As mentioned, a good logo is distinctive, appropriate, practical, graphic and simple in form, and it conveys the owner’s intended message. You should follow the five principles below to ensure that your design meets all of these criteria:

1. Simple
2. Memorable
3. Timeless
4. Versatile
5. Appropriate

1. Simple

Simplicity makes a logo design easily recognizable, versatile and memorable. Good logos feature something unexpected or unique, without being “overdrawn.”

While in college in the mid-’70s, an instructor introduced me to the K.I.S.S. Principle of design, which translates as: Keep It Simple, Stupid. It does convey a very important design consideration. Simple logos are often easily recognized, incredibly memorable and the most effective in conveying the requirements of the client.

A refined and distilled identity will also catch the attention of a viewer zipping by signage at 70 miles per hour, on packaging on the crowded shelves of a store, or in any other vehicle used for advertising, marketing and promotion. Remember, the basis of the hugely effective international branding for the world’s largest shoe manufacturer is a very simple graphic swoosh.

— Jeff Fisher

On that note, you may find the history of the Nike logo quite interesting.

2. Memorable

Following closely on this principle of simplicity is that of memorability. An effective logo design should be memorable, which is achieved by keeping it simple yet appropriate.

Surprising to many, the subject matter of a logo is of relatively little importance, and even appropriateness of content does not always play a significant role.

This does not imply that appropriateness is undesirable. It merely indicates that a one-to-one relationship between a symbol and what it symbolized is very often impossible to achieve and, under certain conditions, objectionable. Ultimately, the only mandate in the design of logos, it seems, is that they be distinctive, memorable, and clear.

— Paul Rand

3. Timeless

An effective logo should be timeless. Will yours stand the test of time? Will it still be effective in 10, 20 or 50 years?

Leave trends to the fashion industry. Trends come and go, and when you’re talking about changing a pair of jeans or buying a new dress, that’s fine, but where your brand identity is concerned, longevity is key. Don’t follow the pack. Stand out.

— David Airey

4. Versatile

An effective logo works across a variety of media and applications. For this reason, logos should be designed in vector format, to ensure that they scale to any size.

Ask yourself, is your logo still effective if it is printed…

• In one color?
• In reverse color (i.e. light logo on dark background)?
• The size of a postage stamp?
• As large as a billboard?

One way to create a versatile logo is to begin designing in black and white. This allows you to focus on the concept and shape, rather than color, which is subjective in nature. Also keep in mind printing costs: the more colors you use, the more expensive it will be for the business over the long term.

I like to work first in black and white to ensure that the logo will look good in its simplest form. Color is very subjective and emotional. This can distract from the overall design – say if you saw your logo in all red, that color may be the first thing that you respond to and not the composition of the design elements. I will not even consider submitting color suggestions to a client for review until they have signed off on a final black and white logo.

— Patrick Winfield

Familiarize yourself with the commercial printing process so that you do not encounter printing problems down the line. Know the difference between the CMYK, Pantone and RGB color systems.

5. Appropriate

How you “position” the logo should be appropriate for its intended audience. For example, a child-like font and color scheme would be appropriate for a logo for a children’s toy store, not so much for a law firm.

A logo doesn’t need to say what a company does. Restaurant logos don’t need to show food, dentist logos don’t need to show teeth, furniture store logos don’t need to show furniture. Just because it’s relevant, doesn’t mean you can’t do better. The Mercedes logo isn’t a car. The Virgin Atlantic logo isn’t an airplane. The Apple logo isn’t a computer. Etc.

— David Airey

Should a logo be self-explanatory? It is only by association with a product, a service, a business, or a corporation that a logo takes on any real meaning. It derives its meaning and usefulness from the quality of that which it symbolizes. If a company is second rate, the logo will eventually be perceived as second rate. It is foolhardy to believe that a logo will do its job immediately, before an audience has been properly conditioned.

— Paul Rand

 

- By smashingmagazine

More often than not when asking a client for their current logo, I am provided with a file format that is less than desirable for the project or situation.

