Fundamentals for Effective Logo Design

Nowadays plenty of creative logo design resources, tutorials are available across the web. These have been helping designers as a powerful toolbox for logo designing. Before going to use this toolbox, one need to gain understanding of what makes a logo design effective.

An effective logo will be useful in creating brand identity. This article will explore the fundamental principles of making an effective logo design.

What defines a Logo

Logos are used to identify the entity that it is designing for. It can be one of the below.

• A Person

• A Product

• A Business

• A Service.

In business environment, Logos are designed for easy recognition of the organization and build an identity for the same. The designer needs to understand the environment in which the logo will be seen. The logo is an important aspect of an organization’s commercial brand as an economic entity. Usually, its shapes, colours, fonts, and images are remarkably different from its competitor logos.

A logo purpose is to spread brand “message” envisioned by the business leadership. The concept of the logo must match the intended message. A good logo that broadcasts organization’s intended message has following properties. It is

• Distinctive

• Relevant

• Practical

• Graphic

• Simple

The Logo can be in any size and in most of cases effective logo will be without colour.

Designing the Logo

Usually, designing a logo is perceived as a simple task. Logo designer will put a lot of effort to make an effective logo. It depends on designers thinking and creativity. The design process ensures that the final design will meet the client needs.

Here we listed the steps of a typical designing process that professional logo designers follow:

Brief it: Communicate with client, get their needs, and make a brief design

Research on: Make research on organization, its history and its competitors. Analyse all things; make a blue print of design.

Reference to: Refer to some successful logo designs, do research on it and follow current trends, styles of designing. Longevity in logo design is key principle.

Conceptualizing: Prepare logo design concepts around brief and research conducted.

Revisions: Get instructions from the client, guide the client to the best solutions, revise and improve the logo as required.

Presentation: After designing few logos present best logo design to your client, show the logo in context, help the client to understand, clearly visualize the brand identity.

Delivery and Support: Deliver the high-quality logo design files to the client in all formats. Give all the support that client may need.

Principles to follow for an effective logo design:

As mentioned, an effective logo is distinctive, appropriate, practical, graphic and simple, and it conveys the organizations intended message. Designer should follow below given principles to ensure that design output meets all these criteria:

1. Simple: A simple logo design easily recognizable, adaptable.

2. Memorable: Following closely on the principle of simplicity is that of memorability. An effective logo design should be memorable, which is achieved by keeping it simple yet appropriate.

3. Timeless: An effective logo should be endure through time.

4. Adaptable: An effective logo works across a variety of media and applications. So, logos should be designed in vector format, to ensure that they scale to any size. Check effectiveness of logo using printed output. Best way to create a effecitve and adaptable logo is to begin designing in black and white. This allows you to focus on the concept and shape.

5. Appropriate: How you positioned your logo should be appropriate to the intended audience. Logo need not be self-explanatory. It derives its meaning and usefulness from the quality of that which it symbolizes.