20 Rules of Logo Design
Here are some of the rules that I try to abide by while working on logos. Some of them have to deal with process, some with client relations and others on technical issues. I can’t say that I follow these rules 100% of the time, but they are some important things to keep in mind. They are in no particular order.
I’m most interested in learning what standards other designers abide by. Please share.
1. Get as much information as possible before you start on the project.
2. Make sure you are working with the decision makers.
3. Get inspiration outside of the logo books. Try an art museum or the local scrap yard.
4. Don’t use gradients. Well. . . If you do, just make sure the mark looks great without the gradients as well.
5. Committees can’t commit. Have a very direct and transparent plan if you do agree to work with a committee (never agree to work when there is more than one committee involved in the approval process).
6. Don’t just ask questions of the client, but work to figure out what lies underneath their answers.
7. Keep animation in the back of your mind, even if you don’t see the client needing it immediately.
8. Don’t leave “fine tuning” for after the client approval. Most of the time, after a logo is approved, the client wants it “ASAP”. If you do leave “fine tuning” for after the client gives final approval, make sure you follow through.
9. Work to appear current without being too trendy. More Sprint. Less at&t. Traveling/bouncing circles, droplets and or “canted” logos are becoming as trendy as the ubiquitous swoosh.
10. As much as you love the mark you created, make sure it is balanced with the type (if they are separate). Don’t make a mark that will completely overpower the company name and vice versa.
11. Simplify
12. Make sure it is recognizable at a quarter inch.
13. Make the overall shape unique. Think of the Coke bottle.
14. When you are creating shapes in Illustrator, use as few points as possible.
15. Start with some sort of sketch. Even if you are not a full-on thumbnail person, rough sketches on lined paper is better than nothing at all.
16. Start in black & white. Present that to the client before color becomes a factor (I am talking to myself here as well).
17. Strive to create a mark that would only work for your client, while allowing room for the company to expand and grow.
18. Don’t lose site of the overall picture. I find myself getting caught up in fine tuning details on a mark that, when looked at objectively, doesn’t fit within the client’s needs.
19. Don’t present a logo option to the client that you are not fully confident in. They WILL pick your least favorite.
20. Don’t forget that the logo is just one element in the larger scheme of the identity and brand.
April 7th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
VERY helpful guidelines. Thanks!
April 7th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
Also mess around. Play Play Play in illustrator, use pathfinder, combine, build, destroy. You can get some interesting shapes and ideas from happy mistakes, and places you weren’t looking.
April 7th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Seems to me that’s completely counter to researching a brand and having a solid foundation to build your work from. Bennett, if you left anything out above, it was “have an idea.” If everything we do is randomly generated in Illustrator, then’s all meaningless garbage.
April 7th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Great list, Bennett!
18 is so true – arguably of all design, but it’s such an easy thing to forget when you’re working in a vaccum on an element so removed from all the other design/branding/marketing that a company may be involved in.
And don’t even get me started on 19. I have no idea how that can always be true, but it is.
Gregory, a quick addition to your note. I’d encourge everyone to Play Play Play on paper for way longer than you think you should before you ever hit the computer. That kind of Play can generate things you’d never stumble across in Illustrator. (And for me, often times generates something I would never have guessed could even come out of my brain.)
April 7th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
if you left anything out above, it was “have an idea.” If everything we do is randomly generated in Illustrator, then’s all meaningless garbage.
If you ask questions (#6), get information (#1) and do sketches (#15), I can almost guarantee that what you create will not be “meaningless garbage”. I should have had one of the rules focus on concept or “an idea”. That would be my first amendment.
April 7th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
One rule I try to use in all my pre-approval processes is: Perfection is the enemy of good enough.
But specifically to logo work I’d have to add…
Make use of the imagery already ingrained into the public psyche. Instantly recognizable shapes and images are everywhere – and no, not all of them have been used. The odd flower-shaped bottom of a soda bottle, the curl on top of soft-serve ice cream, the threads of a screw. Even if they’re not instantly recognizable these are familiar shapes – take advantage of recognition whenever possible.
