What sets a great logo apart from an average logo? Well, there are actually a great number of things. A few of which we will cover in this post. We will stick to the basics for now and progress further into detail in more posts to come.
Photo by Josefa nDiaz on Unsplash
Simplicity
A great logo is very simple. Think about the Nike tick, so simple, yet so effective. Another great example is the FedEx Logo. It might seem extremely basic and, well, perhaps a bit boring, but it works. In fact, there is a hidden symbol in the FedEx logo, can you spot it? Simplicity is required in a logo for a few reasons. The main reasons are: one, it is easy to remember a simple logo and, two, a simple logo is timeless.
HINT: Can you see the arrow formed by the negative space between the E and the X?
Fedex logo and Nike logo from commons.wikimedia.org
Versatility
A logo needs to be versatile. Too often I see junior designers design logos that cannot be used in various ways. Remember, a logo needs to be embroidered on clothes, stamped on documents, carved into wood, embossed on plastic and so on so forth. If your logo requires colour for it to make sense it is not going to work in a scenario where colour cannot be used – that is going to be a problem. You have to be able to convert the logo to black on white with it still making sense. It is the logo designer’s responsibility to make sure that the artwork will be so versatile that you can stamp, emboss, print, carve or stitch the logo into or onto whatever material required and it will still be 100% recognisable. Look at how versatile the logo below is.
Image from Epicdev
Creativity
What makes logo design hard is that you need to be as creative as possible whilst trying to keep it as minimalistic as possible. Have a look at the image below to see how designers are able to use as little colour and shape and be extremely creative at the same time.
Image from creativecan.com
Stay tuned for more information on effective logo design tips and techniques.
