12 rules for designing a logo

1. Preliminary Work Is a Must

Preliminary sketches are an important first step in designing an effective logo.

These can be as simple as paper and pen drawings or drafts made using a vector program, such as Illustrator.Start with 20 to 30 sketches or ideas and then branch out to create variations of the original ideas.

2. Create Balance

Keep your logo balanced by keeping the “weight” of the graphics, colors, and size equal on each side.

3. Size Matters

When it comes to logo design, size does matter. A logo has to look good and be legible at all sizes.

A logo is not effective if it loses too much definition when scaled down for letterheads, envelopes, and small promotional items. The logo also has to look good when used for larger formats, such as posters, billboards, and electronic formats such as TV and the Web.The most reliable way to determine if a logo works at all sizes is to actually test it yourself.

4. Clever Use of Color

• Use colors near to each other on the color wheel (e.g. for a “warm” palette, use red, orange, and yellow hues).
• Don’t use colors that are so bright that they are hard on the eyes.
• The logo must also look good in black and white, grayscale, and two colors.
• Breaking the rules sometimes is okay; just make sure you have a good reason to!

Knowing how colors evoke feelings and moods is also important. For example, red can evoke feelings of aggression, love, passion, and strength.

Keep this in mind as you try out different color combinations, and try to match the color to the overall tone and feel of the brand.

Playing around with individual colors on their own is another good idea. Some brands are recognizable solely by their distinct color. For example, when you think of John Deere, you think of the “John Deere green” color, and this sets this brand apart from its competitors and, more importantly, makes the brand all the more recognizable.

5. Design Style Should Suit the Company

You can use various design styles when creating a logo, and to pick the right one, you should have some background information about the client and the brand. Research your client and its audience before you begin your preliminary work.

6. Typography Matters… a Lot!

If your logo design includes text, either as part of the logo or in the tagline, you will need to spend time sorting through various font types — often, dozens of them — and testing them in your design before making a final decision.Try both serif fonts and sans-serif fonts as well as script, italics, bold, and custom fonts.

Consider three main points when choosing a font to accompany your logo design:

• Avoid the most commonly used fonts, such as Comic Sans, or else your design may come off as amateurish.
• Make sure the font is legible when scaled down, especially with script fonts.
• One font is ideal, and avoid more than two.

7. The Goal IS Recognition

The whole point of creating a logo is to build brand recognition. So, how do you go about doing this?

Well, it varies from case to case, but the goal with the logo is for the average person to instantly call the brand to mind.

The key to making a popular and recognizable logo is to combine all of the elements discussed in this article: size, style, color, typography, and originality.

A quick test to determine if your logo is recognizable enough is to invert it using any graphic design software and see if you can still recognize the brand. Additionally, you should mirror the logo and see if it’s easily recognizable in this state.

8. Dare to be Different

To stand out from the competition, you must distinguish yourself as a designer with a distinct style. Rather than copy another design or style, be innovative and stand out from the crowd.

So, how can you be different? Try breaking the rules of design and taking risks.

9. K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple, Stupid)

The simpler the logo, the more recognizable it will be.

Follow the K.I.S.S. rule right from the start of the design process, when you are brainstorming ideas and doodling sketches.Work the design down to its essentials and leave out all unnecessary elements.

10. Go Easy on Effects

Adobe Illustrator, Freehand, Photoshop, and other graphic design programs are extremely powerful tools and have many filters and effects that you can apply to your logo, but don’t get carried away!

11. Develop a Design “Assembly Line”

Research

• Brainstorm and generate ideas
• Preliminary sketches
• Develop vector designs
• Send to client
• Add or remove anything the client wants
• Finalize the design and resubmit to client

12. Use Other Designs for Inspiration Only!

The last rule for designing an effective logo is quite simple: don’t copy other designers’ work! While there’s nothing wrong with being inspired by other designers, copying another person’s ideas or work is morally and legally wrong.

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/06/12-essential-rules-to-follow-when-designing-a-logo/

Stefan Kanchev was one of the biggest graphic designers in Bulgaria who created his famous logos in the 70s, but they’re still used today.

You can learn more about his work here:

http://stefankanchev.com/en/

Back at my hometown the annual design festival SOFIA DESIGN WEEK began yesterday. It’s an event that transforms more than 50 locations all over the downtown with various exhibitions, workshops, installations, etc.

Day 1 for me involved visiting A Place for Posters - an exhibition by young graphic designers and their contextual posters, made exclusively for a certain place in the city and photographed there.

Next was a magical place called Fabrica 126, which used to be a factory. The workshop there was: PUMA CREATIVE FACTORY - LOVE THY PLANET, where visitors can print their own t-shirts all made of organic materials.

HIP HIP atelier as they state on their website is: a contemporary art space and workshop where forward thinking and creative individuals can develop their ideas into projects and display the final outcome in the form of exhibition, installation, performance and multimedia.
It is a place I will definitely give a second visit, because they have a great collection of prints and zines. 

Last but not least was the garden of LUMAGI’S HOUSE:

Day 2 of Sofia Design week was more about interior design.

The first exhibition I visited was by the Belgian design company Extremis and was called 365 days of Summer. It showcased future classics from the interior design area with very nice and clear shapes.

A:part:mental is a very interesting artistic place. It was hard to tell what exactly was part of the exhibition because it’s so colourful and full of weird objects:

Next were Genevieve Gauckler’s cool illustrations. Her clients include Yves Saint Laurent, Renault, Bourjois, Coca-Cola, Skype, PlayStation, Orange, o2 Germany, Adobe. You can check out her portfolio here:

http://www.genevievegauckler.com/

The highlight of the day was definitely an exhibition about the Cyrillic alphabet:  http://www.alphapretation.bg/#start

Yesterday I had the opportunity to see Ivaylo Nedkov’s work.
He is last year’s winner in the poster design competition and I believe his work’s worth checking out:
http://dribbble.com/IvayloNedkov

Next was some pretty nice and original summer fashion design by young Bulgarian artists:

And finally the annual exhibition in the National Academy of Arts, showcasing some of the best student’s work. I particularly liked the poster design, the great typography examples and the fresh students book cover design they have produced: