It's been going on for about a year: with every iOS update on your device, the app icons have progressively become flatter in order to suit new iWatch or Apple TV interfaces. For designer companies or UX artists, this means they'll always enjoy a demand for their services. But where does that leave the other non-designers and aspiring pen wielders, and those without a design budget?
Here's how to design a logo.
Create a brief
Outline the purpose and objectives of your logo
Craft a message. Keep it to one line, not more than 10 words.
Even if you're not designing it yourself, this creative brief will come in useful in your talent hunt.
Learn from everyone else
Look at what your competitors are using. How would you improve on theirs?
Think of logos that are memorable to you. Why do you remember it so clearly? What did you like about it?
Try to apply these plus points to your own conceptualisation of your fab new logo.
Sketch it first - on paper
Make an attempt at how you'd want your new logo to look like. It's the faster way to present your idea than Photoshop CC. This will help you convey your concept to your team or even your designer, if you decide to hire one.
Keep it simple
This allows for simple recognition, especially on a mobile interface.
Susan Kare, a prominent graphic designer at Macintosh, says that "Good icons work the way traffic signs do. It involves a type of poetic problem-solving in order to arrive at a design that can be understood universally and communicate a function at a glance."
Convey messages with crystal clear clearly
Think of the following questions:
- What do you want the audience to think?
- What feelings do you want them to associate to your logo?
- Is it memorable?
- Will it still achieve the same objectives if not more in 10 years? 20 years? 50 years?
Don't resist change
Most registered training organisations today carry logos that bear institutional badges that have not been updated for a long time.
Ensure it works on various backgrounds
Some of the logos I've worked with don't work well on white or black backgrounds. Most of the time there was only version of the logo. Even if you'd like to have a primary logo available - say, with a white font - create a variation of it in black or a similar colour. This grants flexibility in places your logo could appear, and ensures it stands out wherever you place it.
Get feedback
As logos represent entire companies, organisations, and institutions at once, it's important to take into account your stakeholders' feedback on your first logo draft.
Keep fonts consistent
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