Logo Design Theory: Color, Layout, Styles and Anatomy of Strong Logos

1. Class Preview: local design theory is essential for anyone interested in creating strong logo designs that stand the test of time. This'll logo design theory class guides you through basic logo anatomy in terms. We will review all the different Lego categories and show stellar examples of Beach Way will talk about proper logo balance between local marks, symbols and tight. We will review concepts like the golden ratio in grids. Next, look at the many different logo design styles and what makes them successful. And what are their possible down forms will go over flat polygon, geometric hand written styles and many more. We will go over the main characteristics I see in strong logo designs and you several real world company scenarios. Lastly, we cannot talk about logo design theory without talking about the power of color. Will review basic color psychology and the emotions and effects it can have on a viewer. We will talk about how to properly use color and logo design, including when to use it, and how often there are plenty of awesome downloadable resource Is that come along with this class? So what are you waiting for? Let's get started and learn what makes strong logo designs 2. Logo Design Basics and Anatomy : There are many different forms and styles of design used in local creation, but locals all have a general form and basic anatomy. This lesson will review the structure and anatomy of great logo designs. Also review the many styles, forms and flavors they can come in. First of all, what is a logo can assemble without text or a company name Be considered a logo. Let's break all this down. A logo type is a written type or characters that make up a company or logo name, for instance. In this example, racing revolution will be the logo type. A logo mark is the symbol iconographic that's included in the logo, but a separate from the type or typography. Ah, great logo design will be a local mark that can exist outside of the local type and still be recognized. The best example of this inaction is Apple. They do not need to have a logo type are words next to their logo mark. So let the consumer. No, it's an apple product. They understand this simply by looking at the logo mark. A logo mark and a logo type put together create the full logo. Not all logo's require a logo mark or symbol to be successful. Take, for instance, this logo. It only is this typography or text, but it remains effective and recognizable, with no need for a separate graphic or symbol. Now, can a logo mark or symbol exist without the type of the company name? So the logo type This is where it starts to get a little bit complicated. Yes and no are Apple example. The logo works without the use of typography, and you could see on their website the absence of the type our company name next to their main logo in the website header. This is because the brand is one of the most recognized brands in the world. A smaller brand, perhaps one you might have is a client someday may not have the same brand recognition. So a logo with a logo mark or just assemble only may not work to build that company's name recognition. A combination of a logo type and a logo mark inside one concise shape. Our symbol is called a badge or a seal logo. Sometimes they're referred to as emblem logos. These air special is they combine both type and symbols to create one flexible graphic. The great thing about seals and badges is they reduce the need for two separate objects, making them versatile and applying them to a wide variety of products. Emplacements very easily. Emblem seals and badges are great for event based brands and programs. They can exist in a central part of the design of the Flyer poster, for example, and they could explain both the event name and the company brand all in one simple graphic . Let's talk about spacing. Spacing is huge and logo design Ah, properly space logo can look professional and clean. But too much spacing can create a disconnect between the two elements. The typography only or type only logo can have problems with spacing as well. If the characters are too close together, it could seem crowded and overwhelming. If the gaps are too wide, there could be the same disconnect with the characters in the logo. Our company name. What is the proper spacing for local design elements? There are several tools and methods you can use to find the proper spacing, including grids to find the right space for your local elements. Grids can be used to create the same space between characters, for example, making sure there is even spacing to greet that clean professional look. Not all logos need a grid to be successful. Some logos with your hand drawn, illustrated maybe later, vector rise to keep this hand drawn feeling. Therefore, the spacing may not have to be perfectly, even as it starts to lose that organic, authentic feeling. That way, the golden ratio is another method designers can use to find the right spacing for a logo. The golden ratio is based in nature, and more details about the golden ratio will follow. That will include US building a golden ratio based logo together a little bit later in the class, but it comprises of circles and rectangles that are all sized according to a ratio of one to 1.618 These circles and rectangles can then be arranged in a way to create spacing and shapes that apply the golden ratio to them, giving them a look in a field that is based on the ratio that is pleasing to the eye and found in nature. And lastly, there's the designers. I finding the right spacing does not have to adhere to a special formula or grid. With practice, you'll learn what looks great in what distances to far too close. They call this optical adjustment. When you optically adjust a logo, you're using your eye to find the right