Direct Marketing - How to Make a Colorful Logo
Saturday, November 23, 2013
A logo is a graphical image, icon or emblem used by businesses to promote instant identity and brand recognition. Because the logo impacts a broad spectrum of business functions -- from advertising to packaging -- logo design is equally critical. Logos can be purely graphical, textual, or a combination of both. With the additional elements of color, orientation and bordering, logo design can be involved but rewarding. Because recent studies indicate strong public reaction to certain colors and color combinations, color is a critical element of good logo design. Follow simple guidelines to produce a logo that is both colorful and functional.
Select Logo Color Scheme
1
Study the possible colors to use in your logo design. Begin with primary colors and search for a common theme that reflects the function of your organization. List the colors that are possible contenders for involvement or prominence in your logo -- green for health, silver for seniors, red for alert, blue for diet -- and those specific to your industry. Draw lines and print letters with a ruler and permanent colored markers on white paper, to test your reaction to various colors. Do many of these. Rule out those that do not apply and finalize the list.
2
Identify the possible color combinations that might work well in your logo. Combine colors that convey a more specific category of business function. (Examples: brown and green for nature, blue and yellow for football, red-white-blue for patriotic.) Rule out color combinations that detract or confuse your intended message or feeling -- black and yellow represent safety, red and green represent the holidays. Use both bold markers and pastel color pencils to draw sample lettering and icons, using the potential combinations. Document a semi-final list of samples and add them to your portfolio of design elements.
3
Study the potential representation characteristics of your narrowing color list. Bright and primary representations elicit bold feelings; subdued or pastel colors elicit calmness; lower saturation elicits confidence. Consider the type of color style in your representation -- grainy for antiques, metallic for modern music, light and dark for reinforcement, shading for neutrality. Select a priority list of desired representations and document the list.
4
Determine the orientation purpose, or where color is used, in your logo. Select backgrounds and borders for inference or hinting of subject matter; use in-text or lettering for reinforcement or memory; use in the icon or graphic to narrow brand recognition. Document this characteristic in your portfolio.
Determine Logo Style and Elements
5
Decide on the intended exclusivity of the logo. Will the logo become a service mark? Will it be trademarked? Investigate the impact of your intentions on the logo design. (Example: Logos with clip art cannot be trademarked, since the user does not own the original trademark.) Document your decision.
6
Determine the range of uses the logo will serve. Will it be used for online website use only, or in offset printing for publications? This determination also limits and controls how the logo is ultimately represented, stored and shared. (Example: clip art graphics are typically in a pixel-based format and, while they work well on a website, they cannot be stretched or sized up for offset printing.)
7
Study the possible logo styles and possible elements. Purely graphic logos can be difficult to associate with a firm, if no lettering or naming is included. Purely textual logos -- like the national retail giant whose text-only red logo begins with the letter "K" -- support strong brand reinforcement. They are text-only, without an icon or graphic, and the color grabs attention. Combination logos use both an icon and colored lettering or other combinations. Draw and redraw as needed, to test many alternatives. List and document your desires in a priority sequence.
8
Study and decide on the orientation of elements in the logo. Will an icon or graphic precede lettering? Will lettering be bold, underlined or italic? Will there be a border around other elements and, if so, will it be bold, colored, rounded? Test your reaction to these issues with markers, pencils and computer-based samples and trial designs. Document your choices.
9
Decide on the typed, drawn or design approach to be employed in rendering an icon or graphic. Will you use clip art or have artistic assistance? Consider the recent trends in obviously hand-drawn stick figures, or emblems that reinforce modern changes in previously unwritten rules in logo design. Draw or render with pencils, markers or computer-based sample approaches, and circulate them for reaction. Decide and document your final choice.
10
Consider and decide on any special considerations regarding action elements in the logo. Action elements are things like an upward-pointing arrow to denote movement. Consider these kinds of elements very carefully, and no not include more than one in your design. Test your possible uses of action elements with sample drawings. Document your conclusions.
Design the Logo
11
Determine if you will render the logo yourself, or with the help of others. Decide on whether your rendering efforts will be totally manual, computer-assisted or a combination. Decide if a computer will be used for online searches for graphics or full graphic design. If you are inexperienced with graphic design software, you should rule out the purchase of expensive software and training simply for this task. You should not proceed beyond this point without a firm conclusion on how the actual design will be done.
12
Develop several hand-drawn draft logo designs applying all the color and text choices you chose. Select the one that feels best, and carefully redraw it to produce a final draft.
13
If you are inexperienced at logo design and uncomfortable drawing a final draft, opt for using the hand-drawn logo drafts followed by the use of a website that allows you to customize its template. Obtain a clear understanding of your rights to the resulting design.
14
Go online and search for clip art or other graphics, shapes and borders that can be downloaded and used in finalizing your design. Use a flatbed scanner to capture the design and render it into a graphic image. You can do this at a local online cafe or mailing firm. Save or download the graphic onto removable media, or email it to yourself.
15
Obtain access to a simple graphic system that allows you to alter images or graphics. Most personal computers come with this type of software, or use one at an online cafe. You can typically apply coloration and borders around your draft design. Print and review your work. Revise the draft as necessary, print it and save the result as a .jpeg or .gif format. Logos in this format are fine to get you started. They can be rendered or redrawn by a professional if you need camera-ready art for printing.
16
If you are totally creating from a draft design that is not scanned in, use a personal computer to render it. Bring up the text editor (all PCs in online cafes or mail shops have popular text editors) and select the text-art or word-art function. Type in the text you will use and select the display style and color that matches your color choices. Hit the "Print Screen" button to capture a full screen-shot of the rendered text. Paste that image into the scratchpad of the graphic program (also on most PCs). Use the crop function or tool to crop the full-screen image down to just the text you created. Paste in any clip art and downloaded graphics you chose. Apply any borders, shapes or action elements you chose. Print and save your work. Save the final image composition as a .jpeg or .gif image.
