There are two types of logos in the world— the generic ones that people forget easily and the unique ones that people remember for longer. We all know that a logo isn’t just an image. It’s the first impression a brand puts on its viewers.
Therefore, considering its design in the preliminary state is very essential. When you execute it correctly, it becomes a powerful asset for a company. However, designing a visual representation needs much more than graphics.
Like any work that needs proper planning and a set of skills, personal logo design needs a set of rules to be followed. It also needs a lot of practice, experience, and knowledge. Keeping that in mind, here we bring you 9 principles that you should follow to create a stunning design.
1. Do your preliminary work
The very first step to designing a personal logo is to create preliminary sketches. You need not do something special but start with the very basic things like paper and pencil. Or, you can use illustrator to create a draft.
Start your process by designing 20 to 30 sketches and brainstorming various ideas. Keep doing that until you find satisfaction with one.
2. Balance out
A balanced and well-made design is important for visual appeal. Take, for example, Apple’s logo. It’s minimal but well-made with a tiny bite created with precision. Not only the design but the colors, size, and other elements matter the most. You can break such rules as well as dependency sometimes.
Keep in mind that your logo will be seen by not only one person but by a large number of people.
3. Keep an eye on the size
A good logo is one that’s scalable. It means that it could be tiny, small, or large based on the usage. Personal logos losing their definition when scaling down for brochures, letterheads, envelopes, or other materials aren’t good. Even when you use it for digital marketing on channels like TV or social media, it has to look good.
So, for printing and online use, keep the size in mind and create one that never loses its sharpness even when scaled down or scaled up.
4. Make smart use of colors
Whether you choose monochrome or vibrant shades, being mindful is important. You need to keep the basic rules in mind when picking a particular color. Remember, colors have specific meanings. Brands consider color psychology whenever getting a new logo or creating other marketing materials.
5. Pick a design that suits the brand
There are various design styles that you can pick to create a brandmark like a name logo, symbol logo, and a mix of the two. Even, 3-D logos are in-trend and brands look forward to using them. Before you pick a style, find out what your clients deal in. Get to know which industry they relate to or what exactly they do.
It will help you decide the best design style right from the beginning.
6. Pick the right typography
Choosing the right typography and its size isn’t easy. It’s more difficult than you may realize. If your personal logo design has text as part of the logo or tagline, you need to find out which font type would be appropriate.
Serif and Sans Serif fonts are widely chosen ones. Pick any one of them or create your own custom font like Coca-Cola. The more unique and original it is, the better it will distinguish the business.
7. Don’t mind to differentiate yourself
Do you want your design to stand out from the rest? Don’t be scared to be different. Rather than copying a design, create one on your own. Use your ideas to be innovative.
The best rule to be different is to bend the rules in your favor. Go for a variety of colors, styles, and fonts. Combine each one of them and try it out until you find the best combination.
Have fun and tweak an existing design to get something unique.
8. Be minimalistic
Personal logos don’t have to be complex. You don’t need to use various elements to make it stand out. Look at the logos of popular brands such as Apple, Amazon, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and FedEx. What do you find? They are all simple sans complexity.
Work on your design and remove the unnecessary elements.
9. Don’t depend on effects
With tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Freehand, you can apply various effects while designing a logo. Of course, you can play around with a little effect to enhance its visual appeal, but be mindful.
Always remember simple things last longer.
Bottom line
Designing a logo is a little challenging task. If you know some basics, you can create something worth appreciating. Keep the rules discussed above in mind for a cool logo design.
