This document provides 10 tips for expert logo design: conduct thorough online and industry research; understand basic logo design principles like simplicity and memorability; establish your own design process; appropriately price your work based on factors like required concepts and revisions; learn from successful logos of other brands; avoid visual cliches; research your target audience; immerse yourself in the brand you are designing for; keep all your sketches; and do focused online research.

1. 10 EXPERT LOGO DESIGN TIPS
MD. SHAHADAT HOSSAIN

2. 01. Online design sites
Inspiration can come from anything,
anywhere. The obvious resources are sites
like Logo Gala and Logo Moose, but if you're
a full-time logo designer you'll probably be
familiar with them already. Widen your
research to include other graphic design
sites, and art and design sites in general, like
Dribbble or Deviant Art. Explore further
down the results pages to visit sites you
haven't seen before and also narrow your
search to put the spotlight on logos in the
same industry or belonging to companies of
similar size, aspirations and values.

3. 02. Learn logo 101
An effective logo is distinctive, appropriate, practical, graphic, simple
in form and conveys an intended message. In its simplest form, a logo
is there to identify but to do this effectively it must follow the basic
principles of logo design: A logo must be simple. A simple logo allows
for easy recognition and allows the logo to be versatile and
memorable. Effective logos feature something unexpected or unique
without being overdrawn. A logo must be memorable. Following
closely behind the principle of simplicity is that of memorability. An
effective logo should be memorable and this is achieved by having a
simple yet appropriate logo. A logo must be enduring. An effective
logo should endure the test of time. The logo should be 'future
proof', meaning that it should still be effective in 10, 20, 50+ years
time. A logo must be versatile. An effective logo should be able to
work across a variety of mediums and applications. A logo must be
appropriate. How you position the logo should be appropriate for its
intended purpose. For a more detailed explanation see: What makes
a good logo?

4. 03. Establish your own design process
Every designer has his or her own process,
and it is rarely linear, but in general this is
how the branding process is completed,
which can be used as a guide to establish
your own. Design brief. Conduct a
questionnaire or interview with the client to
get the design brief. Research. Conduct
research focused on the industry itself, its
history, and its competitors. Reference.
Conduct research into logo designs that have
been successful and current styles and trends
that are related to the design brief.

5. 04. Price your work accordingly
"How much?" is the single most frequently asked question and it cannot be easily answered because
every company has different needs and expectations. You have to take a number of factors into
consideration when designing a logo/brand identity, such as how many concepts need to be presented,
how many revisions will be needed, how much research is required, how big the business is and so on.
The best approach is to draw up a customised quote for each client and to do this you should learn
how to price your designs, which is another topic in itself.
Jeff Fisher, a notable designer and author, had this great point in his article How Much Should I Charge:
"The major point I wish to convey here is that all designers need to work smarter in independently
determining what their talent, skill and expertise are worth and charge the client accordingly without
question or apology. Being smart in determining what you should charge for your work will hopefully
allow you to 'work less, charge more' in the future."

6. 05. Learn from others
By knowing what other brands have succeeded in and why
they have succeeded gives you great insight and you can
apply that attained knowledge to your own work.
For example, let's look at the classic Nike Swoosh (above).
This logo was created by Caroline Davidson in 1971 and it's a
great example of a strong, memorable logo, being effective
without colour and easily scalable.
Not only is it simple, fluid and fast but it also has related
symbolism; it represents the wing in the famous statue of
the Greek Goddess of Victory, Nike, which is a perfect figure
for a sporting apparel business. Nike is just one of many
great logos, but think about other famous brands that you
know and check out their logos - what makes them
successful?

7. 06. Avoid the clichés
Light bulbs for 'ideas', speech bubbles for 'discussion',
globes for 'international', etc. These ideas are often the first
things to pop into one's head when brainstorming, and for
the same reason should be the first ideas discarded. How is
your design going to be unique when so many other logos
feature the same idea? Stay clear of these visual clichés
and come up with an original idea and design.
With this said, please do not steal, copy or 'borrow' other
designs. Although, this shouldn't have to be said, it happens
too often. A designer sees an idea that he likes, does a quick
mirror, colour swap or word change, and then calls the idea
his own. Not only is this unethical, illegal and downright
stupid but you're also going to get caught sooner or later. Do
not use stock or clip art either — the point of a logo is to be
unique and original.

8. 07. Research your audience
Creating a logo isn't just about creating a
pretty visual. What you're doing, or taking
part in, is developing a brand and
communicating a position. It makes sense,
then, that the first step in creating a logo
should be to research these concepts.
Involving the client at this early stage is
advised, as your interpretation of their brand
may be different from theirs, and it's
essential that the message is clear before any
actual designing takes place.

9. 08. Immerse yourself in the brand
Before even beginning to sketch out
ideas for a logo, spend some time
compiling the equivalent of an M15
dossier on your client's brand: who they
are, what they do and what their
demographic is.
Look at previous iterations of their logo
and ask yourself what doesn't represent
the brand on these. Then compile a 'dos
and don'ts' checklist before your creative
work starts.

10. 09. Keep all your sketches
"It's probably a fair guess that for every logo
you design you probably come up with a
couple of dozen sketches before you decide
which one to develop further," adds Martin
Christie. "Never throw away these early
ideas; they form a valuable resource.
"Just because one of your early sketches
didn't work for another client, it doesn't
mean it won't work at all. Go back through
what you've done and you may find the seed
that, with a bit of nurturing, could grow to
become the logo you're looking for.

11. 10. Do your online research
Two great starting points for online research are
Logo Moose and Logo Gala. One thing to be
mindful of is knowing when to stop your research.
It's best to look at what did and didn't work out of
10 relevant logo designs than swamp yourself
with 50 extraneous ones.
If you're struggling for ideas, try looking up key
words in a dictionary or thesaurus or searching
Google images for inspiration. If you keep a sketch
book then look at previous drawings – you're
bound to have unused ideas from previous
projects, so you may already be sitting on the
perfect solution.