Research and Planning: Logo design

Logo design

You should have decided on your charity or issue of choice by now and carried out some research into similar websites.
Your task now is to produce a logo for your chosen charity (remember even if your making a website for an established charity you still need to have designed your own logo)

Tasks for today

You will need to firstly look at some other charity logos, and put them on your blog

Next write a paragraph on what makes a good logo, use your examples to back up your statements I’ve included an edited article by Duncan McAdams on good logo design, it will give you some good advice on what makes an effective logo and may also inspire

you when you come to designing your own logo

WHAT MAKES A GOOD LOGO?
By Duncan MCAdams

When we see the yellow letter "M" against a red background, we all instantly know what it stands for. Such is the power of a logo.
- So what makes a good logo?

1. A good logo is easy to read and comprehend. It looks good on everything from a business card to a humongous billboard. Technically speaking most logos have a simple font, no more than two colours and are a rectangular in shape - square logos are difficult to use.

2. A good logo is well-coordinated. It uses a supporting mark and strap line to add to the logo, expanding its potential. Does your business have this?
The parts of a logo to consider are 1) a mark 2) a company name and 3) possibly a strapline. Each part supports the other. For example McDonalds has the mark of the golden arches, the name McDonalds and the current strap line of "Its Mactime now”. Effective, memorable, easy to read, and identifiable (in any country). The perfect logo? I think it's getting close.

3. A good logo can be adapted for use across all media effectively and remain distinct and recognizable. Your logo will be applied in countless different ways - from letterhead to tee-shirts, truck livery to packaging, invoices or on-site signage, print ads to PowerPoint presentations. A good logo is consistent across the whole company. Will it work everywhere? Or is it a tricky piece of artwork that is difficult to use, or is so bland it gets lost when used?

4. A good logo utilizes a simple font that is easy to read and duplicate. If it's distinctive enough, the public will associate the font with your company. (You could recognise the McDonald's "M" font, even without any colour).

5. As a general rule, two colours is enough for your logo. It all comes down to expense, especially when reproducing your logo on business cards, letterheads and other forms of printing. It's not a worthwhile business expense to spend money on more than two colours, as you will not see any return on your investment.

6. Rectangular shapes work best, because our eyes find it easier to look at rectangles than squares. Rectangles also work better on the web and TV, so why not start from a winning position.

7. Don't go changin'! For some reason, companies often have a myriad of different versions of their logo that barely resemble each other. This is poor marketing strategy; it confuses the consumer (who prefers consistency) and your logo loses impact.
Hopefully you’re itching to get designing your own logo now! your next task is to produce 4 to 5 rough designs for logos, this can be done as sketches on paper of straight on Photoshop, don’t worry about making them look polished its the idea that we are bothered about.

Finally do some market research on which of your logos is most suitable for your charity/group and then get it all put on your blog and in your file!

Tasks Summary

1. Find examples of logos for groups or charities similar to your own.
2. Using your examples as reference write a paragraph on what makes a good logo.
3.Create 4 to 5 rough designs for your logo
4. Carry out market research to find the most suitable logo (you could use facebook to do this)
5. Put it all on your blog.