placement and not grids and not a formula. I found this very important when working with local types or typography only logos. This is because certain characters create wider gaps between them. Optically, If we were to put this tea and this P together, it creates this default spacing between the characters. I think this is a nice facing not too wide, not too close. But what if we had A T and a together and wanted to have the same spacing between each character of the word? We can do that here. But because the T naturally has bigger gaps to the left and right sides because the heaviness is on the top of the T, using the same spacing is a little bit awkward. That is why manually adjusting character spacing may be needed to offset these visual gaps . When that that t is creating the act of manually adjust in the spacing between type characters is called turning and we'll do plenty of that when we work on logo projects together. Now it's time for the balance of the logo and finding the right balance and a local design is critical. I find a lot of designers like to create large logo marks or symbols, but leaves this seemingly tiny logo type in its wake. Hard to see and hard to read company name recognition, as we reviewed earlier, is essential to a newer are butting brand. Being able to have the type be readable but also bounced with the symbol is good. Neither the symbol or the type should overwhelm or take over. There should be a balance in the logo, and a lot of times they're Currid can come in handy and finding the right balance between this. Like in this example, where the size the logo mark and logo type are figured out by making the symbol half of the width of the text, using the grid to figure out exactly what that is. There are different terms who may have heard two related to different types of logo design . We're gonna go over a few so you can get a good visual description of a few of the main ones Monogram logos. Or you might have heard the term abbreviation logos. They consist of the initials of a company, for example, International Business Machines, or IBM. As you know it, they use a monogram of the company for its main similar mark. Word marks. Another name is Loco Types, as we discussed earlier. Word marks are basically local types and type only logos that consists of the company's name only Google and FedEx are great examples of this in action. Emblems are other names or seals and badges, and they consist of a combination of type and symbols into one shape. Way talked about this a little bit earlier, but that shape could be in this abstract logo. Marks consist of logos that contain an abstract shape or symbol that can loosely be based on what the company does. Lulu Lemon is a great example of this, as well as BP or bridge petroleum, with their soft flour like abstract graphic mascot logos or another one, and then consists of a main mascot. And you might have seen this a lot in sports teams. Male chimp. It's a great example of a mascot being used in a logo. The last one we're talking about today is combination marks, which combined both the type and symbol together in one logo. So we had a chance to review basic logo anatomy, talk about spacing and balancing, and we reviewed several different categories of logos. Now let's take a look at some different styles of logos Before we hopped into the next lesson. I wanted to mention that they also have a resource, a downloadable resource that contains a cheap, cheap, all the main mogul types and styles that we went over in this lesson. 3. Logo Design Styles: logo styles can vary wildly, and there are many to go over before we begin. I have a logo style cheat sheet as a downloadable resource. These aren't the only logo design styles out there. There could be hundreds main logo categories, like seals and ward marks. The ones we studied in the last lesson never change, but local styles do with new styles added each year, while other styles falling out of fashion. The first style we're going to talk about today is flat design, a super popular style. As of late. It requires a logo to use simple shapes and vector graphics. Great a sense of depth, the requirements for a flat design style. It's no use of blurred shapes or drop shadows. Usually, they're solid colors without the use of radiance. And the flat design style remains simple and clean with his little design elements. To use is possible these air flexible, versatile logos because of their simplicity, and they can easily be applied to a multitude of products. Illustrative script and hand drawn logos are the trending stylus of late, and I think these air popular because brands and companies went toe, appear more authentic and relatable, and it's a great way to have a logo that emulates this authenticity. As a designer, this one is the toughest out a master because it requires some comfort with drawing illustration, a skill that is sometimes comes, not more natural to some people than others in this class will try to illustrate a hand drawn logo to see if we can master this technique with a little practice. I think companies and brilliant they're going to continue to move toward this direction. So it's our job as designers to be prepared for what lies ahead. Grunge style logo's use gritty textures with holes, rips and sometimes destroyed edges. These rough logos can give a logo essence of rawness and a warning look. The texture adds depth and character, and the key to a great grunge logo is a more subtle use of texture, one that will not interfere with the readability or logo type geo metric. Lobo's use a combination of basic shapes to create a geometric pattern there, sometimes created by using grids. This example here was created using the isometric grid, which will use later on in the class. You can also use standard grids to create a multitude of shapes that