This eBook deals only with how to design a logo that will serve your business well. It does not talk in depth about image editing programs or techniques, that information is available in our Online Computer Education Courses. Here we concentrate on the design elements, what they mean, and why it is important to choose colors, designs, fonts, and layout carefully.

Your business name by itself, arranged in an attractive manner, sometimes with a graphic along with it, constitute your business logo. Occasionally a business will use just an image as a logo, but that is fairly uncommon, unless you already have widespread recognition.

The logo is the first thing people see. Choosing a name is covered in another handbook. Here we cover making that name attractive and instantly identifiable as your business to everyone who sees it. To design your own logo you will need to own a simple Image Editing program (like Adobe PhotoDeluxe, Photo Express, Photo Paint, or similar), and you will need to be willing to try different things with it.

Design of a logo can create an instant impression of characteristics, as well as identifying your company. The forms you use, colors you pick, font that you want, and the way that you use the font all combine to create an impression to the viewer. There are some common impressions that people get from colors and fonts:

Colors:

Red - Appeals to the creative side of people, is considered a young color, and somewhat unpredictable. Use in large doses for products aimed at youth, recreation, or high creativity. Add just a tiny touch to indicate creativity or originality in a more traditional or conservative setting. Use reddish colors but not pure red when you want to hint at it, but need to coordinate with a more subdued color scheme, or when you need to be more subtle about it.

Pink - Soft pink is an emotional appeal to the feminine. Hot pink is an emotional appeal to the creative or original aspect of femininity. Fuschia or hot pink works well as an attention getter, and in some settings is not specifically feminine.

White - Clean, uncluttered, precise, and accurate. Most effective in a background.

Blue - Trust, comfort, or reliability. All shades of blue work with this, though light blue-green shades do not convey it well. Strong blues convey intense precision or accuracy. Mutted blues give a soft message of stability. Coordinate the blues you use with other colors in your logo.

Green - Life, creativity, natural, or revulsion. Some shades of green tend to put off more than attract, so this is a color that is generally used only in certain instances. Strong grass green, hunter green, mint green, or teal tend to be more appealing than yellow greens. Dark greens in combinations with browns are very masculine, and have an almost military appeal. Use in combination with other colors, or when you want to send a specific strong message.

Yellow - Uplifting, happy, encouraging color. If yellow is used for text, it needs to be on a dark background, or use a fairly intense color so that it does not make it difficult to read. Great for logos that work with self improvement, recreation, or other similarly uplifting or fun topics.

Black - Sophisticated, Precise, Traditional or Evil - Be careful where you use black. It is good for simplicity and impact, works well in a sophisticated setting, but if overused, especially for a background, can darken the mood to the point of repelling.

Purple - Moodiness, Fun, Non-Traditional, Creative. This is a color you use when you want to say something strongly, and want that message to stand out as being distinctive and unconservative. Putting a bit of purple into a logo can indicate that you are willing to look at creative ideas to meet the customer's needs. An alternative to red, but without the strong basic appeal that red has, purple appeals more to people with a fun outlook on life.

Orange - Happy, strong, sometimes stodgy. Use when appropriate for the subject, or when you want a bold unconventional appearance. It is not often a popular color, and can sometimes signify a lack of imagination if used in the wrong color combinations. Some highly creative logos use it well, but get a second opinion of you decide to use a lot of orange.

Brown - Highly conservative, masculine, dull, natural or western. Depends largely on how it is used. Typically use sparingly with other colors, to make a specific point. We use brown in a brick color, or in a warm brown to accent color schemes, or in a sepia tone to give an appearance of antiquing.

Gray - Can be either dull, or smartly professional. Thin gray lines give muted precision to a design. Totally gray backgrounds can look either uncreative, or give a smoothe executive appearance. Done right, gray says money. Done wrong, it says "too cheap to hire a pro".

Choose colors carefully, coordinate between two and four colors, with one or two colors dominant in the design.

