LOGO DESIGN COLOR PSYCHOLOGY

Choose colors that match your mission and the message you wish to convey

Of all the forms of non-verbal communication, color is the most instantaneous method of conveying messages and meanings. Before humans learned to appreciate the aesthetics of color, there were far more practical aspects of communications with color. Our very survival depends on the ability to identify necessary objects and/or warnings signs whether they are animal, vegetable or mineral and color is integral part of the identification process.

Among other uses, color stimulates and works synergistically with all of the senses, symbolizes abstract concepts and thoughts, expresses fantasy or wish fulfillment, recalls another time or place and produces an aesthetic or emotional response

There is no better place to gage the effectiveness of color than in the marketplace where it is a vital key in communicating a positive, enticing and irresistible image to a product. Often called the "silent salesperson," color must immediately attract the consumer's eye, convey the message of what the product is all about, create a brand identity and, most importantly, help to make the sale. At the very least (as on a Web page or in a print ad), it must create enough interest or curiosity to induce the would-be buyer to find out more about the product (or service).

Much of the human reaction to color is subliminal and consumers are generally unaware of the pervasive and persuasive effects of color. Psychological effect is instantaneous as color stimulates the senses and exerts its power of suggestion. The power that color wields is seen at every level of communication: in corporate identification and logos, signage, advertising on television, billboards, in print media and packaging, on the computer and at point-of-purchase.

As an example of color's power in marketing (and one we can all relate to) as consumers speed down the market aisles, their eyes rest on a package for approximately .03 seconds.
In that blinking-of-an-eyelash timing, the package must rivet the observers' eyes, inform them of the package contents and, more importantly, appeal to their psyches.

Doing Your Own Company Logo Design

Having your company logo design done by a professional can be an expensive process. Hopefully this tutorial will give you some ideas on creating your company logo yourself.

If you plan to have your company logo printed on paper at any stage, I would strongly advise making it high resolution (300 dots per inch or more), otherwise your company logo will look pixellated when you print it. You can always create a smaller, lower-quality version of your company logo design for the web.

1 – The company name

Start by using the Text Tool and typing the main word of your company name. Select a darkish or midtone colour, and choose a serif (curly-edged) font such as Palatino Linotype or Times New Roman. Use all capitals, and slightly enlarge the first letter.

2 – Creating the company logo sub-text

Using the same font, put the rest of your company name, or some other descriptive phrase, underneath the main header. Use a much smaller font size, and increase the letter spacing by typing a high number into the "Tracking" box. (Alternatively, you can just put a space between each letter.)

The horizontal lines I've put in help to separate out and highlight the text of the company logo. An easy way to make a line is to use the text tool and type an underscore ( _ ), then press Ctrl+T to transform it into an elongated shape.

3 – Adding a graphic element to your company logo design

With just words and lines, your logo design will look dull.

If you don't already have a small image you'd like to use, you can use the Shape Tool in Adobe Photoshop 6.0 and 7 to draw a shape.

Another option is to use the Text Tool, and type a character in the Wingdings font.

At this point, your company logo design is finished, and will look good both on screen and on paper. However, if you want to embellish it further for the screen, then read on. Embellishing your company logo design will make it look nicer, but it won't be as clear.

4 – Adding a vertical border to your company logo

A black border like this will help accentuate the colours in your logo design. With your background colour set to black, click Image > Canvas Size, and increase the height of the image a bit. The extra space on your logo design will be filled with the background colour (black).

5 – Watermarking your company logo

Choose a very light grey colour, select the Text Tool, and write "jk" in Wingdings font. Make the font size very large. "j" and "k" in Wingdings show up as nice swirly characters, which make a nice watermark. In the Layers window, drag this layer almost to the bottom of the list, so it doesn't cover up any other layers.

6 – Adding some effects

To add some effects, right-click on a layer, then click "Effects" (Adobe Photoshop 5) or "Blending Options" (Adobe Photoshop 7.0 and 6). I added the following effects to some of the layers: Bevel and Emboss (set to Inner Bevel), Drop Shadow, Gradient Overlay (set to Overlay mode.)

I also changed the Comco header's text colour to blue, and made the horizontal lines orange. Feel free to change any of the colours on your company logo to whatever suits your purpose.

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Logo Design Studio 2.1.31 is a complete version of the program includes nearly 850 objects and 215 templates logos. Logo Design Studio 2.1.31 is a complete version of the program includes nearly 850 objects and 215 templates logos. Objects are grouped by categories: areas, signs and symbols, sports, alphabet, basic shapes, seals, flags, etcetera. Objects are group by categories: areas, signs and symbols, sports, alphabet, basic shapes, seals, flags, etcetera.

In addition, Logo Design Studio 2.1.31 allows different effects on the elements that give a more professional compositions transparency, shading, framing or Relive. In addition, Logo Design Studio 2.1.31 allows different effects on the elements that give a more professional compositions transparency, shading, framing or Relive.