come together to create one unique shape. Geometric logo's could be simple and clean, yet some can have detail and be very ornate. Geometric logo's could give the logo a modern, clean look. Grady In and Grady in overlay logos use a combination of Grady INTs or blending modes to create a sophisticated, layered look. They can provide big pops of vibrant color and create an endless amount of intersecting shapes in the in between areas. Eye catching and beautiful, this logo style is great for giving off a useful, energetic vibe. Crest style logos are a fantastic way to organize those logos that need many lines of type , including an established eight, maybe a sub line of the company or a byline and also a main company name. Accompanying symbols can also be used in the crest to further explain the company's mission and values. Next up are Polygon Lugo's, and they use a combination of geometric shapes but mainly triangle shapes to create a computer generated three look. Technically polygon logos. You solid colors, not radiance with different light and dark values in the same color hue to create the effect of shadows and highlights without the graphic actually being in three D A similar in style to geometric Logo's polygon logos. Country dissonance of depth and complexity. Giving a logo a contemporary appearance, Golden Ratio style logo's used the golden ratio to piece together their elements. Thes intersecting circles, which follow the one toe 1.61 ratio, create shapes and curves, which, paired together, can create animal figures, letters and more. The Golden Ratio logo is used often by design experts and ad agencies to show the client that design has a sense of purpose. It had a method of creation and was created by using a system not just created cause. It looked cool. Creating logos with the golden ratio can be hard to master at first, but worth the extra effort toe look, a little professional negative space logos are appear joy to look at, especially when you discover that the shape created while using the negative space the negative space is the space created by the absence of a shape. Take, for instance, this logo. The negative are blank space such created by the O is transformed into a bomb, and the same thing goes for this lamp logo example. With a natural spaces left by the close counter of the Circle area of the A, it's transformed into an object that can help the logo exist with less stuff and symbols. Negative Space Logo's utilize this negative space to reduce the amount of illustration that's required to create assemble, leaving it much more clean and has a simple appearance. Double meaning. Lobo's air. Clever in fantastic ways to create a memorable logo. Take friends. It's this example I created. It's the letter B, but it also creates the insect B, and it requires a company name that can also have a double meaning to pull it off. But if you have something that comes together like this than take the chance, Memorability is the mainstay of solid local design. Many of the logo examples you see throughout this lesson were created by talented designers who post their designs on be hands dot com and a wide variety of other websites on There's Fantastic Resource Is and finding a little logo design inspiration. If you ever feel stuck on coming up with the theme or idea for your logo design and the logo Design Resource Guide another downloadable resource in this class. There's a list of my favorite places to find a little bit of that local design inspiration . Now that we looked at a few different logo categories and also some styles, now it's time to review the characteristics of solid logo designs. 4. Characteristics Of Strong Logo Designs: what makes a great local design what makes for solid branding, thes air questions We will answer throughout the section as we look at solid examples of each local design is the mainstay of graphic design. As a graphic designer for over 14 years, I've designed logos for a wide variety of clients for both profit and non profit clients. I've come to learn all the projects of designers tasked with the local design project is the heart of it all. But why look at any poster Facebook page website? What do you see? You see the company's logo on Brand Mark, a group of text symbols, colors and words that try to describe the very essence of a company. And designing one is no easy task Way logo looks and feels is not random. But based on several different factors, the look and feel of a logo must match the company's mission statement. Beliefs target audience in style. Take, for instance, Under armour, the entire brand is focused around the under Armour logo. The logo is not just a marketing tool or design asset, but it makes up the basis for their entire clothing line. Shoes, backpacks and more. and just like Nike under Armour, makes a whole lot of money from their local design and branding. They spent a pretty penny, too, hiring branding agencies to crafted into the multimillion dollar logo it is today. Local design is not just for large corporations. Solid local design principles can be applied very easily. Too much smaller companies without the $1,000,000 price tag. And this is where you come in. And knowing these solid design characteristics can help you identify great local design and help you create one yourself. Strong local designs have the following characteristics. They have balance between symbols, type and elements. Not all logos need type, and not all logos need symbols. Summer just typographic elements such as a simple name written out in a tight face that matches their style. Some logos were made with unique custom typefaces designed solely for you, for the use of that particular brand. They're recognizable, using only part of the local design. Louis Vuitton is a great example of this without seeing the full logo or even the