4 Tips for Logo Design

Logo design projects involve a lot of give and take and collaboration between the designer and the client. You may come up with some amazing ideas, but ultimately what the client wants and what the client's target audience will respond to should dictate your design goals. Here are some quick tips to help create effective, long-lasting logos:

1. Begin in black and white While the final design may have color, starting with black and white helps simplify the brainstorming process. Concentrate on the shapes, ideas and combination of text and images that strikes at the essence of the company or brand. If the logo looks great in black and white, that's a sign that it is really visually effective and does not rely on color to carry it. 2. Think about future uses Another good test of potential logo ideas is to think about how the logo will be used in the future of the business. Will it be placed on letterhead, pens, posters, T-shirts, billboards, in e-mails, etc.? One way to know if your logo design might be too complicated is to shrink it down to a small size, say, for use on pens. Can you still see the logo or does it completely lose it's effect? Try making it very large and ask the same kinds of questions. 3. Go for simple and recognizable You want to create a simple logo that affects viewers immediately and is easily recognizable. Customers may only have a matter of seconds to view the logo, and the goal is to have them recall the logo the next time they see it. Stick to one or two fonts at the most and be sure all the components are legible and easy to see. Be straightforward, don't get too hung up on metaphors and special meanings. 4. Treat text and images separately It's preferable to have your client indicate whether they're interested in a typeface or text logo, such as the IBM logo, or an image or icon logo, such as the Apple Computer's logo. If you are not sure which they prefer, create text logos, image logos and a combination of text and image for every idea you present. Don't worry about taglines during the logo design process, it will only complicate things and its easier to combine taglines with an approved logo design later.