10 pitfalls to avoid when designing a logo
DESCRIPTION
Logo Design is an art. It involves understanding the target audience (business) and translating business vision into an effective corporate identity. However, the path to logo design is littered with traps invisible. The designer should avoid some common pitfalls that might limit the longevity and legibility of a design.TRANSCRIPT
The Art Of Logo Design Is Plagued With Traps Invisible…TREAD CAREFULLY IF YOU WISH TO LIFT-UP YOUR DESIGN TO LOGO GLORY
How
Boring!
UNCOOL!!
WTFIs this a
Logo or a Mascot?
Looks Quite Familiar indeed
…
Outdated
Designing A Logo Based On Trends
Blindly is likely to leave your logo looking trite, behind the times
and out-of-touch once the trend dies out …
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Target introduced its iconic logo in 1968 i.e. almost half a century
back, yet it still looks fresh.
1. Designing A Logo Based On Trends Blindly
Whereas, Yahoo!’s recent logo redesign failed to impress despite
its modern ‘flat’ look and “scallops” font.
Poor Selection Of Colors spoils the brand. Remember color psychology, use logical tones and
blends, do not use more than four colors and make sure the logo can
be transferred into monotone without much ado.
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2. Poor Selection Of Colors
Remember the Hot Pink Mess?
Some said the youthful hue was purposed to appeal millennial but it
turned out younglings have an eye for brand incongruity and the
OLYMPIC’12 Logo failed miserably.
Employing Raster Or Pixelated Imagescan limit reproduction of the logo. Raster images are less compatible
and lose quality when scaled, making logo useless on different media.
Whereas, it is essential for branding to preserve visual consistency and
make sure the logo looks the same in all sizes and across all mediums.
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3. Employing Raster/Pixelated Images
Vector image, on the other hand, remains crisp when scaled or
transferred to other media.
VECTOR
RASTER
I’ve Sharp Edges! I’m Fuzzy!
Vs.
Adding Complexity Into Design or highly detailed designs hinder communication. The more detailed
a logo is, the more information audience has to perceive and
process. Make sure your logo does not confuse or smudge your
vision. Besides, a logo must be memorable and the best way to
make it memorable is to keep it simple.
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4. Adding Complexity into Design
Simple is better. Take a glance at the corporate identities of world’s
most popular brands. These logos strike a balance that is aimed to
grab attention of the target segment – and for the right reasons.
Ill Selection Of Font Or Typeface can break a logo. Each typeface has its own personality and aura, if
the selected font does not compliment the vision or other graphic
elements then the whole brand could fall flat. Poor choice of font may
leave your logo look weary and off-the-mark.
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5. Ill Selection Of Font or Typeface
A poor typeface negatively affects your message. However, there is a
wide accord about what constitutes direness in Type. So be wary of
the Type you choose. Below are some extreme examples of bad font
choices.
Curlz MT
Old ScriptYellow Magician
Ben Pioneer
Comic Sans
Comic Sans? Indeed. Fun? Off course!
Softer Please!
NO.
I can see it now.
Entirely offensive and unfortunate font
choice.
Using Excessive Special Effectstends to make design confusing and hard to grasp. Do check how
your logo translates to monotone or greyscale across different
media and whether this affects distinguished elements of the
design.
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4. Using Excessive special effects
A logo must be quick to adapt and overdoing effects
harms adaptability of the logo. Do not let your logo rely on
special effects completely. For example, see how easy it is
to transfer SONY Ericsson’s logo in different tones – and
sizes.
Overdoing Or Using Too Many Fontsaffects legibility of a logo. Restrict the number of Fonts or Font
Styles to two at max. Do not use multiple (more than two fonts) with
different font weight else the design might look too busy or
distorted.
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7. Overdoing or Using too many fonts
A logo works best with minimum font variations and logical contrast.
Tag Line
COMPANY NAME
S e c o n d a r y T a g L i n e
TAG LINE
COMPANY
NAME
S e c o n d a r y T a g L i n e
Replicating Existing Logos is not at all a good idea. It is easy to rip-off or copy a popular logo
but the chances are, it will devalue your brand. The purpose of the
logo is to make your brand recognizable and stand out among the
crowd. But a ripped-off logo will diminish your brand, making it
forgetful.
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If your logo reminds your audience of another brand, it has failed to
serve the purpose. So, it is worth striving for uniqueness and
inimitable persona when it comes to logo design.
8. Replicating existing logos
Imposing Design On Clientfavors neither the designer nor the client. Understand the client’s
requirement and design according to the design brief. Do not
impose your concept unless it is for good, and that too, after
client’s approval. This is where the success lies.
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9. Imposing Design on Client
A cool new typeface you just discovered or a color you are
enthusiastic about; if it is irrelevant to the client’s business, do
not use it. Design is a continuous learning process and client
reviews are essential.
DESIGN BRIEF
Here is where designer gets specifications and design requirements
from the client.
DESIGN SAMPLES/MOCKUPS
Here designer comes-up with ideas and possible options relevant to
business and according to design brief.
DESIGN REVIEW
Here client reviews suggestions made by the designer and decides whether
to use it or not.
DESIGN CONFIRMATION
At this stage, design is finalized to the point where both designer and client
are satisfied with the design.
If client is not happy with the design, designer can go back and design an
alternative.
Putting Logo In A Box Or Outlining
Font is often needless and degrades the quality of design, particularly on
low-resolution devices. Besides, boxing a logo limits its use across
platforms.
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10. Putting Logo In A Box Or Outlining Font
You should almost never outline a Font in a
logo and avoid boxed images unless it is
necessary.