How to do logo design?

First, make clear the positioning of logo design.

Second, analyze several common forms of logo design

Third, several common logo design directions

Four. Matters needing attention in logo design

Verb (abbreviation of verb) abstract

Next, let's take a look at it one by one! ~

First, make clear the positioning of logo design.

Logo design also needs to consider positioning, even positioning, because logo, like our name, will always follow us in various occasions or corners, such as TV/billboards/leaflets/websites/various peripheral products. You will find that a logo is composed of these visible things, such as color/texture/shape, and at the same time convey an intangible thing to people, such as corporate.

For example, when you see the logo of McDonald's, you will never think that he is selling arms, but that he is approachable and friendly. For example, when you see Dabao's logo, you will never regard it as a luxury skin care brand. What kind of visual effects will give people what kind of psychological feelings, which is roughly the truth.

In this way, a complete logo contains both tangible and intangible meanings, as well as the theory of positioning.

This is why many enterprises will constantly upgrade or modify their logo with the changes of the times in the process of development. Because the orientation has changed or the aesthetic direction of the times has changed, everything has to change, but some actions are bigger and some actions are smaller.

Taking QQ's logo as an example, we will find that this penguin has gone through the process from flattening to texturing and then flattening, and its appearance has also changed from chubby to slender penguin boy, with more concise and steady expression lines and cleaner colors. These subtle adjustments, on the one hand, show that he is growing up with the audience and becoming more international, which is the need of business development and situation.

At the same time, a good logo can also be visually extended, which is convenient for application in a wider range of scenes. When people see this visual element, they will immediately think of it in their minds, that is, occupy the user's mind, thus increasing the emotional stickiness between users and brands.

For example, Tmall's cat head element:

Having said that, I just want to say that before designing a logo, it is best to consider three levels: tangible visual level/intangible positioning level/visual extension level.

Second, analyze several common forms of logo design

After the initial positioning analysis and so on, let's take a look at some common routines of logo. I found that there are so many logo in the world, but the design forms are nothing more than these: text deformation/English abbreviation/English font/English font deformation/graphics+text/graphics+English.

Let me give you a few examples:

1, text deformation class:

Every Chinese character is a figure, and there are many ways to write the same word. Every Chinese character has evolved from thousands of years of cultural inheritance. Therefore, the deformed logo is not only beautiful, but also always exudes a literati atmosphere. This kind of logo is more suitable for brands that need to embody humanistic atmosphere, such as tea/bookstore/cafe/restaurant/jewelry.

However, due to the different font/color matching/texture processing, we can actually take various routes, not necessarily just the literati route:

However, this deformed logo is more suitable for domestic use, and it is still a bit difficult to take the international route. After all, graphic symbols or English letters are the international common language.

2. English abbreviation:

For example, in August of 20 13, L 'Oré al bought a beauty mask, and in 20 15, the beauty logo was revised and upgraded, which was completed by Japanese designer Kenya Hara. Now it looks really more international than the original logo.

3, English font class:

It is found that many digital technologies/high-end skin care and beauty cosmetics/luxury bags/high-end clothing accessories are using the English font logo, or slightly modifying some English fonts to reflect internationalization. No matter what internationalization, it will give people a sense of identity, quality and fashion, which is probably a need to satisfy customers' vanity.

For example, the clothing brand Taiping Bird, which is now renamed Taiping Bird, really sounds more foreign immediately. For example, wasn't there a joke before? Six gods toilet water translated into English sixgod immediately sounds like the name of a big-name perfume in a country.

Then Baidu translated it, which is true. . .

However, for new brands, it will be more difficult to blindly implement this set of estimates in China without excellent technology/functions or funds. After all, where is the public perception? It's really hard to remember to name a new brand and make an English logo in China ~

In addition, some English font logo can at least be seen as fonts, but some changes will be relatively large, and basically you can't see fonts, but graphics.