name, you know right away that this is a Louis Vuitton purse. Having this type of brand recognition makes marketing that product or service so much easier they do not need to depend on color to be effective. Color is critical in logo design, but a strong local examples does not need to depend on color. Coach is a great example. The logo can exist in many other environments without using any particular color. This makes the local more versatile and adaptable to all environments. Many times is a designer have had to work with the logo, using only one in color or black and white publication. Sometimes logos that are totally color dependent make this job harder for me to do. They work well in a wide variety of applications. Logo's need to be flexible and dynamic in the logo, Adapt to a small 48 by 48 pixel square and still be recognizable. Can it be just one in color and still have all of its main characteristics? Ah, logo needs to be able to be seen from a distance and still be readable and recognizable. Having a logo that can adapt to all situations is vital when it comes to creating a logo mark worthy of a long lasting brand. They can stand the test of time logo. Redesigns can be expensive, not because you have to pay the designer to redo one, but the cost of reorder and letterheads, business cards, packaging and products. With the new logo, it really adds up. Uber recently did a rebrand back in 2014. In 2018 they decided to refresh the brand once more. With the new logo and branding, they now have to switch all of their print and their digital assets to the new branding and local mark. A very expensive endeavor doesn't mean that the first uber rebrand did not look great. Not really. It just means that uber has evolved as a company logo and branding assets did not move along with it. Thus, the rebrand was necessary to keep up with its ever changing vision. How do you, as a designer, create a logo that stands the test of time simply by getting input from the leadership of the company? Whether that's from the owner for a smaller company or the marketing manager for a large corporation knowing where they are trying to end if it's a company can help you develop a logo that could be flexible and adaptive, their future needs, they avoid popular trends. I cannot stress this. Enough of warding. Trendy themes in your logo can help it stand the test of time. Remember Web two point. Oh well, most of us try to forget it, but it was popular when I was first, starting out, circa 2004 to 2007. Ah, Web 2.0 had glossy buttons made popular by the latest OS X gooey upgrade on Max. Everyone needed the local with the radiant, ah highlighted glossy portion and a simplistic icon. You do not see this trend anymore, and if you do, it looks dated, tired and just plain ugly. Any logo that was designed in the style had to quickly be rebranded as soon as something called flat design came to the style circa 2008 which is a style that simplifies the design . No Grady INTs flatten simple shadows and no gloss or details basically the opposite of the trend before it. Ask yourself if this local will still be on 0.25 10 years from now. If the question is maybe or depends than going for a more classic look, maybe a better bet. Simple clean and understated. You see a level logos now that use gold hand drawn lettering in lots of watercolor. Super cool and trendy now, but five years from now, probably not fight the urge to be trendy but be classy. Instead, they use negative space to their advantage, not a requirement for a great logo but a wonderful design theme I see in strong local designs. They're liked by the company's target demographic. When I think about this one, I think about Gap, a clothing store brand. They did a rebrand in 2010 making its logo more moderate, using a Sand Saref instead of its classic serif typeface chosen for decades. Prior, there was such a backlash and hate for the new logo. They were forced to switch back to its original logo, and it was a very costly mistake. They underestimated how their target audience would react to their beloved brand. Changing in typeface in in style. Make sure your local design will resonate with your company's target audience. Knowing your target audience is half the battle. Who are most of your customers? If you don't have any customers yet, who do you wish to sell to never fear social media getting opinions about a local sign. It's better to get negative feedback earlier in the process, you can adapt and make changes before a final launch. Before the level has already been applied to hundreds of items and products people can read the logo seems like a no brainer characteristic to have, uh, everyone knows you should have a logo that's readable, but here lies the problem. You may have spent so much time with the design, you may not have a fresh pair of eyes to see any of those issues. Make sure others can read it, too. I see this problem a lot with script, fonts and logos. Sometimes certain script characters do not flow well together, and it could make a logo very hard on the eyes to read, which leads us into the last characteristic and a great solid logo design. They are as unique as the company logo should be one of a kind. This is another reason why staying away from trendy design themes is important. You do not want to look like everybody else. The local you're designing is like a snowflake. I see way too many logo redesigns looked the same way on I shake my head and disappointment when I see another rebrand that looks the same. These are just a few characteristics of strong logo designs I've noticed throughout the years studying re brands and logos designs. If you strive for just a few of these characteristics, so you'll be well on your way for a local that will work well for you or your client. 