A logo is a symbol or a mark, which is recognized as an identity of a person, organization, or company.
The art of logo designing is being practiced since ancient times in the form of coins, emblems, and letter seals. Today it’s used as an identity for brands and persons.
The purpose of logos is to create a visual image of a brand in people’s minds. It promotes brand loyalty among customers. The proof of that is that we immediately recognize Coca-Cola’s logo on a billboard from far away.
Here we will go through the logo design process and its key steps. As a starter, this post will give you a headstart.
Logo design process
Logo designing is a multistep process. It’s not just using fancy graphic designing tools to create a pleasing sign. But creating a meaningful logo is no less than an art.
It’s a creative process that contains the following steps;
1. Understanding the client’s brief
You must understand the “Brief” given by your client. A Brief is a set of instructions from a client which explains everything about the company or brand for which you need to create a logo. Total comprehension of that will allow you to set goals.
2. Research
It is one of the most important steps in idea generation. Use the client’s provided information and search through the internet about the company, the industry, and the competitors. Read articles and blogs that help you gain more information.
3. Generating an idea
It might be the most difficult process. It is solely based on your creative thinking. For this, the best approach might be observing designs on websites like Behance and Dribble. Just open the website, search your idea, and look at the designs and save the ones you like.
Another effective method is brainstorming through words. Take a notepad and write a few keywords regarding your brief, keep writing similar words and connect them to the relative words till you make a mind map. This is one of the most used creative processes by logo designers.
4. Designing
A designing process contains two major portions.
The first one is sketching on paper, remember that you don’t need to be an amazing artist to become a good designer. Just sketch whatever idea is in your mind. Making several different sketches improves the outcome.
Once you are happy with the design, you can start designing on graphic designing software. You can either design you’re your idea from scratch or take a picture of your idea and transfer it to the designing tool you are using and then trace your idea. I prefer the latter.
5. Revisions
Always remember that your final design might not be liked by your client. So, the client most probably asks you for changes, like color, shape, and size. These are called revisions, a client may ask from few to many revisions based on your design as well as the client’s nature.
6. Presenting
The next thing you have to do is presenting your final logo to your client. You can create a PowerPoint presentation, or make a PDF file. This shall include the design process: how did your design evolved throughout the whole procedure, the psychology of the color scheme used, and how well it harmonizes with the brief.
Your client may ask for an in-person presentation in the office or just a PDF presentation.
Logo designing Softwares
What software should you use if you are just starting logo designing?
Here is a list of a few most popular ones used all around the designer community.
· Adobe illustrator: It’s a professional graphic designing software. Most of the clients request file formats of the Illustrator (Subscription: $33.99/month).
· Inkscape: it’s free software that performs just as well as others. (Free)
· Affinity Designer: one of the best software for creating graphics on Mac. (Price: $49.99)
· Canva: free software for casual designers. (Free)
Where do beginners go wrong?
People think that learning the tools is the hard part of logo design. It is utterly absurd. The most difficult job in this process is to generate a new idea and give soul to it by creating a visual representation of that.
You can learn Adobe illustrator in a month or so, but that doesn’t guarantee that you will make good designs.
So what does a good design demand?
“Observing”. The most fundamental concept in art is observation. Our minds are complex machines, we observe things and perceive them how we think, and then we try to recreate them. The more ideas you can generate, the better the outcome of your designs will be.
Another thing that beginners do is that they try to copy other designers, by doing so, you are putting cork to the flow of ideas in your brain. Also, it is considered very unethical in the community.