Fonts

Fonts come in all varieties. There are several that are traditional, and used over and over, but they can be broken down into a couple of categories:

Character Fonts. Also called Headline Fonts. These are fonts that have a distinctive look about them, often very distinctive and designed to send a message other than just the words that are written with them. They are great for logos, if you can find one that is appropriate. You do not want to use them for the slogan though, because most are too hard to read for more than just a word or two.

Body Fonts. These are fonts that you write the body of text in, and are very useful for logos if you want a traditional looking logo. They come in three basic types:

• 1. Serif Fonts. Serif Fonts are like the one you are reading now. The ends of the letters have little sticky outy parts. Times is a classic Serif Font. Serif Fonts are the easiest fonts to read, because our eyes can tell the letters apart most easily.
• 2. Sans-Serif Fonts. Sans means Without. So a Sans-Serif Font is without the little sticky outy parts. Helvetica and Arial are two common Sans-Serif Fonts. These fonts are great for technical business logos, or to convey an impression of precision.
• 3. Handwriting Fonts. These look like handwriting, and are good for giving an impression of creativity, flexibility, or originality. Do not use them for traditional businesses that rely heavily on following the rules such as accounting, engineering, etc. 

We suggest choosing a range of fonts, then write the business name with them. See how it looks, get a few opinions, and narrow down your choice to the best one.

Once you have your font chosen you can decide how to pretty it up. There are several options which will give it a professional appearance. You need an image editing program to do this, any kind of program where you can create a picture and then do some creative changes.

• 1. Fill. You can use a bold text, or a fat text, and fill it with a gradient (colors that gradually change from one side to the other), with part of a photo, or with plain colors or even patterns. If you do this, make sure that the pattern or color that you choose will show up well against the background, and not be too distracting when you try to read it.
• 2. Filter. You can run a filter than changes the text in a certain way. Select just the text, using a magic wand tool, and hold down the shift key while you click each letter. This will select more than one at a time. Then try different filters on it. Bevel filters work nicely, as do ones that put a shine on it, or textures. Experiment and see what you like, just make sure the end result sends the message you want to send.
• 3. Drop Shadow or Extrude. These two functions are used the same as a filter, and sometimes are found in the same place as the filters are in your program. Use one or the other, not both. Extrude gives your text a 3-D appearance, and is nice for giving it some depth. You can play around with the colors to get a unique look. Drop shadow gives an appearance of the text being raised up a bit, and can be applied strong for a crisp shadow, or can be applied lightly and blurred out to give a soft shadow. You can also apply it in white or yellow to give an appearance of glow. If you use white letters on a white background, and a wide grey shadow, you can make it look like you have white letters cut out and raised up. Be sure that you make the shadows or extrusions for all objects on the page go in the same direction. If you use a beveled filter, and then a drop shadow, make sure the shadow and the lighting coordinate.
• 4. Combine two fonts or two sizes of the same font. This is a great way to get emphasis if you have a name that has two parts to it. For one logo we used an italic serif font for the first half of the compound word, and a sans serif plain font for the second half. We used two different colors for it, to give it an emphasis it would not have had otherwise. You can change colors of words, change fonts, use patterned fills on part and not on another part as a tool for emphasis.

The overriding question in all of this text and color and style choice is, "What elements are going to make my customer feel comfortable doing business with me, and remember who I am?"

Images

Many logos do not use a separate image, they just use text, and the text itself is distinctive enough to convey imagery. Others use a separate image to strengthen the message.

If you choose an image, you have two basic choices:

1. Direct. An image of what you are selling, that conveys a strong emotional message of your entire business concept. If you cannot find a good image that does that, leave it off. No image is better than a bad one.

• A Work at Home website uses a picture of a mother and child, because that is the end product...family togetherness.
• Online Marketing books invariably use money. That is what they profess to sell.
• A well-drilling company uses water. Because they are selling water, not equipment.
• Images with people in them are good if they are very discriptive.
• Images of objects are acceptable, but only if they are totally accurate for your business.