Although this can be argued both ways, I’ve seen both instances where it was logo designers responsibility to provide the proper deliverables or the client was using an improper method of creating their logo.

Below is a list of deliverables that you as a client  should be getting from your logo designer.

What should you get: File formats

Getting a variety of file formats from your designer will only leave you satisfied in the long term.

Whether you are printing high quality, adding a logo to a website, or inserting your company logo into a Word document, there are various file formats that should be used over the other.

eps

An EPS file, or Encapsulated PostScript file, is a versatile vector format of your logo. In other words, you can resize your logo as big or small as needed without compromising the quality of the logo.

EPS is compatible in a large number of programs and is great for use with printed elements due to its high quality.

What’s it suitable for?

• Business cards
• Brochures
• Advertisements
• …anything that will be printed of high quality

jpg and gif

Although it cannot be scaled to a desired size like that of an EPS, JPGs and GIFs are great and preferred for internet use. Due to their smaller file size, they load faster on the web and still look ‘sharp’ to the eye when viewed on a computer monitor. I tend to create these files a little larger than most so my clients are able to downsize as needed.

What’s it suitable for?

• Websites
• Online Ads and Banners
• Email marketing and signatures
• anything ‘web-related’

tiff

A TIFF, or Tagged Image File Format, is a widely supported file format that works in just about any program. A TIFF is of higher quality than JPG or GIF, but not vector-formatted like an EPS.

Typically when sending TIFFs to clients I try to create them at a larger size, so if needed they can resize down or stay with the larger size for more versatility.

In certain cases, these can also be used for higher quality prints, granted they were created at 300 dpi and don’t need to resized larger than delivered.

What’s it suitable for?

• Microsoft Office programs
• Standard printing for common use (ie. invoices, letterheads, etc.)

Full Color

This should need no explanation, but provide your clients with a full colored, CMYK file for the printed file formats (EPS, TIFF) and RGB for the web formats (JPG, GIF). This way they don’t experience strange color issues when printing and will save them money with their printers.

So there you have all the necessary file formats for your logo design. Making sure you get all the necessary formats will only leave you with less worries over using your logo design in different media and making any change to your logo design later on.

-by theDesigncubicle

I receive many questions from both clients and other designers asking me “What makes a good logo?” Instead of focusing on what makes a logo look good (because we all know we can argue that point for days based on personal taste), I thought it would be best to focus on what makes a logo work well – a better question to ask yourself while designing a logo is “How flexible is the logo?”

Below are 5 tips and attributes your logo should have in order to work well, increase its flexibility and help it work better in more situations.

1. Works well in black, reversed-out and full color

A good logo should be created to work in black, reversed-out (white) and color. Many of times designers start to create their logo by introducing color right away. This often takes away from the concept because your mind is more focused on the “pretty colors.”

2. Works well in various sizes

Logos should be scalable and work well both large and small sizes. Try to avoid logos and marks that are overly complicated. As the old KISS saying goes, “Keep it simple, stupid!” Especially with logos being implemented favicons, on signage and business cards, logos need to be size flexible.

3. Ambidextrous

Logos should be able to work both horizontally and vertically. Typically, in most cases, I provide my clients with two variations to their logos, especially if the logo design was intended to be vertical – horizontal logos seem to work well on websites. It’s always good to make sure you’re logo is a switch hitter

4. Flexible logos are vector-ized

When creating a logo, you should be using vector-based software, such as Adobe Illustrator. This will give you the ability to provide various file formats and scalable logos. Typically I like to provide clients with various types of file formats, this way they have different files to implement into various programs they use.

5. Readable

Not only does a logo mark need to work well at various sizes but so does the text. When creating the mark at a smaller size try increasing the character spacing. This will help improve readability, especially when shrunken down and viewed from afar. Are you able to scale your logo without losing clarity?

Is your logo flexible? What other tips would you add to the above to make your logo work well in more instances?

- By thedesigncubicle