10 MIND BLOWING Logo Design Tips ✍️ 2024
Howto & Style
Introduction
Designing a logo is more than just crafting a pretty picture; it’s about creating a visual identity that resonates with a brand's audience. Here are ten transformative tips that can elevate your logo design game, all drawn from over a decade of experience in creating brand identities.
1. Your Eyes Are Lying to You
When designing logos, remember that color plays with perception. For instance, a white logo against a dark background appears larger than a black logo on a light background. This optical illusion, first noted by Galileo, can be countered by adding a stroke to your logo. This adjustment ensures that your logo maintains a consistent size and appearance, regardless of its color.
2. The Boning Effect
This quirky design principle arises when a round shape meets a straight line, creating an unnatural bend that resembles a bone. To combat this effect, gently curve the point where the shapes connect. By adjusting anchor points and gradients, you can create a more fluid and professional look, enhancing your logo's scalability.
3. The Noun Method
Inspired by Alan Peters, this technique involves merging simple ideas into a cohesive logo. For example, a café named "Bone and Bread" can generate logo ideas by visually representing its key nouns. Sketch simple forms of these nouns, combine them thoughtfully, and you’ll create a memorable logo that resonates with your target audience.
4. Creating Clear Space
Establishing clear space around your logo can be a challenge. To simplify this, identify a common shape related to your logo's typography (such as x-height or cap height). Duplicate this shape around your logo, create a square artboard, and you’ll easily maintain proportionality when exporting your logo.
5. Perfect Isn’t Perfect
Logos made with perfect shapes can appear amateurish. Instead, utilize slightly imperfect shapes to create a more natural look. Human perception is better at judging width than height, so manipulating the proportions of your shapes subtly can yield a more appealing design.
6. Quick Sketches
Generating ideas should be an expansive process. To avoid overthinking, spend 20 minutes sketching 20 different logo concepts, resisting the urge to erase any mistakes. This practice encourages intuition and spontaneity, leading to unexpected and exciting design discoveries.
7. Reflecting Your Logotypes
A unique but effective way to spot typographic errors is to reflect your logo type. Flipping your design enables you to focus on its shapes rather than reading, making it easier to identify inconsistencies in alignment, weights, and balance.
8. Reverse Image Search
The annoyance of creating a seemingly unique logo only to find a similar one is all too common. To avoid this, conduct a reverse image search after your design is complete. This quick method can help you ensure that your logo stands out from the competition.
9. Mind Mapping
Before diving into the design process, take some time to brainstorm and mind map concepts, nouns, and visual descriptions that relate to the logo. Using an app like MindNode can help illustrate nuanced connections, leading to more informed and creative design choices.
10. Embrace Experimentation
Lastly, approach your design work as an experiment. Design doesn’t have to be grueling; embracing trial and error can lead to fantastic results. If something doesn’t work, just move on—no need for the final product to be perfect on the first try.
If you found these tips insightful, remember to subscribe for more design advice! For those interested in deepening their logo design skills, check out my course on logo type design at Design Academy – a fantastic resource for any aspiring graphic designer.
Keyword
- Logo design
- Perception
- Boning effect
- Noun method
- Clear space
- Imperfect shapes
- Sketching
- Reflecting typography
- Reverse image search
- Mind mapping
- Experimentation
FAQ
Q1: Why do white logos appear larger than black logos?
A1: This phenomenon occurs due to the way bright objects seem to glow against dark backgrounds, creating an optical illusion.
Q2: What is the Boning Effect in logo design?
A2: The Boning Effect refers to the unnatural bend that occurs when a round shape meets a straight line, making the logo appear less professional.
Q3: What is the Noun Method?
A3: The Noun Method involves combining simple representations of key nouns related to a brand into a cohesive logo design.
Q4: How can I create clear space around my logo?
A4: Establish a common shape from your logo’s typography and duplicate it around the logo. This method helps maintain proportionate spacing.
Q5: What is the benefit of sketching multiple ideas quickly?
A5: Rapid sketching allows for a flow of creativity without the pressure to create perfect designs, leading to unique insights and concepts.
Q6: How can I find out if my logo has been used before?
A6: Perform a reverse image search using a snapshot of your logo to check for similar images online.
Q7: What is mind mapping in the context of logo design?
A7: Mind mapping is the practice of visually organizing thoughts and concepts related to a logo, which can lead to more insightful, creative designs.
