Comments on: Creating a Logotype Depends More on the Means Than the End

By: Shaun

Shaun — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 12:50:51 +0000

I had many of the same thoughts. I feel this is a solid article, unfortunately it is a prime example brand/logo creation by a web designer (as others have noted).

By: Helmuts

Helmuts — Mon, 17 May 2010 09:11:18 +0000

(blush) ok... here are those logos:http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/logo/schwarzkopf http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/logo/dell-0 http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/logo/facebook http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/logo/danske-bank http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/logo/microsoft-certified-systems-engineer http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/logo/philips http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/logo/iphone-0

By: Helmuts

Helmuts — Mon, 17 May 2010 08:53:01 +0000

Here are some samples of a concept of the perfect logo

1) simple (readable in 1-2 seconds)
2) include a graphic element
3) do not use more than 2 colours

I would suggest to use CorelDraw for playing around with a font (like in the case of Microsoft).. at least I find it better than Illustrator though it has other strong sides.

in coreldraw convert the basic text using 3 fonts Helvetica, Arial Bold and Verdana into curves (use Ctrl. + Q) and make it unique…

This is a nice qute: “Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler” (Albert Einstein)

good luck

p.s. some tip, I always try to imagine will this logo look good on a top of some building and / or on a car that helps

By: Ben Gremillion

Ben Gremillion — Sun, 16 May 2010 23:20:03 +0000

No offense taken but I didn’t intend for final logo here to be serious. There is no Smalls, Middleton & Bigman and there was only one round of revisions. I made it up to illustrate the article more than to craft a production-ready logo.

The idea is that decisions about color, typeface, style and identity aren’t arbitrary. Your fourth point sums it up: A logo should reflect the nature or character of what it represents.

By: Helmuts

Helmuts — Sun, 16 May 2010 12:47:47 +0000

WOW

no, this is too much

cmyk is a colour model or combination of certain percentage of cyan, magenta, yellow and black

cmyk has all the colour variations one would dream of…

for example, you want to get metallic gold. in cmyk colour model – that could be c44 m47 y78 k20 (numbers stand for percentage of use of the colour)

and now think – there are 4 basic colours, each has 100 variations… the number or probable colour variations is HUGE

and all the logos have to be made in cmyk as sooner or later they will be printed, and you will want to see the precise colour of your logo in those printed materials…

that’s it…

Helmuts

p.s. My experience about logos? I have more than 6 years professional digital printing (I am not talking about desktop printers) experience… and it always involves work with logos

p.p.s. have to admit – I have created some shitty logos as well – everybody can make a mistake, especially if client likes the stuff

By: Helmuts

Helmuts — Sun, 16 May 2010 12:26:17 +0000

sorry mate, most of your articles are great, but this one is a joke

1) the final logo is something one would get out in ms word (i even would prefare to see the 1st logo presented by firm’s secretary without any added graphics)
2) the essence of logo is hidden in creativity of an artist – there is no mathematics in that – it has to be unique
3) the font has to be simple and readable in 2 seconds (max) – for example, your own logo is not made using thin and complicated fonts
4) the design of can’t be started without knowing the style of the company itself

I will stop here as there are many other aspects (no offence)

good luck to You and keep posting
Helmuts

p.s. the power of logo is simplicity

By: Ben Gremillion

Ben Gremillion — Sat, 15 May 2010 17:48:00 +0000

@Arlen and @Andrew, I didn’t consider Pantone, RGB, RGBa or CSS3 opacity to be important issues for this article. Certainly they’re important for logo design. But my goal was to describe the thought process more than specific techniques. Using color in logo design for print, web or both would be an article unto itself. Maybe several.

The thoughtful comments here, even the rebukes, illustrate my point: That one should make design decisions based on concept and experience. This article was a success because it prompted people to think.

By: Andrew Pope

Andrew Pope — Sat, 15 May 2010 09:25:13 +0000

Its been described Very Nicely But as Arlen said you need to introduce Pantone colours, the editor must also show some ideas of Pantone Colors as CMYK does not have many variations.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 14 May 2010 20:51:47 +0000

I have never been a typophile, and I may never be; as such, designers can tell something is not quite “there” with my designs.

I may never be a typophile, but articles like this may just help me bridge the gap. Thanks for the hard work.

By: Dave Black

Dave Black — Wed, 12 May 2010 09:15:48 +0000

Not a bad article, but there’s a little bit too much corporate wankery for me.

“It must be easily recognizable. It should work at all sizes, including for business cards, letterheads and billboards. It should look professional.”

Really? Professional, you say? What’s the alternative, do you usually design sloppy, shoddy unprofessional logos? And recognisable too – as opposed to instantly forgettable?

There’s no point in stating the obvious. There’s nothing in the above description that would differentiate one client’s logo from any other’s – they’re all “professional” and “recognisable”, aren’t they? We’re designers. Are we making mission statements and action item lists, or are we creating something that doesn’t fit on a spreadsheet?