4, graphics+text class:

The combination of graphics and text is the most commonly used and universal logo form in China, including horizontal version and vertical version, and this form is also suitable for any temperament, any brand, except those who want to play with individuality or niche. They don't want to follow the crowd, they want to be different ~

5, graphics+English class:

The combination of graphics and English fonts is the most commonly used sign form in the world. There are also horizontal and vertical versions, which are also suitable for any temperament and any brand, but it is hard to say for minority brands or designer brands. After all, they also want to be different ~

Three, several common logo design methods

Since the above mentioned several common logo forms, let's take a look at several common logo design methods:

1, font deformation method

The so-called font deformation method is to do some effects or deformation on the basis of the original brand name or enterprise name, and it is best to combine some personality or nature of the brand to give full play to creativity. Taking "design flour" as an example, give full play to the direction of "design" and show you a font deformation work made by one of our design flour in design practice, which is almost like this:

It's just that I thought this work could be done better, so I gave some opinions and suggestions at that time. You can also have a look:

2. Graphic association method

For example, taking the word "noodles for design" as an example, we can associate it from two aspects: related things and goal vision:

On related matters:

We can think of many things or scenes related to noodles when designing, so what will we use when designing? I will use some tools such as brushes //PS// computers, and I will think of things that can reflect creativity, such as light bulbs/brains/colored building blocks, and I will think of the works of female designers.

What do we think of when we see the word noodles? Think of long noodles/a bowl of noodles/one noodles/multiple noodles/straight noodles/rolled noodles and so on;

So we combine all the images related to design (assuming the number is A) with the images related to noodles (assuming the number is B), and there will be the creative direction of axb logo, and so on, which is actually equivalent to the permutation and combination formula in advanced mathematics (if you forget this mathematical knowledge, go to Baidu yourself).

Let's take "designing noodles" as an example to show you some creative directions of our flour for the official WeChat account (with my comments):

Another example is this mosaic photo of foreign brushes and noodles, which is also very enlightening and just fits my name:

About the goal vision:

We can think that the designed surface is actually a platform to connect people from all walks of life related to design and e-commerce. It is both a sender and a receiver of information. It can also be a part of everyone's life or work. You can come to her if you have any questions or needs, and you can talk to her if you are happy or not. What do you think of at this time? I think of companionship/space/data language symbols and so on.

However, if you think from this direction, it may feel a little distant and difficult to understand, because ordinary people can't understand these meanings literally, so if you want to take the affinity or mass line, it is not suitable for this direction. You can try to take the more expensive route or stick to Maslow's high-level demand route.

Nike, for example, sells sports shoes and sportswear, but it was born not only to meet your lowest-level needs of wearing clothes or shoes, but to meet a higher-level demand that represents your beliefs. What he wants to convey to you is a spirit: justdoit!

Of course, it's not cheap, even a pair of shoes can be fried to thousands (well, faith is expensive. . )

3, the first letter extraction method

As the name implies, the logo is designed with the initials of the name. For example, after extracting the first letter of the designed noodles, it is zsjdmt. But my name is too long to use this method, which is neither convenient for memory nor convenient for design. For example, if the name is short, you can try it. Everyone knows that it is good to have this method, so I won't elaborate.

4, letter deformation method

As before, the first letter of the name is extracted and deformed to get a new graphic as the logo, which is also more suitable for short names within three words, such as LG/SF of SF:

5. Derivation in kind

This method is suitable for enterprises or brands with figurative names, and their logos often change slightly in the shape of the corresponding objects. For example, the logo of a shell is a shell graphic, the logo of an apple is a bitten apple graphic, the logo of a hammer is a hammer graphic, and the logo of Tmall is a simplified graphic of a cat. I don't put my name, and you know what these logos are ~

6. Positive and negative shapes

Some names are more pleasing, and the graphics he associates with or her initials can be processed into positive and negative forms. This kind of logo is never tired of reading, and it will make people smile and deepen their impression, which is worth recommending ~

Four. Matters needing attention in logo design

Combining positioning and design methods, there are some precautions in logo design, mainly including the following six taboos and four advisability:

6 avoidance:

(1) Avoidance type is too dispersed.

When making a logo with font deformation or piecing together several derivative graphics, people who have a bad grasp of the plane composition will always make the logo messy or look incomplete. The solution is to learn the basic knowledge of plane composition.

For example, the following type of logo has a little literary flavor or emotional thoughts in it. If you are a person with a weak foundation of plane composition, the types you may make will be scattered and unsightly. Seemingly random, there is actually a composition principle. This is the foundation:

(2) avoid disunity

Some people do logo font deformation, but the same strokes are processed into different forms, which easily causes the overall logo to look inconsistent. The solution is to unify the same strokes.

