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Groundwork
You can save a lot of time if you know what to do as well as what not to do. Do not just research successful logo. Take note of the ones that do not make the grade. Research logo designs from companies in the same industry as yours' so you are in tune with the design trend.
However, it is important that you select a logo style that suits your company. For instance, a combination mark, which is a mix of logo text as well as iconic marks, is a good pick for new companies. Once a company has been around for a while and everyone recognizes it's iconic mark, it may choose to drop it's logo text, such as in the case of Starbucks and Shell.
Remember The Rules
Next, observe the basic rules of logo designing. There are 4 guidelines which you should follow:
- A logo should be describable
- It should be memorable
- It should be able to stand alone in just black
- It should be scalable
Do not be surprised to find that the all the good logos you have researched abide by those 4 guidelines. Let us take Shell's logo as an example. Is it easy to describe? Is it memorable? Can you still recognize it if it were just in black? Would it look good on a tiny business card?
Although some might say that logo should communicate to the viewer what your company does, others might disagree. Some company logos communicate the particular attribute of a company such as speed. This is apparent in many logistics corporate identities.
Draft Sketches
Before you fire up your photoshop suite, sketch a few ideas first. A sketch pen is still the fastest way to put thoughts to paper and you do not have to worry about your PC crashing and losing unsaved files. Once you more or less have the final logo design sketch ready, you just need to scan it and trace the image, and you are ready to begin tweaking the design with your software.
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