research. From there, you can build on that foundation to produce outstanding logos that your customers and their target audiences will appreciate.
The second step is to sketch, sketch, sketch!
With so much focus on digital tools, logo designers have nearly forgotten how to utilise their sketchpad. When it comes to logo design, sometimes it’s best to put away your computer and mouse, grab a pen and paper, and begin sketching. Sketching makes it easy to experiment with shapes and position them precisely where you want them. It is also possible to demonstrate them what the final logo design will look like by using the drawings you’ve made as a prototype.
You may save time and money on rework by showing customers the completed product and letting them propose adjustments on the spot. During one of her earliest meetings with CitiBank’s higher-ups, CitiBank logo designer Paula Scher made the original drawing on a napkin. The famous umbrella was placed over the evergreen wordmark in the drawing. CitiBank’s current logo is based on a drawing that was first created in the 1980s. This is roughly how the design came to be.
Maintain Its Relevance
As a business, your logo is an important part of your marketing strategy. Any element, whether it the design’s colour or typography, may influence how someone views your company. You need to pay attention to the tiniest things in order to succeed. Your logo should reflect your brand’s personality, so use aspects that reflect that. For example, a high-end brand is more suited to an attractive typeface than a low-end one. It’s important to match the client’s brand’s personality with your logo’s purpose.
The finest example of this is the Amazon logo. In order to emphasise that Amazon’s online shop carries a wide variety of items, the arrow pointing from “a” to “z” is used. One of the best examples of an effective logo is McDonald’s. In the renowned golden arches, the mammary glands are shown, which is a symbol of sustenance. This shows that McDonald’s meal is both nutritional and delicious.
Make Recalling Your Brand’s Name a Priority!
As the saying goes, “Simplicity is elegance personified.”
—Leonardo Da Vinci
Keeping things basic is generally preferable when it comes to creating a logo. The more difficult it is for your consumers to recall your brand’s emblem, the more complicated it is. Customers should be able to identify your brand based on its emblem. If you have a basic and clear logo design, this would only happen.
If you look at the Nike emblem, you’ll get the gist of what I mean. Across the world, the black swoosh is instantly recognisable as a Nike product because of its distinctive shape. The Nike emblem, in contrast to many others, has remained mostly unchanged throughout the years.
It’s time to make it memorable.
The number of brands in the world is in the billions, and each one strives to distinguish itself from the others. As a result, each brand has its own distinct logo. It is required of you as a logo designer to think outside the box, to come up with original logo concepts, and to translate those concepts into physical form as well. Make an effort to set your logos apart from those of your competitors instead of just replicating what they’ve done.
Emblem designers have a widespread idea that you need to come up with something out of this world to make your company’s logo stand out. It’s possible to transform the appearance of a logo with only a few modest alterations and adjustments. An excellent example of a creative logo that was created with little effort is Apple Inc.’s distinctive bitten apple emblem.”
Your logo should be able to speak for itself.
In most circumstances, trying to explain what a company does with its logo in a convincing way would detract from the message. Let your logo speak for itself by giving it a personality. Logos don’t have to include your company name. You can express a lot with a logo without speaking a word, and the Shell logo is a great illustration of this.
The last step is to add colour.
Always start with a black-and-white version of your logo when designing one. As a result, you’ll be able to keep your emphasis on the logo’s features rather than colours. Adding colour to your logo after it has been created in monochrome can give it a fresh look.
The UPS logo effectively demonstrates this idea. In the beginning, the black and white version was made by focusing on the smallest elements. Colors were applied to the black and white logos soon after they were completed. The UPS logo now has a considerably more polished appearance. In order to get the same polished effect for your logo, you may follow the same steps.
When designing a logo, what are the golden laws of logo design that you follow? Please do so in the space provided below in the comments section.
The 8 Essential Principles of Logo Design
For the sake of simplicity, let’s simply say that a well-designed logo helps build confidence in your brand. Is your product or service as good as you believe it to be? If a firm has a low-quality logo, what does that tell you about their quality of service? People DO judge a book by its cover because we are such visual creatures that we can’t help but do so.
“Professional logo design” is offered by a wide range of services, although many of them don’t fully comprehend the term, and the task is typically outsourced to a practising, inexperienced student rather than a professional. It’s not uncommon for a client’s budget to be depleted after the logo has been produced for ads, business cards, banners, etc., only for someone to inform them that their logo cannot be printed on new uniforms or engraved on their entrance sign because it is too complex, doesn’t work in one colour, or has too many small details, etc.
Take two minutes to read this article if you want a high-quality logo that quickly catches the eye of your customers, explains your company’s beliefs, and works in every circumstance. When working with a logo design business, keep these ideas in mind to ensure you get the best possible logo for your organization’s needs.
Only one colour may be used
In order for your logo to be effective, it must be available in just one colour. Unless it does, it’s somewhat of a dud. This guideline is violated hundreds of times every year, and the firms who break it are left with a mountain of problems. Consider the following: Engraved metal plates at your office doors, promotional products, leather covers for notebooks, letterpress; gold foil business cards; cutout logo on various packaging; stencils; wood carvings; wax seals and rubber stamps; embossed logos; environmental rules (city ordinances, one-color logo requests for various ad situations) are just a few real-life examples.
Ease of use = adaptability
Albert Einstein famously said that the truest expression of brilliance is simplicity. If something is simple, it doesn’t indicate that it’s generic or uninteresting. Apple, McDonald’s, Amazon, Nike, Google, Twitter, etc. all have basic logos. Creating a logo that is easy to recognise and adaptable to any setting is a benefit of a basic design.
It lacks little details.
When printed or seen at a smaller size, intricate and elaborate logo designs don’t work effectively.
A good font choice.
Poor font selection is a common reason of logo failure. In most circumstances, a typeface cannot compete for attention with the sign it is accompanying; instead, it must complement it. As a rule of thumb for fonts that are used by amateurs, comic sans, papyrus and at least 50 other popular, often used fonts are always a bad idea.
The use of special effects should be kept to a minimum.
Let’s simply keep with the idea that less is more. When employed by unskilled designers to make up for “something that’s lacking,” the results may be rather impressive. While it’s a wonderful way to show off your design abilities and the newest tools, it offers nothing to improve the logo’s professional appearance.
Designed by a professional, not a novice
especially when it incorporates graphics. Graphic designers are also expert artists who are able to produce creative works of art because they have a deep understanding of proportions and composition.
Appropriateness of
Despite the fact that our example could bring a grin to someone’s face, this is an essential guideline to remember. There must be a logo for the company. A joking zebra face may be a wonderful option for a toy store or even a high-quality hosting business that wants to be known for its openness, friendliness, and humour among its customers. The tone and ideals of the organisation should always be reflected in the logo’s design.
Recognizable, recollectible, and distinctive
A logo that seems to be very similar to another is a terrible idea regardless of how many other logos already exist in the same area as yours or how many of your own elements are similar to those of others. As a result of the copyright concerns, the visitors may mix your firm with another one or have a difficult time remembering your name. If you look at the examples above, you’ll see an overused cliché: “we’ll appear professional if we employ three or more horse shapes galloping and leaping over the letters.” These are real-life company logos. Having a narrative behind your logo is the last, yet still crucial guideline of great logo design! Try something new!