2. Abstract. An abstract image is one that focuses on the feeling and impression rather than the object itself. Geometric shapes (conveying precision, creativity, or other messages), or brush stroke accents (creativity, personal attention, handmade impression) are examples of this. If used creatively, filtered, or made distinctive, they work well to make a logo instantly recognizable.

An image is not necessary, but if a good one is added, it can reinforce your marketing message in away that text cannot. Images convey a whole lot of words in a single glance, and that is a powerful tool, but it does not work unless the image conveys precisely what you want to say. And there is not always an appropriate image. About half of the logos we design do not have images for that reason.

Arrangement

The last element if the design is the arrangement, or composition. You can choose from any overall shape that appeals and gives an impression that coordinates with your business style. Some popular arrangements are:

• Rectangular Layout. Possibly the most popular, due to the versatility of the design. A well designed rectangle can go from web page to business card to letterhead with little or no alteration. Rectangular layouts are often modified on the right side to present a less rigid appearance.
• Triangular Layout, in any orientation. Triangles can give a sense of balance, even when they are not symetrical. Triangular arrangements can be the most creative appearing, and work well for many logos.
• Oval or Round. Softer, more contained in feel than rectangular or triangular. More original, requires more creativity to make it work well.

Try several options Create the parts to the logo, then work on where to put them to make them work together as a whole unit rather than just separate parts. You can lay one element on top of another, but if you do, be sure to save a copy of them in a way that you can still play with the elements separately, before you start stacking.

There is no hard and fast rule about what layout to use for what business. Generally at some point you will assemble it together in a way you have not done before, and it will suddenly look right. The same is true of colors, fonts, images, and the treatment you give them. When all the elements are balanced, you get a logo that looks like it was created by a pro, even if it was not. If it does not look right, keep tweaking it until it gets right. If you tweak it several times without improvement, then trash it and start over from a different perspective. Sometimes what we see in our head just does not work when we try to create it. That is ok, something else will work. If you tried to combine several elements and they did not work, go simple. If you tried simple and it lacked something, get a little more complex.

 

