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The previous two tutorial sections offered advice on how to design your own logo, and provided tips for coming up with logo design ideas. This section will attempt to provide a logo design tutorial; not a step by step run through with a certain software application, but a high level overview focused on major design topics.
If you are interested in designing your own logo, It is important to note that a very large portion of the skill to come up with a great logo design is the technical ability to manipulate graphic design software. This is a process that takes time and practice to learn. A great place to get started is to look into books on graphic design software, or purchase a graphic design package and complete all of the included tutorials.
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Logo Design Tutorial - Use of Colors
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The use of colors is an important aspect of a logo that can impact your business in many ways. Your business may already have certain colors that are commonly used as part of your identity. If this is the case, it is important to use these colors as part of your logo design, to maintain consistency in your image. It is best to try to limit your design to 2-3 colors. This will help keep your design simple and recognizable. It will also help reduce printing costs, as printers typically charge per color. Although colors are important, your logo should be created in a way that it will still be easily reckognizable in black and white. Below is a logo design tutorial on some comon color terminology that would be useful knowing when dealing with a designer and a printer:
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Spot Colors - The use of Spot Colors is a method of “specifying and printing colors in which each color is printed with its own ink” (Webopedia). This allows printers to match your logo design colors exactly. Spot Color printing is useful if your design contains one to three different colors. In this circumstance, Spot Color printing will be less expensive than traditional CMYK printing (four color process printing). However, if more colors are needed, the former is likely more appropriate. The Pantone Matching System is the most common standard for Spot Colors. All of the modern logo design software come with a full library of Pantone Colors. Ensure that your design can be easily replicated using Spot Colors.
CMYK Colors - CMYK are the inks used for printing in four color process printing and they refer to Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. (BlacK). These colors can be combined to form millions of color combinations. When the print job is prepared, a seperate screen is used for each color. Each color will be output on a seperate negative and placed onto seperate rollers on the press. When the paper is pressed with each plate, a full color image will appear. This is actually a sequence of different colored dots at different angles that fool your eye into seing the full color spectrum.
RGB Colors - RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is the color format that monitors use to display colors. The CMYK color model is subractive (add more colors to eventually get black), while the RGB model is additive (subtract colors to get black). It is best to use CMYK or Spot Colors for color printing, and RGB if your intended use is on screen display. |
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Logo Design Tutorial - Text Style
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Use a font that compliments your business image, and is clear and recognizable. Consider several different text options: all caps, all lowercase, and mixed case. Experiment with various text sizes, different sizes among letters, and different coloring options. If your business name is more than one word, try several different formatting options. These may actually suit your logo better than simply listing your company name in the typical left to right fasion. Try not to include your companies slogin in your logo - too much text is almost always detrimental. As a general rule, more conservative logos tend to be based primarily on text; however, cutting edge companies tend to use the text as a mere supporing element. Make sure that your use of text corresponds with your companies image. Here are some examples of the text styles mentioned in this logo design tutorial:
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Use of Capitalization |
- All caps: “TIDALWORKS DESIGN STUDIO”
- All lowercase: “tidalworks design studio”
- Mixed case: “Tidalworks Design Studio”
- Other combinations such as “TIDALWORKS DESIGN STUDIO” or expirement with spacing
- “TIDALWORKS DESIGN STUDIO”
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Various popular Font Styles |
- Popular easy to read and simple options “Arial”, “Times New Roman”, “MS Sans Serif”, “Verdana”
- Slightly different options “Trebuchet MS”, “Century Gothic” , “Lucida Console”
- Bold fonts “Arial Black”, “Impact”
- Stylized options “Monotype Corsiva”, “Comic Sans MS”
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Logo Design Tutorial - Design Elements
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Your logo can take on many different styles: futuristic, cartoon, stable, conservative, flashy, abstract or more. Each style has a unique set of design elements that typically acompany it. The typical logo design will include some sort of graphical element either above or to the left of the company name - if the name is included at all. This is usually the most important part of your logo design, and this is where the creativity merges with technical design ability. Often, the designer will start with a basic design element or shape, and manipluate the individual vertices to create the desired object, or image. Multiple objects, colors, shadowing, and perspectives are used to place certain objects in front of others to achieve the desired ourcome. All graphic designers have different abilities and different tactics when designing - everyone will find their own. Here are some tips for several different design styles:
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Abstract Designs - Base your logo off a major object, symbol or idea related to your company. Use curves, colors, and imagination to create an image that hints of this object, but does not come right out and say it. You can also include an object in your logo that does not have anything to do with your company, but is merely a visual design element that helps create the image you are looking for. An example would be the Tidalworks logo; what better logo for a design company than a simple design itself.
Cartoon Logos - Make sure that your business image fits the Cartoon image if you are going with this logo. Your company should have a loose, happy, family oriented image. Be sure that your designer is skilled at hand drawn artwork and and cartoon logos - these designs require an entirely different skill set from a traditional logo.
Conservative Image - The conservative image is often perfect for legal, financial, real estate, or other related companies. Consider adding simple artwork such as lines, circles, or coloring in addition to your company text. Stick to basic colors including gray, red, white, black, and blue. If you are including another element, consider something that has the solid, fundamental reputation you are looking for.
New Age / Flashy - Try to come up with a logo that is unique, but still fits in with the technical or flashy style. It is easy to get sucked in with the masses here. Do not think that you need to have a 3d logo with a swoosh like everyone else. Although it might look nice at first, your logo will probably get lost in the masses and cost a lot to print too. Be creative and come up with something that is unique and sexy. |
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Logo Design Tutorial - Business Cards and Stationery
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Your business cards and stationery should not be overlooked as a valuable part of your corporate identity. You have just invested in a great logo design, now make sure that you get the business cards and stationery to compliment your new image. Often, it is beneficial to have the same company design your logo, business cards and stationery. Subtle artistic touches to your business cards and letterhead can make a world of a difference in helping your company stand out from the crowd. Consider adding shapes or simple shading or grayscale elements to your business cards. Experiment adding lines, or a box along the perimeter. The classic professional style, along with a subtle touch can go a long way.
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