Logo design may appear simple, after all it’s just some graphics and fonts right?
Well, not exactly. It’s so much more. Color, balance, harmony, white space, negative space, proportions, design elements and an non-verbal that accurately sums up a businesses purpose and vision in one recognizable mark.
The typical design of a logo goes through several steps and processes.
For instance, one of my recent logo designs started with a series of hand drawn sketches. When working this way I will often turn my paper at several angles and work upside down to get the balance and spacing just right. I’ll do this for 12 different concepts at least. Sometimes it flows and all of them are great. Sometimes they all fall short of my expectations. I walk away, put it on hold and come back to the drawing board again later.
Check out the visuals as you read on.
Once the logo is decided and I like the paper version ( a few shown above), I’ll evolve it into a digital version where I create the concept and line art in Illustrator. Then several million (it seemed) versions of different colors. Different sizes and how the logo would look on the web reversed; in print reversed. 2-color, black and white. Spot colors and CMYK. In print, I need to identify how the logo will print on different papers. How will it look with a gloss finish? How will it look with a matte finish?
At this time, I’ll submit the best ones to the client (shown above a few out of several). Usually 6-10 logo concepts. Additional tweaking is expected because in most cases the client wants to see even more versions.
The logo process is very important and developing a mark, icon, visual representation of the business makes a lasting impression. You get one shot to make the connection and I aim to make it perfect!
