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Eight Critical Elements of an Effective Logo Design.
by Jeff Kear
Have you ever noticed how certain logo designs stand out from the crowd?
Take, for example, the logos for companies like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Toyota, Sears, Kellogg?s and Nike.
It?s no secret that each of these Fortune 500 companies devotes millions of dollars each year to develop their brand and promote their corporate identity.
But, by themselves, these corporate logos also have certain innate qualities that make them more memorable and easy to distinguish from other corporate symbols. These qualities are based in the designs themselves and in the techniques and research used in developing them.
Here is a list of these qualities and short descriptions as to how they work together to create a logo design that?s both original and unforgettable:
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Simplicity
Simply put, simplicity is one element all effective logo designs have in common. People are drawn to clean, uncluttered logo designs because they can easily absorb and recognize the symbol at a glance. Busy, crowded logos ? such as designs featuring many intricate details, elaborate images or pictures ? are distracting to the viewer and tend not to be as well recognized as cleaner designs.
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Proportionality
Ideally, a logo should function as a discrete unit with a width not much greater than its height. Remember that a logo design should work well on anything from a business card to a billboard, and logos that are too long or too tall become difficult to read when they are reduced or enlarged.
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Small Color Palette
It is no coincidence that 80% of the world?s most widely recognized logos use either one or two colors. Truth be told, few good logo designs use more than three colors; this is because using more than three colors usually turns a logo to mud. A basic color palette of one to three colors (which may or may not include black) keeps things simple and allows the selected colors to clearly convey a mood or emotion.
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Easily Legible Fonts
Creating a logo design in elaborate script fonts may look classy, but what good is a logo if nobody can read it? Your best bet is to choose a font that is distinctive but still easy to read. (FYI ? Two thirds of most logos are designed with sans serif fonts, such as Arial and Veranda, with the other one third designed in serif fonts such as Times New Roman and Garamond.) |
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