Logo-a-Go-Go Part 2

Last week, I shared some things to keep in mind when you're working on designing your logo. It doesn't need to be something fancy, but you do want to be thoughtful in making decisions when you're coming up with something to represent your company.

This week, I'm going to share a simplified version of the process I go through when I'm making a logo for client; in this case, I've invented a company called "Miller and Sons Painting"

I'm working in Adobe Illustrator, but you can use whatever tools you have; Microsoft Publisher, Photoshop Elements, MS Paint... there are loads of consumer-level programs out there that will allow you to create your logo. The main thing is you want to be able to save your file as an image file format; .EPS, .TIF, .PDF, and .JPG are all good ways to go.One request though! Please don't use Excel! It's great for numbers, not so great for logo design! :)

So when I'm starting out, I'll just type in the company name to see what I'm working with, and if anything jumps out at me right away.
Here's our company name in my default font, Times Roman:

Doesn't look like much, right? Just the words, typed out. No biggie. This could have been cut out from an email or something!

So I'll start playing around with fonts... my style is simple and clean, so I am really drawn to classic fonts... this one's called Futura Medium:

OK, it's a little less generic, and a little more interesting than the plain Times.

Let's play around a little bit; when I look at this name, what they do is more important than their last name (remember what I said about McDonald's and Nike?) So I'll make it all caps so it stands out a little more:

Hmmm... now we're getting somewhere! I like the look of the mixed upper and lower case... what else can I do?

I put PAINTING on a second line and bolded it, giving us this:

All right! I like this! I want to make it a little more logo and a little less words, so I go to the next step...

I make the Miller & Sons all lower case and remove the spaces between the words. I really like the visual difference the ampersand gives between the lowercase letters, and by removing the space between the letters, it's a more visually substantial block.

Here is where I'm going to start adding some final touches to our design; I want to put a little more emphasis on the PAINTING word, so I put it on a reversed out block and tighten up the space between the lines, scootching the Miller & Sons down so it's just above the top of the block. (And yes, scootch is a technical design word!)

Hmmm... it's OK, but not quite finished enough. For my final step, I ditch the plain box and swap it out for a swash that looks like it was made by a paintbrush. and make it red. I also outlined my text in white so that it really pops against the black. And voila!

Stick it on a business card and voila! You're officially on your way to creating your corporate identity and brand!

Check back soon for a few more handy tips and tricks for designing an effective ad... and as always, please feel free to leave questions here in the comments, on our Facebook page
or you can always tweet us! I'd love to hear from you; we're always here to help!