Tags:
Direct Marketing, Marketing
Select Logo Color Scheme
1
Study the possible colors to use in your logo design. Begin with primary colors and search for a common theme that reflects the function of your organization. List the colors that are possible contenders for involvement or prominence in your logo -- green for health, silver for seniors, red for alert, blue for diet -- and those specific to your industry. Draw lines and print letters with a ruler and permanent colored markers on white paper, to test your reaction to various colors. Do many of these. Rule out those that do not apply and finalize the list.
2
Identify the possible color combinations that might work well in your logo. Combine colors that convey a more specific category of business function. (Examples: brown and green for nature, blue and yellow for football, red-white-blue for patriotic.) Rule out color combinations that detract or confuse your intended message or feeling -- black and yellow represent safety, red and green represent the holidays. Use both bold markers and pastel color pencils to draw sample lettering and icons, using the potential combinations. Document a semi-final list of samples and add them to your portfolio of design elements.
3
Study the potential representation characteristics of your narrowing color list. Bright and primary representations elicit bold feelings; subdued or pastel colors elicit calmness; lower saturation elicits confidence. Consider the type of color style in your representation -- grainy for antiques, metallic for modern music, light and dark for reinforcement, shading for neutrality. Select a priority list of desired representations and document the list.
4
Determine the orientation purpose, or where color is used, in your logo. Select backgrounds and borders for inference or hinting of subject matter; use in-text or lettering for reinforcement or memory; use in the icon or graphic to narrow brand recognition. Document this characteristic in your portfolio.
Determine Logo Style and Elements
5
Decide on the intended exclusivity of the logo. Will the logo become a service mark? Will it be trademarked? Investigate the impact of your intentions on the logo design. (Example: Logos with clip art cannot be trademarked, since the user does not own the original trademark.) Document your decision.
6
Determine the range of uses the logo will serve. Will it be used for online website use only, or in offset printing for publications? This determination also limits and controls how the logo is ultimately represented, stored and shared. (Example: clip art graphics are typically in a pixel-based format and, while they work well on a website, they cannot be stretched or sized up for offset printing.)
7
Study the possible logo styles and possible elements. Purely graphic logos can be difficult to associate with a firm, if no lettering or naming is included. Purely textual logos -- like the national retail giant whose text-only red logo begins with the letter "K" -- support strong brand reinforcement. They are text-only, without an icon or graphic, and the color grabs attention. Combination logos use both an icon and colored lettering or other combinations. Draw and redraw as needed, to test many alternatives. List and document your desires in a priority sequence.
8
Study and decide on the orientation of elements in the logo. Will an icon or graphic precede lettering? Will lettering be bold, underlined or italic? Will there be a border around other elements and, if so, will it be bold, colored, rounded? Test your reaction to these issues with markers, pencils and computer-based samples and trial designs. Document your choices.
9
Decide on the typed, drawn or design approach to be employed in rendering an icon or graphic. Will you use clip art or have artistic assistance? Consider the recent trends in obviously hand-drawn stick figures, or emblems that reinforce modern changes in previously unwritten rules in logo design. Draw or render with pencils, markers or computer-based sample approaches, and circulate them for reaction. Decide and document your final choice.
10
Consider and decide on any special considerations regarding action elements in the logo. Action elements are things like an upward-pointing arrow to denote movement. Consider these kinds of elements very carefully, and no not include more than one in your design. Test your possible uses of action elements with sample drawings. Document your conclusions.
Design the Logo
11
Determine if you will render the logo yourself, or with the help of others. Decide on whether your rendering efforts will be totally manual, computer-assisted or a combination. Decide if a computer will be used for online searches for graphics or full graphic design. If you are inexperienced with graphic design software, you should rule out the purchase of expensive software and training simply for this task. You should not proceed beyond this point without a firm conclusion on how the actual design will be done.
12
Develop several hand-drawn draft logo designs applying all the color and text choices you chose. Select the one that feels best, and carefully redraw it to produce a final draft.
13
If you are inexperienced at logo design and uncomfortable drawing a final draft, opt for using the hand-drawn logo drafts followed by the use of a website that allows you to customize its template. Obtain a clear understanding of your rights to the resulting design.
14
Go online and search for clip art or other graphics, shapes and borders that can be downloaded and used in finalizing your design. Use a flatbed scanner to capture the design and render it into a graphic image. You can do this at a local online cafe or mailing firm. Save or download the graphic onto removable media, or email it to yourself.
15
Obtain access to a simple graphic system that allows you to alter images or graphics. Most personal computers come with this type of software, or use one at an online cafe. You can typically apply coloration and borders around your draft design. Print and review your work. Revise the draft as necessary, print it and save the result as a .jpeg or .gif format. Logos in this format are fine to get you started. They can be rendered or redrawn by a professional if you need camera-ready art for printing.
16
If you are totally creating from a draft design that is not scanned in, use a personal computer to render it. Bring up the text editor (all PCs in online cafes or mail shops have popular text editors) and select the text-art or word-art function. Type in the text you will use and select the display style and color that matches your color choices. Hit the "Print Screen" button to capture a full screen-shot of the rendered text. Paste that image into the scratchpad of the graphic program (also on most PCs). Use the crop function or tool to crop the full-screen image down to just the text you created. Paste in any clip art and downloaded graphics you chose. Apply any borders, shapes or action elements you chose. Print and save your work. Save the final image composition as a .jpeg or .gif image.