Actual Logo Examples - Logos Designed by us for Clients. The logo below uses a geometric shape, which has been filtered with a bevel filter. The Text has been filtered in the same way for consistency. The shape was chosen because it is sharp. It was filtered in a correspondingly sharp manner, to emphasize the word Precision. We put a drop shadow behind the text only, to give a little bit of depth and professionalism to the logo. Strong colors were used, with an intense blue and green used to compliment each other. The main focus here was on the word Precision. We wanted the customer to feel that word most, as they would remember Engineering and Electronics because of their own need. Precision is the word that defines our client's business philosophy, and what sets him apart from his competition. We used a blend between a triangular and rectangular composition for it, which works well for a web page, business card, and letterhead without rearrangement. The strong sense of order combined with an asymetrical layout gives an impression of order and predictability combined with a touch of creativity. The logo is clean, strong, and sharp, all in keeping with the business type and style. This logo sends a subliminal message that reinforces the business name and product. The product is not pictured anywhere, but the overall impression is one of accuracy and attention to detail. The Arrow Logo is for a Newsletter, so it has the appearance of something that should go at the top of a paper. We kept it to black and white, except for the arrows, which are grayscale. The design is rectangular, which makes it go at the top of a business card or letter equally well. We chose a traditional newsprint font, and made the word "Arrow" larger, both for balance, and for emphasis of that word. People just call it The Arrow. The vertical lines frame the arrows, giving an extra reinforcement of the word and image. This logo makes use of a simple world image, and a compound word. The two parts of the compound word are separated, giving a dual meaning to the name of the business. Yellow was chosen for the word "Life" because it is a vital upbeat color. Blue was chosen for the word "Arts" because the business is focused on self-improvement, which is a highly competitive field, and blue is a color which encourages trust. We filtered them with a soft bevel filter to give the text some depth. The logo below was designed several years ago for the Medicine Bow website. If I were to do it again, I would soften the edges of the text with Anti-Aliasing and smooth the colors in the woodgrain. The feel needed to be western, and it needed to have a touch of history, and we chose the font for that reason. We then filled it with a woodgrain pattern, and put in a dark brown extrusion. The background was filled with a texture, and the edges of the frame treated the same as the text, with a dark brown extrusion. We used two separate font sizes for emphasis, but could have used a simple text above, and the character text only on the lower text. This logo was created for a website, but was adaptable to cards simply by moving the text all into a single line and lengthening the red bars. It is a bit strong for letterhead, so an alternate layout is used for letterhead, using just the italicized sans-serif font and a thin line below. We chose a sans-serif font to reinforce the concept of conservatism, and italicised it to keep it from feeling stuffy. The dark blue was also chosen for its traditional feel, while the red gives it a bit of a dash, as well as the fact that the colors combine with the simple white background to make a strong patriotic statement. The drop shadow was added to make the logo appear more polished. This is a simple logo overall, but suits the purpose well. This logo is an image only. It identifies a non-profit business in Wyoming. It uses an original graphic which is a pun on the Wyoming Bucking Horse and Rider. There are distinctive differences to avoid trademark infringement. The dinosaur was chosen because it is one of the few dinosaurs which have front legs equal to the back legs in length, making the image easier to create, and the Triceratops is also the Wyoming State Dinosaur. This logo conveys the dual message of Western History and Geological History in the same place, while adding a touch of humor, in a setting that is very local to Wyoming State. For this logo we started with a wood-grained pattern, then filtered it a few times to get the color we wanted. We tried to make it look aged, and natural, with a little weather graying. When we got it right, we saved a separate copy of it. We then pasted in black images of the flowers, and typed in black text. We selected the black text and the black flowers and applied a drop shadow, directly on, highly diffused, and then repeated the drop shadow until it was dark enough (it was more accurate to apply several light layers than one dark one). We left the text selected, and opened our backup copy of the woodgrain pattern. We selected it and copied it, returned to the logo and performed a Paste Into operation, which inserted the original woodgrain pattern in place of the selected black text and flowers (if we had owned more flexible software at the time we could have done it in fewer steps). We chose a Traditional serif font, Cooper, and a cursive handwriting font for a touch of elegance. The entire logo looks hand crafted, antiqued, and somewhat feminine (since the majority of targeted customers would be female). This logo is combined on a web page with gold accents, and on a business card with soft purple, brown, and gray. This was created for a seamstess who made custom ordered shirts. We created text which we filled with a red denim pattern (which we created by filtering a blue denim pattern), then we pasted in the hat image, which was taken from a photo of a girl wearing a hat (we had to do some editing on it, and rotate it), applied a drop shadow to the text and hat, then drew in the stitching. We created the lower text as a separate graphic to give us more control over the placement of it. It is just a denim pattern, filtered to give it a more intense blue color, and pasted into the text, with a drop shadow applied behind. We used a smaller shadow spread on the smaller text. We chose the font for this purely for its ability to handle the treatment we wanted to give it. We needed a font that was rounded enough to look stuffed, and wide enough to accomodate the stitching without getting indistinct. We placed the hat on just as a fun accent.

We create logos to do a specific job, and have tried to help you to be able to do the same thing, so that you can save yourself the cost of having a pro come in to do the job for you. Not everyone will be able to do it though, because it does require a set of skills, and some of them depend on a natural ability to do it that cannot really be trained into someone. When you finish this book though, you will have the knowledge you need to be able to give it a good try. If it works, then you have saved the money. If it does not work, then at least you know that it was money that you did in fact need to spend, and the outcome will be different from person to person.

Your business logo should reflect what you do, and how you do it. It is the most important thing that people will see, as it will make your business name memorable and recognizable. If you cannot do it well, consider hiring a professional to do so for you. This item will pay for itself many times over if it is done well.

http://www.adventuretech.us/ - Affordable Website Design and Small Business graphic design services.