(3) Too complicated

Logo itself is a small-scale graphic design, which will be used in different occasions, so the type must be simple and durable. The simpler the graphics, the wider the scope of application, and you will find that the bigger the logo, the simpler it is.

How to be concise? For example, if your logo is taken from the shape of a white cloud, it is difficult for you to keep the winding lines of the real white cloud. In fact, smooth circles and straight lines can be used directly. For example, your logo is taken from the shape of a hill. Do you want to keep the true zigzag ridge line? In fact, it is good to use a triangle or several smooth arcs instead.

Those so-called real little details can be removed, and they will be concise after removal.

(4) types of dissatisfaction

A few days ago, a flour sent me a platform logo about C2M. One of them looks ok, but it doesn't match its literal meaning. His logo looks like C2C instead of C2M, which is deviated in this direction.

Logo is beautiful and creative, but it should also be expressed accurately.

(5) imbalance

If the logo finally feels that the picture is unbalanced, it is likely that the basic knowledge of composition has not been mastered well, just like the picture looks scattered. So the solution is to lay a solid foundation for composition and practice hard. It also takes a long time to practice and watch to form a sense of visual balance.

(6) temperament does not match

A few days ago, another flour sent me a logo design for advice. At first glance, they are making an e-commerce platform for art derivatives, and the target group is young people. It stands to reason that logo should be designed to be more tonal and literary, but he made a very round cartoon shape and used green, so the overall temperament did not match. This is caused by not considering the positioning at first, and of course it may also be related to aesthetics.

In short, the solution is to see more, observe more people, their preferences and habits, and over time, find a position suitable for the design type.

4 appropriate:

(1) can be extended visually.

It is best for your logo to extract graphic elements that can be visually extended, so that it can be spread through the Internet. For example, some time ago, the extraction and application of the "O" element in the poster of bike-sharing 1 Yuan cycling activities, and the extension and application of the image of the cat's head in some large-scale activities of Tmall are all good cases. Users will know who you are as soon as they see this color or this shape element, and the brand image has long been deeply rooted in people's hearts.

(2) There are rules to follow.

The so-called regularity actually refers to two aspects. On the one hand, it shows that the logo graphics are from sources, not fabricated out of thin air. On the other hand, it means that the elements that make up the logo are interrelated and regular, rather than a completely different graphic element suddenly appearing, which does not match the whole.

(3) Calculate good luck

Before, some flour asked me about the relationship between design and feng shui. Actually, I don't know much about Feng Shui, but generally speaking, some taboo colors or digital graphics are ok. For example, I mentioned that some business owners don't like yellow or green, others don't like the shape of X, or they don't like sharp forms. In short, before the design begins, it is best to ask the boss or the company if there are any taboos, and then avoid them.

For example, if you make a logo that looks like 2B in the form of 3M, will Party A cut you off? . .

(4) Different.

Features mean that your logo is more creative, interesting or controversial than your peers, rather than ordinary or similar, and others can't remember you at all, so at this time you can learn from each other or do some competitive analysis, learn from each other's strengths, do things that others have not done or do better than others, and make your logo look distinctive.

As for how to make it distinctive, the methods are listed in the front, which can be considered from many aspects such as performance/creativity/technology/materials/display methods.

Write it at the end

Many people may like to emphasize the golden ratio or silver ratio, as well as the grid. Now some people may not even know why they want to make this logo, so they find a reference and copy it, considering the various visual extensions behind. A logo just came out. I dare not say whether these methods are right or not, but I think the more appropriate logo design steps should be like this:

1. First, get a general idea of the design requirements. After doing a survey or competitive product analysis (if you don't have the time and money to do it privately, experienced people will have a judgment and don't need this step), make clear the concept and positioning of the enterprise or brand, and give the appropriate creative direction and design form according to this positioning;

2, sketch, in the creative sketch stage, you don't have to consider the golden ratio or grid or visual extension, first give the approximate shape, and then the creative direction is decided;

3. Optimize and standardize your logo according to those taboos and suitable conditions. At this time, you can follow some grid rules or proportions to standardize the shape of logo. It can be simplified if it can be simplified into basic graphics, such as circle/square/triangle. Conventional graphics;

4. Extract graphics that can be used for visual extension, and finally further adjust them to make them look balanced/expressive/distinctive/concise and unified;

Then, a complete logo came out.