To know how to make a good logo design, we must first understand a logo.
Logos have been used since the dawn of civilization. You can find it on an Ethiopian kingdom’s flag or a clothing brand’s tag.
A logo is a graphical symbol representing a group or an organization. It is often a tiny graphical abbreviation referring to the group’s long name or purpose.
A logo is a face in front of the large entourage of the company, and it is how people graphically imagine it. A profound saying is that “the first impression is the last impression.”
In this modern world of pace and technology, the logo is the only weapon for a group to strike an intriguing first impression in the minds of the public.
It doesn’t matter if it is a shoe brand or a pharmaceutical company. If the logo is not eye-pleasing, then it isn’t going to have an impact on the customer’s mind.
So What Makes a Good Logo Design?
There are five main aspects of good logo design:
- Simplicity
- Impactfulness
- Versatility
- Appropriateness
- Timelessness
1. Simplicity
To make a logo well, first and foremost, it needs to be simple so that people can easily understand the company at a mere glance.
The logo should be short and clean to simplify, such as a design with just the initials of the company name like NASA or LV for Luis Vuitton. Or it can only be a simple picture representing the name, just like Apple.
2. Impactfulness
It also has to be an impactful design to the viewer to be a good logo so that people can remember the name and the logo for a long time.
The design should be intriguing and subtle to the viewer’s eyes, something that impacts the viewer in a way that they want to know more about the company and the logo they are looking at.
3. Versatility
When creating a logo, remember that it can be run across all different media types scalable to different sizes, such as a palm phone or a 500-inch billboard in the middle of times square. Its details should always be of perfect quality.
Don’t forget to test how different logo sizes and background proportions will look on the end media.
If you see that logo starts losing its recognition when scaled down, try to add some thickness to it. If a background proportion doesn’t suit your logo well, try to arrange its elements (symbol and typography) into a secondary logo design.
4. Appropriateness
It is also an essential part of the logo design to be relevant to the company’s target audience.
Before starting the design, you should be aware of the age group you’re trying to convey the message. Using flashy colors won’t interest a teen in the company, and using plain colors won’t excite the kiddos to the toys.
5. Timelessness
For a logo to be a masterpiece of art, a logo must be timeless. How will the logo affect people even 20 to 50 years after making it? Will it still be as intriguing as it seemed the first day it was made?
For that, the designer must think out of the box, out of the flow, and can’t follow the trend because trends come and go, but class never fades. Like the Apple logo, it’s been 43 years and is still one of the most classy logos ever made.
4 Steps You Should Take to Create a Good Logo Design
1. Research
To make a good logo, it is a must for the creator to gather information about what the company is about and what it is offering to the people. The company’s motto is a massive part of how the logo looks in the end.
It’s vital for your design to research competing companies and their logos and explore how newly created logos look.
2. Conceptualization
Then based on the information you’ll gather from the research, make a concept design and consult with your client if you’re on the right path.
Having more than one sketch is always better because the contrast between them makes one stand out from the other.
During the sketching process, you must remember that logos must have all the factors mentioned above, such as simplicity, versatility, impactful, timelessness, and appropriation.
The choice of colors must be on point, and the design must be carefully created so it can express the motto of the company graphically and as well as carry the name.
The designer should make a lot of sketches and keep all the discarded designs at first because the more examples you draw, the more ideas you have in hard copy, which is easier to access and work on.
3. Revision
After finalization, you must revise all the designs and unfinished works in case you’ve missed the point.
Revision is essential at this point because to make a logo a good logo, you have to be very careful with the design and how it is carrying the message transmitted by the company.
Tiny details can add to the end design, so attention to detail is required. Even after finishing with the design, you should take the time and review the end logo again.
4. Maintenance
After you’ve finalized the logo, the process might not end. Some issues regarding the logo can arise, and you’ll need to fix them. Every improvement you make will increase the quality of the logo in the end.
After all, those recommended procedures were just guidelines for a good logo design. Still, the designer is the one who will add the meat to the bone.
You have to be creative and bold in your design because, in the case of the logo, you can’t rely on the current trend. You have to think out of the box and be innovative.
Final Words
The question of what makes a good logo design will have different answers at different times.
At a time, the more complicated your logo was, the better it was, the more art and decoration involved in it would make it the best seller, and sometimes the simpler it is, the better it is.
The most amazing logos are the ones that survived different trends, and they were versatile enough to adjust to needs through the times and didn’t lose their essence. Big companies have set their logos to be a mark of excellence, and a good logo should be like that, evergreen.
It is like an emblem of honor and achievement of the companies. They don’t need any subtitles under their logos for recognition; the logotype itself is enough for the person to recognize the brand behind it.
The famous logos have the qualities listed and explained above, or can I say all of them have mastered the qualities listed above.
To make a good logo design, you should ensure you can successfully include all the great qualities from the list above, and every aspect will complement each other. In this way, you can design a perfect logo.
You might think a good logo design consists only of these aspects. Still, no, some logos might make you say, “Wow.” Still, after carefully examining them, you may see that they don’t contain all the abovementioned aspects.
You do not need to maintain all five aspects always in your designs. I wrote about these five aspects because I feel like this will help a beginner person how design a good logo.
But once you create a logo and start to become good at it, you will have more freedom, and you will subconsciously know what aspects you can skip, or you may add something new.
I hope I helped you and you learned something by reading this article. Don’t forget to check out other content for some helpful information.