5. Color Psychology and Theory: not all logos need color, but when they do need color, it could be a huge part of crafting a logos, feeling mood, vibe and tone. You might already be familiar with the Color Wheel, an organization of color hues in a circular format. Certain colors exudes certain emotions in the right situations. I put together a common feelings, emotions and terms commonly associated with various colors around the color wheel. Let's first review the warm colors like reds, orange and yellows. Read popular uses of red and local designer social media companies, and you see it a lot in the food industry. They can grab one's attention and cause a sense of alertness, exactly what a fast food restaurant wants to go for to get your attention when driving down the road. Next time you go grocery store, take a look at the packaged food products. Ill read will be your most commonly used color. As we moved along, the color will would get to orange an orange. Keep some of the enthusiasm and excitement of red, but it also starts to combine the energy of yellow and you'll continue to see orange, commonly used in beverage strings and the food industry as we moved firmly into yellow yellows. Energy is undeniable, but can also be one of its biggest weakness alongside pink. Yellow is one of the least used color for logos and brands. It's powerful and could be overused easily. It could be a great compliment color alongside other colors. For example, the Google logo, which uses yellow but not, is the single primary color. This does not mean you avoid yellow entirely when crafting your local design palette, but it should be used cautiously, as yellow tends to be hard to print and read if used improperly. There is a reason why green is the color choice of many cleaning industries. Green equals clean, but it also equals nature. Green can also be used heavily by the financial industry to display a sense of wealth, but also success as green is commonly used to show profits and growth. As you could see, green can mean many things. Cleanliness, natural, organic and success. There's no wonder that alongside Blue Green is the one most commonly used color palette. Choices used by major brands sigh in a unique color, not as commonly used to some of the others like green and blue. But it combines greens, organic, clean feeling and blues columnist to create its own unique blend of the two. You may commonly see biotech startups to science. Blue is the most commonly used color for brands worldwide, and there's many reasons why, because it evokes motions like stability and calmness. Banks love to use the color blue. For that reason, a special with banks losing trust since the 2008 recession, you also see it used by industrials and those in the manufacturing industry. The health care industry loves purple. It mixes a bit of the stability and calmness of blue. Yet it starts to take on a bit of warmth and vibrant tones, giving it a little kick. Purple is commonly associated with royalty and sophistication. It's also commonly used in the hospitality industry. For that very reason, as we start to move along the color wheel back around to the energetic, powerful warm colors, we start to adapt a sense of passion and love. Pink is a tough color to use because of its strong association, with it being a woman's color, but I think pink use have a chance to really shine as that mindset starts to shift in the future, when creating this color will graphic, I started to really see the connections. All these colors start to make and basic color theory the color and the color. That's the exact opposite color on the other side of the wheel is called a compliment color , and these color combinations seem to work well together because of this association. And they also have the most contrast of all the color combinations because they're on the opposite of each other, which helps, For example, yellow and purple or opposites on the color will thus complementary colors, but also notice when it comes to color psychology that they're also both the least used colors and logo design analogous colors or those on the color wheel that are next to each other. And they have the most sense of harmony as they do not jump. Why distances in the color wheel having a lower contrast and having less conflicting color palettes? I found it very interesting that analogous colors make great logo combinations because of the sense of harmony. It was also interesting to note that the color blue was associated with a reduction and appetite, and I don't think that's by accident. As the food industry gravitates more toward the warmer reds and oranges, it is fascinating that the colors used by top social media websites were either blue or red , with other colors being used a lot less. The fact that blue and red are polar opposites in terms of being on the color wheel and color psychology, It was telling that social media companies wanted to evoke strength or calmness, depending on what the platform waas not all logo's use just one color. Companies and logo's could evoke several different emotions around this color wheel by combining colors to create a logo color combo or color palette. Some logo's have one primary color, but this can also exist by using several chosen secondary colors so can adapt to many different situations. This color wheel graphic is available as a downloadable resource in this class. If you really wanted to take the time and study it in more detail, finally, another great resource that's available online to you is color dot adobe dot com. This is a great resource for finding and applying color harmony rule to the color wheel, the color harmony rule are the various rules in color combos like triad. Complementary and analogous colors also have a downloadable resource that goes over the basic color harmonies as well as a few popular color trends. Now we talked a bit about