Logo design made easy

Anja
-
0
Logo design made easy

Designing a logo is an art in itself. The aim of a logo is to represent a company or product. To make sure that the logo is appropriate for the company or the product, there are some points you have to keep in mind. We will use the fictitious example of “STARMUSIC – Dein Musikhaus” to demonstrate how to create a logo and what a good logo is all about.

Contents of this article:

Four steps to create the perfect logo

1) Brand recognition:

A slide titled Requirements for a Good Logo design lists recognition, practicability in black and white, recognisability from a distance, and reproducibility. It features an orange star logo with a white microphone icon in the center.

The purpose of a logo is to represent a company or a product. Therefore, specific characteristics and features of the product or company should be incorporated in the logo. This can be a simple shape or a special colour, for example. The goal is to design a unique and memorable logo that will stand out from the crowd.

2) Black and white compatibility:

A slide titled Requirements for a Good Logo Design lists: recognition, practicability in black and white, recognisability from far distance, and reproducibility. A black star with a microphone and stripes forms the central graphic.

Each logo should also work in black and white so that it can be used universally for print or web applications. The basic message of a logo should not get lost in the monochrome version.

3) Visibility from a distance:

A presentation slide titled Requirements for a Good Logo Design lists: recognition, practicability in black and white, recognisability from far distance, and reproducibility. It features a star and microphone graphic on the right.

The logo must be easy to identify from a certain distance. Therefore, you should design the proportions of lines and contours so that they are easily visible from about three to five metres away.

4) Scalability:

A slide listing four logo design requirements and showing a sample letterhead with the STARMUSIC logo. The requirements are recognition, practicality in black and white, recognizability from far, and reproducibility in web and print.

To make sure that your logo looks good in magazines, on walls or in the internet, you should design it with scalability in mind. Vector graphics is a key term in this context. It allows free scaling of the logo to be used anywhere whether big or small.

Criteria for a logo

A lot of different factors influence whether the logo ultimately has the desired impact.

Selecting the colours:

Red is associated with strength, power and energy, whereas green represents nature, environment and health. So when choosing the colours to be used in a logo, you have to think of how people will perceive it.

The power of shapes:

Particular logo shapes send out particular messages: A circle symbolizes unity while a rectangle or triangle signals stability.

Selecting fonts:

The font can make a major contribution to the impact a logo creates. Using Comic Sans, for example, will not be able to convey a sense of trust and professionalism which is crucial for any logo. Cursive fonts have a more playful and creative character, whereas serif typefaces create a sense of respectability.

The creative process

A black pen rests on a sheet of graph paper next to a wooden surface. The paper features a star-shaped logo design with a microphone at the center, encircled by concentric lines.

The way to the perfect logo can be very long, because it is a hallmark that should represent a company or product – often for many years. A lot of questions need to be answered: Which corporate colours should be used? Which aspects of the company or product should the logo represent? Which elements must the logo include?

In the next step, you should grab a pen and make sketches and scribble your logo ideas on paper. Once the logo has taken shape on paper, you can proceed to transform the best sketch into an inspiring logo in Adobe Illustrator. To do so, you have to fine-tune outlines, add colours and maybe come up with a wordmark already at this point.

Demo project: “STARMUSIC – Dein Musikhaus”

We will use this example to illustrate what a typical logo design process can look like in practice.

The scenario: The music store “STARMUSIC – Dein Musikhaus” needs a logo.

The following criteria should be considered in the design process.

  • The logo should refer to the name STARMUSIC.
  • The colour theme should come across as modern and fresh.
  • The “Dein Musikhaus” slogan must be incorporated.
  • The store’s corporate font is Zona Pro.

A star shape is obviously ideal to create a logo for “STARMUSIC”. It could be combined with an object that is typically associated with a music store such as a microphone which is easily recognized when looking at the logo. Subtle soundwaves sketched around the star make the logo complete.

A fresh and modern colour is now selected in Illustrator. We go for a bright, almost neon orange. The gradient to a lighter orange hue makes the logo appear more vibrant. When designing the individual strokes, make sure that the outlines are heavy enough to be easily visible from a few metres distance. The soundwaves around the star shape are kept in a subtle grey to give more emphasis to the main colour orange.
Finally, we create the company’s wordmark using their corporate font and position the slogan “Dein Musikhaus” below the company name “STARMUSIC”.

Our workflow to create the perfect logo

Star and soundwaves

A screenshot of Adobe Illustrator shows a red outlined star centered inside a red outlined square on a white artboard, with blue guides crossing through the center—ideal for precise logo design.

Screenshot of Adobe Illustrator showing a gray star logo design in the center on a white background, with the Color Picker tool open to select a gradient color. Blue guides and red outlines are visible.

Screenshot of Adobe Illustrator showcasing a logo design featuring an orange five-pointed star centered on a white square canvas, with guides and selection boxes. Illustrator tool panels and color options are visible on the sides.

A screenshot of Adobe Illustrator showing an orange star with a white outline centered on a white canvas—ideal for logo design. Guide lines intersect at the middle, and Illustrator’s toolbars and panels surround the workspace.

Screenshot of Adobe Illustrator showcasing a logo design with an orange star centered on a white square canvas, surrounded by five concentric black circles, with interface panels and tools visible around the workspace.

A screenshot of Adobe Illustrator showing a red star with a white border centered over black concentric circles, illustrating a bold logo design. Guides and the Illustrator interface are visible on the white background.

A digital illustration in Adobe Illustrator showcases a logo design featuring an orange star with a white outline, centered on a white background, with black and gray concentric semi-circles behind it. Illustrator interface and tools are visible.

Screenshot of a graphic design program showcasing a logo design: an orange star with a white outline, centered over gray concentric circles on a white background. Program toolbars and color palettes are visible around the workspace.

Microphone

A vector illustration of a black microphone icon is centered on a white background in a logo design workspace, surrounded by visible toolbars, color palettes, and alignment guides in the graphic design software.

A computer screen displays Adobe Illustrator with a black microphone icon being edited for a logo design. A horizontal rectangle is selected and positioned to the left of the microphone, and guide lines cross at the center. Toolbars are visible on both sides.

A computer screen displays a black microphone icon logo design on a white background in Adobe Illustrator, with blue guide lines intersecting at the center of the image.

A simple black microphone icon is centered on a white background, with thin blue horizontal and vertical guidelines intersecting at the center—ideal for logo design concepts.

Merging the logo

A digital illustration in Adobe Illustrator features a logo design of an orange star with a white microphone at its center, surrounded by circular sound waves on a white square background. The Illustrator workspace and toolbars are visible.

A digital workspace in Adobe Illustrator displays a logo design featuring an orange star with a white microphone icon at its center, surrounded by concentric circles on a white canvas. The Illustrator interface and toolbars are visible.

A graphic design interface showcasing a logo design with an orange star containing a microphone, concentric circles around it, and the text STARMUSIC in bold, with DEIN MUSIKHAUS below in a light blue font.

A graphic design workspace displays a logo design featuring an orange star and microphone icon, alongside the text STARMUSIC and DEIN MUSIKHAUS on a white background.

The resulting high-recognition logo can be used universally in any context:

Logo design featuring an orange star with a microphone in the center, gray sound wave rings behind it. Text to the right reads STARMUSIC in bold, with DEIN MUSIKHAUS below in a lighter font.

Credits:

By media designer Christoph Ullrich.