Let’s talk about logo design. More specifically, let’s talk about what to absolutely avoid when designing a professional logo: I have collected 6 tips for you to avoid grotesque slips or simply keep you on the right track.
Let’s start see what to avoid in designing a professional logo …
1) Type of monothematic display
When you show the customer the drafts of the logo that you are designing, strongly avoid exposing it in a single perspective. Rather show more examples of placement, for example on a sheet, on a fabric (a t-shirt), on a plastic material, on a vehicle … Of course you don’t have to really print on these materials, rather use cleverly presentation mockups , customize them with Photoshop and export them in jpeg.
2) Wrong scalability
Working in scale is fundamental, not only for obvious vector reasons but, above all, to ensure a correct visualization of your drawing. A logo must be simple and if you want to ensure the clarity of details try to make it 20px by 20px (like an avatar in short): if the result is perfectly viewable as the same sized for a van then you have passed one of the most important tests in logo design: readability.
3) Multicolor and 3D
When you are about to design a 2d logo and then make it appear in 3d or you are about to use a 3d design software stop and take a deep breath. If you proceed in this direction, you know that you will not be able to work in positive and negative (the black and white versions of the logo) and you will never have guaranteed readability on all print formats and for the web.
Another aspect to which you must pay close attention is the use of colors: a multicolor logo is always a risk as well as an aesthetic error. Usually we stop at 2 colors (in some cases 3 colors but very carefully). Going beyond this unwritten rule (except for rare cases) can prove to be a boomerang because it makes it very difficult both the readability and the memorability of the logo itself.
4) Too small
Another factor to pay attention to during the design phase is the idea of size: if we think of a logo as if it should always be small or very small we are wrong.
Let’s show it in the right size, even during the presentation, because if it’s too small, it’s not worth having it…
5) Design a logo with Stock images
The stock images (or repertoire) that can be downloaded or purchased from the reference sites, can be consulted and searchable by everyone all over the world. So if you think to use a stock image, vectorize it and make it the logo you are designing, stop, take a deep breath and change the design strategy.
6) Design an ugly and unoriginal idea
You know the ideas, you don’t buy them in supermarkets. This means that it is not easy to think of a concept that is both original (and therefore has its own uniqueness and does not reflect something already seen) and aesthetically attractive.
Of course, I am perfectly aware that combining these two concepts is not child’s play and is certainly not a result that can be obtained in a very short time.
But if you want to get a nice drawing, as in all things in life, you have to work on it, try, try again, trash, modify, return several times on the same project, observe with analytical curiosity the whole world around you, starting from your neighborhood and pushing you as far as you can.
Use the web wisely, discover and follow the most representative designers in the sector platforms such as Behance or Instagram or Dribble.
Activate, do not give up, give yourself time and, I guarantee you, you will see the results you hope for.
But above all, never stop designing.