And… umm…
I always give a “logo pack” of pre-sized images in various formats placed in folders named for their relevant application. “Letterhead images” “To give to print shop” “faxable logos” and so on. Never underestimate the power of the client to take your gorgeous logo and attempt to resize it in Word themselves and “just squish it a little bit” – remember, they probably don’t know what you do.
Great post, by the way!
April 8th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
Thanks for the tips. If everbody followed these hints the whole world would much be better off. And we wouldn’t have logos like the Golden Comb-over and the “new” AT&T logo!
April 8th, 2006 at 11:10 pm
I’d add #21: A logo is not a brand. A brand is not a logo.
April 10th, 2006 at 8:07 am
Excellent compilation! Here’s my 5 cents.
Rule 11 + 12 + 16: avoid too much small detail in the logo. You know, the stuff that disappears when it is scaled down. Remember: the logo has to look good even when it’s embroided in white on a black shirt. Or printed on the side of a 10-ton truck.
Rule 6bis: think of the concepts, or ideas, behind the logo (shape, type & colour, yes: I’m talking about the semantics). Communicate these concepts in plain, simple language to the client.
April 10th, 2006 at 8:33 am
Rule 19: is true.
April 11th, 2006 at 8:03 am
I said “play play play in illustrator” I guess what I really meant is, look to other sources and ways to get inspiration for logos. I didn’t say go in without a plan, let randomness dictate your design, or have no goal in your process.
April 11th, 2006 at 9:20 am
Very useful! tnks
April 18th, 2006 at 8:09 am
If you would like to read these 20 rules in Spanish, head over to isopixel.
April 18th, 2006 at 9:03 am
Que? That is very cool. I read a review of the BADCast in polish last week. Not to pat ourselves on the back too much, be we are like, sooo multinational right here. But you know, its a good point; a good logo in english is still a good logo in Spanish. Kind of reminds me of seeing movie posters printed up in different languages with the same artwork. It’s always fun to see it executed in a multilingual form.
So that makes me curious. On isopixel they show the Sony logo with a tagline in a foreign lanuage. I’ve had to do that as well. I wonder how many logos need to change from country to country? Not many, I’d imagine, but I’d like to see the few that do.
May 22nd, 2006 at 6:14 pm
Thanks Benett.
These rules have been helpful…
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Hi there,
Very informative.
I have a doubt though – is it ok to have 2-3 different logos to be used for the same company? is yes, why – i need logical reasoning here. and if no why?
as i have read and heard, different similar logos are usually used as per the requirement. since i am not sure of this – i wanted to confirm the same.
i blog at http://sunayana18.wordpress.com/; you can leave me a comment there. thanks…!
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Hi there,
Very informative.
I have a doubt though – is it ok to have 2-3 different logos to be used for the same company? is yes, why – i need logical reasoning here. and if no why?
as i have read and heard, different similar logos are usually used as per the requirement. since i am not sure of this – i wanted to confirm the same.
i blog at http://sunayana18.wordpress.com/; you can leave me a comment there. thanks…!
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Hi there,
Very informative.
I have a doubt though – is it ok to have 2-3 different logos to be used for the same company? is yes, why – i need logical reasoning here. and if no why?
as i have read and heard, different similar logos are usually used as per the requirement. since i am not sure of this – i wanted to confirm the same.
i blog at http://sunayana18.wordpress.com/; you can leave me a comment there. thanks…!
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Hi there,
Very informative.
I have a doubt though – is it ok to have 2-3 different logos to be used for the same company? is yes, why – i need logical reasoning here. and if no why?
as i have read and heard, different similar logos are usually used as per the requirement. since i am not sure of this – i wanted to confirm the same.
i blog at http://sunayana18.wordpress.com/; you can leave me a comment there. thanks…!
September 5th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Hi Bennett! I’m impressed by your blog content,it so nice and very informative…”20 Rules in Logo Design” are very useful in creating an excellent logo design..thanks Bennett for the knowledge you share…good luck!
http://www.marketcreations.com.au/