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5 vital logo design tips

1. Learn what a logo is and what it represents

Before you design one, you must understand what a logo is, what it represents and what it is supposed to do. A logo is not just a mark – it reflects a business’s commercial brand through the use of shape, fonts, colour, and / or images.

A logo is for inspiring trust, recognition and admiration for a company or product and it is our job as designers to create an identity that will do its job.

One must first know what a logo is before continuing.

For further Reading on what a logo is, check out Wikipedia’s definition or CreativeBits’s discussion on what is a logo?

2. Know the rules and principles of logo design

Now that you know what a logo is supposed to do, and what it should represent, you now must learn what makes a great logo aka; the basic rules and principles.

As David says:

1. A logo must be describable
2. A logo must be memorable
3. A logo must be effective without colour
4. A logo must be scalable i.e. effective when just an inch in size

For Further reading on the rules and principles of great logo design I highly recommend reading these logo design tips from Logo Factory before continuing.

3. Learn off other’s successes and mistake
Successful Logos

Now you know what the rules are, you can distinguish the difference between a good and a bad logo. Knowing which logos have succeeded, and why, gives an insight into what makes a good logo.

For example, let’s look at the classic Nike Swoosh (shown above). This logo was created by Caroline Davidson in 1971 for only $35, yet it’s still a strong, memorable logo, effective without colour and easily scalable. It is simple, fluid and fast, and represents the wing in the famous statue of the Greek Goddess of victory, Nike (something perfect for a sporting apparel business). The Nike logo is just one of many great designs, think about other famous brands that you know about and check out their logos. What makes them successful?

For more quality, lesser known logos I recommend browsing LogoPond or visiting your local book store or library and reading some books on logo design.

The Not So Successful Logos

We can also learn from logos that have not been too successful, such as the ones on the right of the above picture. Some more very bad logos can be seen in the post is your logo design phallic? As seen in that post, some logos can depict things that may not always be noticeable to the designer (as in the middle logo above) or they could just be plain bad design, as in the logo to the right (above).

4. Establish your own logo design process

Now that we know what a logo is, what the principles and rules of logo design are and what makes a successful logo, we’re now prepared to begin the design process. This is the hardest part of these 5 tips, and is a whole topic in itself. Each person’s process is different and experience is usually the key factor when creating your own logo design process. For an example of a well established method, take a look at David Airey’s logo design process.

In short, a logo design process usually consists of:

1. The Design Brief
2. Research and Brainstorming
3. Sketching
4. Prototyping and Conceptualising (See Step 5)
5. Send to Client for Review
6. Revise and Add Finishing Touches
7. Supply Files to Client and Provide Customer Service

If you ever get stuck before or during your design process, I’ve provided some tips on How To Boost Your Creativity.

5. Learn the software and complete the logo

After you have got your design process sorted out, it is usually a good time to begin mastering your software (here’s a selection of Adobe Illustrator tutorials for reference). But before I get to that, I want to point out that Step 4 and Step 5 overlap, as it’s a catch 22 situation – you can’t design a logo by just hopping straight onto the computer, nor can you complete a logo design without knowing your software (the Adobe Creative Suite is a popular choice with professional designers).

Putting this aside, once you have arrived at your initial ideas and sketches from brainstorming, you can then move onto the computer to start digitizing your logo. After you have digitized the great concept(s), your client is ready to review your work, ask for possible revisions, and complete the design project. Thus, you have successfully created a professional logo.

Logo Design Studio

Logo Design Studio offers the greatest range of designer tools to help you quickly and easily create an identity from your own library of uniquely branded logos and graphic images. By modifying or importing images, shapes, graphic objects and text, each professionally designed logo included in the software is able to produce thousands of unique results-all in a matter of minutes! By modifying or importing images, shapes, graphic objects and text, each professionally designed logo included in the software is able to produce thousands of unique results-all in a matter of minutes! If your identity evolves or completely changes at any time, simply recreate a new company logo design at no additional cost. If your identity evolves or completely changes at any time, simply recreate a new company logo design at no additional cost.

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Basic Building Blocks for Logo Design

The basis of many a logo design and graphic image are simple geometric shapes - lines, circles, squares, and Triangles. Even the graphically-challenged can create great graphics for logos, newsletters, fliers, or web pages using these basic building blocks. In logo design, simplicity is a good thing.

This is not a do this, then do this, then do this type of logo design tutorial. Instead, discover (or re discounted cover) ways to use simple shapes in logo design and creating other custom graphics.

Examples throughout this article are done in Coral DRAW, a vector drawing program. They utilize only the most basic tools - no fancy filters, fills, or complex manipulations. Look for the simple shapes that make up each graphic illustration or logo design.

Lines come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Don't get stuck in a rut.

Vary the thickness of the lines.

Make lines of dots, dashes, or combinations.

Look at the patterns that a series of lines make.

Use lines to direct eye flow.

Use lines to form barriers.

Use lines to indicate connections.

Use lines to show movement.

Be aware of what the shape of lines can convey. Sharp edges could indicate tension, crispness, hardness, formality, or high tech. Soft edges and curves may be softer, flowing, more casual, or more personal.Even small changes in line thickness, endings, or shape changes can alter the look and feel of a design.