the emotions of color in the psychology and a little bit about basic color combinations. Let's talk more about how to use color effectively in logo design. Local designs, as we mentioned in earlier lesson, should never be totally dependent on color. Color can help bring it toe life, but it should also be able to stand alone and just plain black and white if required. So knowing this rule, when we do use color, it should be done with intention. You never want to overwhelm a logo with color and sometimes just small, important elements could be highlighted with color. Sometimes having the company name or logo type B a neutral gray or black color could help a logo mark with color really stand out but not overwhelm the entire logo. You need to be aware of what background the lug will be placed on. The most common background color uses white. If your logo uses a bright color that has low contrast with white. It might not show up very well if you have a logo on a dark background and to use a darker color. That contrast may not be big enough for the local to be readable ous well. That is why it's nice to develop a logo. They could work in just black and white, but also, if you use color, it works well on both lighter and darker backgrounds. When a developer logo, I place it on both to see how the color palette is working out. And there are times when I have to tweak the shade of the color used for toe work on a darker or lighter background. Developing a logo color palette can take some time, and we'll get a chance to use mood boards and other methods of finding the right color choices for a logo in the project based portion of this class. Now that we establish him great logo design theory, we've studied color anatomy styles, categories of Logo's. Let's begin by creating our first project together. I'll see you there 6. What's Next: I hope you enjoy this quick dive into logo design theory. Make sure you head on over to the project section of this class and try your hand at the class project. I look forward to seeing them also in the project section or all the downloadable resource is. Check him out. If you're interested in working alongside me, creating several different types of logo projects, check out my skill share profile for a list of several logo focus classes. If you enjoy graphic design theory, I also teach a theory based class on typography that goes over type history, styles and best practices with font and type. As always, I would love it if you took the time to do a quick review. I have a real passion for teaching design and hope to continue to have us a student to explore this world of design further 7. Logo Design Mastery 5+ Hour Course Now Live!: this powerful, extensive class trends you in all aspects of logo design process, including logo design theory, execution, working with typography, selecting color palettes, preparing and exporting files, and how to work with Adobe Illustrator to create stunning logos. Not only that, but this course teaches you had a work with clients by following several full logo design projects from start to finish, and we talk about what type of questions to ask clients before starting the little design process for the theory section of the course, we dive into local design categories and also review all the different logo design styles. While showing stellar examples, I go over the characteristics of strong logo designs and walk you through this using real world companies. Lastly, we can't talk about logo design theory without talking about the power color. As we review the color psychology chart, the next section is for those needing a crash course in Adobe Illustrator as review. All of the most used tools will use in the class, including the with shape builder, offset Path Grady and Tools and also using layering mass and more afterwards, will work through an entire logo design process from scratch Will learn how to quickly get ideas on paper and turn those rough ideas into riel workable designs we can present to our client. We will walk through each step of the journey as we work on finding this final concepts 2% and will create a mood board to find your perfect color matches and finish off our logo with the final touches. Our next section dives deep into the golden ratio in logo design will create from scratch the golden ratio spiral and create the golden ratio circles will need to start to adapt. Her designs to this golden ratio will do several practice projects as well. We will then take this logo all the way through to the end, including creating variations and sizes. Will need to adapt this logo to just about anything. Will also create Polish designs by learning how to use Photoshopped. Mock ups will then use our downloadable file export guide that supplied in the class toe, learn how to export and give specific files to our clients with the next section goes over portfolio building basics and several places and steps to find clients and to get client referrals so you could start building and thinking about getting your design business up and running. This course is packed full of downloadable re sources, including a client questionnaire document, local styles and categories. Cheat sheet, a color wheel and color psychology documents. Ah, finding clients. Resource guide and a file expert guide. A golden ratio cheat sheet and a font pairing God and so much more. This glass is extensive but is gentle and paste well enough for beginners to work through the course. They're both beginner and intermediate level topics discussed with some advanced topics discussed later on in the course. This will be for anyone interested in working through a course that has a deep focus on local design or any designer who wants to fine tune their local design and presentation skills. So are you ready to up your local design gain? Let's get started.