Designing a logo seems very easy at first glance. However, once you start looking at the methodology and parameters factored into each design, the art of logo design quickly become complex and challenging. This short article outlines some of the more important parameters to be considered when designing a logo
Appropriate Style
This one is the most obvious and almost a no-brainer. Most novice designers get it right. The logos ‘look and feel’ should be appropriate for the company. A bank or law firm will have a more traditional look to it whereas a children’s day care might have a logo with crayon style fonts and finger paint style icons.
An Image That Conveys a Name
Having a target icon for a company called Target reinforces the actual name with an image. The same is true for John Deer. Some names don’t lend themselves to this solution. Companies like JC Penny, Walmart or Microsoft don’t really have this option. If your name can be conveyed in the form of an icon or image, you’ll gain a lot of branding power by using it to your advantage. If not, you might want to try to convey what you do in some sort of iconographic way.
Keep it Simple
Perhaps one of the most important aspects of logo design is simplicity. Some of the biggest companies in the world have the least complex logos. Think of a few examples like Apple Computer, John Deer, Target or Walmart. Each of these logos is extremely simple in design. Obviously each of these companies has billions of dollars they could sink into their design and have whole murals custom painted for them. Why do they choose simple icon type logos? The reason might not seem obvious, but in reality it is for multiple reasons:
- Media flexibility (looks good in print, video, web and signage)
- Scalable use (can be used on lapel pins, business cards, t-shirts, vinyl stickers, or billboards)
- Memorable icon image (no text is needed; an icon of an apple with a bite out of it and you know who the company is)
Colors
In general you should limit your solid colors to no more than two or three colors. Again, think of big companies like Target, Walmart, John Deer, Microsoft, McDonalds and others. There are hundreds of studies of color in psychology of marketing (see psychology of color).
- Black: Is the color of authority and power, stability and strength. It is also the color associated with intelligence (doctorate in black robe; black horn rimmed glasses, etc.)
- White: For most of the world this is the color associated with purity (wedding dresses); cleanliness (doctors in white coats) and the safety of bright light.
- Gray: Gray is most associated with the practical, timeless, middle-of-the-road, solid things in life.
- Red: If you want to draw attention, use red. It is often where the eye looks first. Red is the color of energy.
- Blue: Much of the world is blue (skies, seas). Seeing the color blue actually causes the body to produce chemicals that are calming. It also is often the color of trust.
- Green: The color of growth, nature, and money. A calming color also that’s very pleasing to the senses.
- Yellow: Cheerful yellow the color of the sun, associated with laughter, happiness and good times.
- Orange: It’s the color tied most this fun times, happy and energetic days, warmth and organic products. It is also associated with ambition.
- Purple: Purple is a royal color and is associated with wealth, prosperity, rich sophistication.
- Brown: This color is most associated with reliability, stability, and friendship. It’s the color of the earth itself “terra firma.”
Width and Height
Think about how your logo might be used most often. A large portion of logos today are rectangular in shape and have a ‘landscape’ proportion. If your logo has a different orientation, you might consider having official variations to deal with a wide variety of situations where a landscape orientation is idea. If your logo consists of an icon and some text, a logical solution might be to put the icon on the left and text on right. Logos like those of Target and Apple follow these conventions.