In the "Advanced" logo design example, the lines that make up the triangle (letter A) go from thick at the bottom to thin at the top. They also suggest a set of steps (advancement) leading upward.

Notice how the round line endings give the hammer -- drawn freehand with straight and curved lines -- a softer feel.

The second version of the ifiche logo design uses rounded line endings and more curves (in the fins/lashes). Notice that a different typeface is chosen for each, to match the style of lines.

You can also create interesting patterns with a series of repeating lines. None of these designs rely on color -- although changes in color can further change the appearance of the lines.

Create Sketches Based on the Initial Customer's Initial Request.

The creation of a series of initial sketches to a request for creative design requires a complex approach. For one, it is necessary to consider the request to design and multiple exploration areas that it provides. It is also necessary to consider the group of sketches, not only as unique concepts that respond to the request, but added that creative attempt to cover all possible areas of creative exploration.



CONSIDERATIONS ON THE REQUIREMENT OF DESIGN

In our case, the survey of customer requirements is achieved through a questionnaire. The aim is to concentrate on a document all information that the designer needs to generate the initial sketches of the logo. In theory, the initial request should provide the designer to communicate a concept, being in charge of the same resolution graphics. In practice, rarely provides the customer information accurate enough to work on a clearly defined concept.

Since our focus to the development of corporate identity, our customers are the vast majority of newly established companies or projects in development. Being at an early stage of their development strategies:

a) They are tacit: The entrepreneur is pursuing the project without developing a formal process of strategic development. "View" a direction and it is going.
b) They are ambiguous: The entrepreneurial aspect of a generalized strategy because he has no clear answer to their market or a commercial in front of him. Example "We sell to all those who want to buy me"

c) They are invalid.

The survey design can only look at the company's competitive strategy. When the strategy has not been properly developed, the survey shows, and there is a conceptual ambiguity that defines an "exploration area". If for example we are designing a logo for a children's clothing store, is not as if the shop is for both sexes, for children 3 to 5 years or 10 to 12 years. An unambiguous indication of the type "sell children's clothes ... we still do not know if it will be clothes for girls only, or also if you sell children's clothing" creates an exploration area that the designer should consider:

a) Sketch for female children

b) Sketch for children of both sexes

c) Sketch for preadolescent children

We're not talking here about a company that has decided to take up new market segments (planning), but on the verbalization of possibilities. In theory, the designer should have accurate information to tailor their work, but it is also true that corporate action is flexible, and the tactics and strategies are in line with the reality of the market permanently.

At the request was also made other definitions of highly subjective nature. Allusions to image or style ( "sophisticated", "traditional", "modern", "technical") but are useful references, also leads to multiple interpretations. The designer must determine what is "sophisticated" "traditional", "modern" for the customer. In the initial requirements are antagonistic concepts from (classical and modern ") to values that are difficult to measure by the designer. For example: a church that seeks a progressive image, or signature of a multimedia production that seeks a conservative image.


CONSIDERATIONS ON CREATING A GROUP OF SKETCHES

We talked about the conceptual exploration area. If all goes well, it will be possible to generate a set of ideas that synthesize the characteristics that identify the firm. Comes to its resolution graphics. Not only is it necessary that the designs "contain" a relevant, but also generate a range of styles that allows the customer to approach the graphical appearance to their liking. In many cases, the style becomes very concept.

Considered a group, the sketches are more than a set of graphic designs that attempt to solve a particular requirement. In fact, all of sketches designed to cover the space defined by a matrix of two dimensions: concept and graphic resolution. On the matrix, the sketches do not overlap, but share the space available to offer alternatives that satisfy customer requirements .. Have been much more ambiguous indications, the wider the space to complete, and thus should be more generic design. Have been much more precise indications, it will be ported to the concept designs.


FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

The markets have characteristics that affect the type of visual identity that companies looking for:

a) High-level segment: Companies no longer point to the market, but market niches. In every niche, competitiveness of the bidders is given by the (high) compatibility with customer expectations

b) The high level of competition out among a multitude of competing demands high levels of differentiation and impact

c) The increasing importance of symbolic aspects of consumption in all markets: symbolic consumption is increasing, even in technology markets

c) The shortening of the life cycle of products and companies are seeking an immediate impact because the commercial and technical obsolescence requires quick results

d) The media and super brands: Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Dell, among others, are examples of marketing strategies based on huge investments in communication. The media have an enormous impact on consumers and firms to help build brands more valuable than their physical facilities.

The logos should be created from a vision of self-organization, representing its identity, its values and drivers of differentiation. Today is the common pursuit of "mythical logo" design that dazzle, creates its own demand, and will be remembered as much as those who are backed by a huge (and successful) media campaign for a long time. And this search is not only a mistake in choosing the logo, but the entire strategy firm.

Always has been discussed on the role of design in these cases. We believe that the orientation is implicit in the designs provided. As the design progresses, the client has the opportunity to be the architect of the corporate identity you are looking for.