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Hey guys, Camie here, today I am going to show you how to develop a logo that you love! I’ll walk you through my process of looking for inspiration, choosing design elements, sketching and finalizing a logo. These five steps will guide you through the basics and hopefully give you a solid foundation to build upon when designing a logo, as well as give you an idea on how professional graphic designers work.
Hello! Today I am going to show you how to develop a logo. I’ll walk you through my process of looking for inspiration, choosing design elements, sketching and finalizing a logo. These five steps will guide you through the basics and hopefully give you a solid foundation to build upon when designing a logo, as well as give you an idea on how professional graphic designers work.
When developing any part of your brand the first step should be to define your brands voice. Ask yourself: Who is going to pay for my product or service? Who should I market for? What are their interests and what are they passionate about? What is their age group? There are many excellent online resources, like this one, to help you narrow down your audience. As you design make sure to keep your brands target audience in the front of your mind, create a reference sheet and keep it handy. This will help you keep focused on creating the best logo for your business.
When developing any part of your brand the first step should be to define your brands voice. Ask yourself: Who is going to pay for my product or service? Who should I market for? What are their interests and what are they passionate about? What is their age group? There are many excellent online resources, like this one, to help you narrow down your audience. As you design make sure to keep your brands target audience in the front of your mind, create a reference sheet and keep it handy. This will help you keep focused on creating the best logo for your business.
When designing a logo one of your first steps should be to scope out the competition. Look around at different local business that market the same product or service that you’re creating for. Find logos that resonate with you, that inspire you. Create a moodboard or keep screenshots in a specific file to look back on as you design. This is an important part of developing an effective logo because it helps you build up a strong design direction. It’s imperative to have a solid foundation to build upon when developing a logo so that you don’t get overwhelmed by several different ideas and directions, unable to choose which way to go. As you design keep referencing your moodboard to help you stay on track. Remember to find strong references that truly inspire you, just make sure not to completely recreate another company’s logo. It’s okay to draw inspiration but the key is to use that inspiration to create, not copy.
When designing a logo one of your first steps should be to scope out the competition. Look around at different local business that market the same product or service that you’re creating for. Find logos that resonate with you, that inspire you.
Create a moodboard or keep screenshots in a specific file to look back on as you design. This is an important part of developing an effective logo because it helps you build up a strong design direction. It’s imperative to have a solid foundation to build upon when developing a logo so that you don’t get overwhelmed by several different ideas and directions, unable to choose which way to go.
As you design keep referencing your moodboard to help you stay on track. Remember to find strong references that truly inspire you, just make sure not to completely recreate another company’s logo. It’s okay to draw inspiration but the key is to use that inspiration to create, not copy.
Once you’ve gotten an idea on what kind of logo you want, it’s time to pick your style elements. This is where the fun begins! Before choosing your colors, you should read up on color theory. Think back on the first two steps, what are you trying to say with your logo? Do want to come across as professional? Try cooler colors such as greens and blues. Do you want to seem more welcoming and inclusive? Try warmer, happier colors such as reds, oranges, and maybe some shades of yellow. Try to stick with one or two colors so you don’t distract from the message of your logo. This is also true when choosing a typeface, keep it simple. Never use more than two different typefaces in a logo. Less is always more. Do some research here on typeface’s and the psychology behind them. Find a style that suits your brands image. Are you going for a more professional appearance? Choose a simple serif font paired with a complementary sans serif. There are so many wonderful online resources to help with font pairing and choosing typefaces. Once you’ve finalized your colors and fonts, it’s time to move on to the designing!
Once you’ve gotten an idea on what kind of logo you want, it’s time to pick your style elements. This is where the fun begins! Before choosing your colors, you should read up on color theory. Think back on the first two steps, what are you trying to say with your logo? Do want to come across as professional? Try cooler colors such as greens and blues. Do you want to seem more welcoming and inclusive? Try warmer, happier colors such as reds, oranges, and maybe some shades of yellow. Try to stick with one or two colors so you don’t distract from the message of your logo.
This is also true when choosing a typeface, keep it simple. Never use more than two different typefaces in a logo. Less is always more. Do some research here on typeface’s and the psychology behind them. Find a style that suits your brands image. Are you going for a more professional appearance? Choose a simple serif font paired with a complementary sans serif.
There are so many wonderful online resources to help with font pairing and choosing typefaces. Once you’ve finalized your colors and fonts, it’s time to move on to the designing!
Now for the truly fun part! It’s best to start your rough sketches with paper and pencil. Set a timer and doodle as many logo concepts as you can. Fill up multiple pages, really try to dig in and get any and every idea on paper as you can. Don’t stress over how they look; these are just basic sketches to help you develop ideas. Pick a few of your favorite ideas and develop those a bit more. Build on your ideas and explore every angle. Once you’ve done that choose one or two to move on to the next step. Take your final sketches into an editing program such as Adobe Illustrator or maybe even procreate. Try to stay away from Photoshop, and most defiantly never. ever. ever use Microsoft Word. If you don’t have access to these programs you could take your concepts to a designer to help you build your logo digitally, which you will need for your business. Make sure whatever program you use has the ability to save out your logo in a vector file. This is so very important. Vector format files scale, so your logo won’t ever get pixelated or blurry. Most printers won’t accept files that are rasterized or have poor quality.
Now for the truly fun part! It’s best to start your rough sketches with paper and pencil. Set a timer and doodle as many logo concepts as you can. Fill up multiple pages, really try to dig in and get any and every idea on paper as you can. Don’t stress over how they look; these are just basic sketches to help you develop ideas.
Pick a few of your favorite ideas and develop those a bit more. Build on your ideas and explore every angle. Once you’ve done that choose one or two to move on to the next step. Take your final sketches into an editing program such as Adobe Illustrator or maybe even procreate. Try to stay away from Photoshop, and most defiantly never. ever. ever use Microsoft Word. If you don’t have access to these programs you could take your concepts to a designer to help you build your logo digitally, which you will need for your business.
Make sure whatever program you use has the ability to save out your logo in a vector file. This is so very important. Vector format files scale, so your logo won’t ever get pixelated or blurry. Most printers won’t accept files that are rasterized or have poor quality.
You’re almost done! Once you’ve settled on one or two final logo concepts you should do a test run. Find some free mockups and see how your logo would look in the real world. Are you going to use your logo mainly on merchandise such as shirts and hats? Try out a mockup and see if you love how it looks! Designing more for business cards and letterheads? There are tons of mockups for that. Bring in an unbiased, outside source and ask their opinion, find someone close to your buying persona and see what they think. Get as many opinions as you can. Hold an office vote. Now it’s time to decide on your new logo!
Yay! With these five steps you should be ready to go out and face the daunting world of logo design! If you ever need any help or just simply don’t have the time to design a beautiful logo from scratch, stop by our office or give us a call! We’ll be happy to help you design an amazing logo for your business.
You’re almost done! Once you’ve settled on one or two final logo concepts you should do a test run. Find some free mockups and see how your logo would look in the real world. Are you going to use your logo mainly on merchandise such as shirts and hats? Try out a mockup and see if you love how it looks! Designing more for business cards and letterheads? There are tons of mockups for that. Bring in an unbiased, outside source and ask their opinion, find someone close to your buying persona and see what they think. Get as many opinions as you can. Hold an office vote. Now it’s time to decide on your new logo!
Yay! With these five steps you should be ready to go out and face the daunting world of logo design! If you ever need any help or just simply don’t have the time to design a beautiful logo from scratch, stop by our office or give us a call! We’ll be happy to help you design an amazing logo for your business.
Oklahoma City’s premier digital design agency.
