How to Create A Unique Logo Design For Your Internet Forum
Posted on July 05, 2017 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
The first thing you need to understand about any logo design is that it is going to take time – and plenty of it.
Using an online logo creator may make the process a lot simpler, but coming up with a great idea and perfecting it is the hard part.
Even if you are working for yourself, and not a grouchy, difficult client, be aware that seemingly endless revisions are in store. After all, you want an awesome, unique logo design for yourself, don’t you?
It makes sense to take some inspiration from the experts. Look around at some of the world’s best-known logos and you will see that they all have one or more of the following characteristics:
- Simplicity – Apple
- Timelessness – Coca Cola
- Versatility – World Wildlife Fund
- Appropriateness – ToysRUs
- Memorability – McDonald’s
So, how do you go about imitating their principles without compromising on originality? We hope to get those creative juices flowing here so read how you can apply some of these aspects to your logo.
Know your brand
Only once you are clear about what you are trying to portray, you can start working towards these five key features of killer brands.
Whether you are doing work for a client or yourself, you need to know your brand backward. The logo is the figurative front man for your internet forum and an integral part of it.
Know what you are trying to achieve with your forum and let your logo tell that story for you. Research other brands with similar aims and look at how they portray this. These needn’t all be other forums, they could be any brand with the same ethos as yours. For example, if you want your brand to have an underlying current of integrity, have a look at some of the banks’ logos as that is what they too would like to portray.
Knowing exactly what kind of story you want your logo to tell is the first step in unique logo design.
To get you on the right track, these 5 questions can help you to understand what we mean:
- What is the company’s mission?
- Why was the name chosen?
- Is there a story behind the brand?
- What is unique about the business?
- What is the brand’s personality?
You don’t need answers to all of them right now but if you want your brand to last beyond the flash-in-the-pan stage, you should start thinking about them before you design your logo.
Keeping it Simple
Ditch the shadows, gradients, textures, fancy fonts and backgrounds. Stick to the basics when designing your logo.
Let’s see how two well-known internet forums use simple shapes in their logos – check it out here.
Reddit’s logo is as simple as can be and (going against what we have just said) was reportedly created from a doodle with no clear intent behind it.
The name 4chan, on the other hand, follows from its Japanese counterpart 2-chan, and puns on the Japanese term for Channel 4 – Yotsuba. Yotsuba also means four-leaf clover. The logo design for 4chan is representative of its users’ love for irony and puns.
Timeless Before Trendy
This is a no-brainer. Following in the footsteps of others is not the route to unique logo design.
Trends come and go. You want your logo to be around for the long-haul and not have to revamp it every time a new trend comes along.
While researching other logo designs may provide inspiration, it is easy to fall into the trap of imitating a favorite designer. Try to find inspiration by digging deep into your own unique experiences instead. Often, it’s this part that takes the longest since it cannot be forced.
It is imperative that you check wherever you can that someone else has not already had a very similar idea to yours already. Copyright infringement is never a good thing.
Versatility or Bust
This can sometimes be the deal-breaker for a logo. Your design should be compatible with many different mediums and applications and scalable without losing clarity.
A vector format is best suited to this and many design gurus recommend designing in black and white first. Black and white is the worst your logo is ever going to look – so make it appealing if it ends up getting photocopied a thousand times in these shades.
Your logo should be able to look good even if it is:
- Reduced to the size of a postage stamp
- Blown up to billboard size
- Printed on a dark background or in reverse
While your logo is bound to appear on the internet more often than anywhere else, spare a thought for the possibility of having to print it one day. More colors equal more expense.
Make a note of the Pantone codes for any colors you use. Printing companies will ask for them.
Appropriateness is Key to Unique Logo Design
While we are not suggesting that you try to represent your internet forum graphically on your logo it should at least be appropriate.
If your forum is a fun place to be, choose happy colors and a relaxed design, if it is geared towards serious topics, something more subdued would be appropriate.
Creating a Memorable Logo
A unique logo design will always be memorable. If you have got all the other elements of your logo design right there is no reason why it should not stand out from the crowd and stick in people’s heads for a long time to come.
Crafting a unique font or symbol is one way to make your logo memorable – think Coke, McDonald’s, and Nike for example. You can also experiment with different styles of type such as serifs or not, italics and bold, or upper and lower case.
Take your time crafting a unique logo design for your business. Don’t let frustration get the better of you if you feel the need to start over time and time again. You have to live with the end result for a long time and you don’t want to end up on one of these lists.
Once you have all your ideas in place it is much easier to adjust the finer details until you get the balance just right. The perfect logo for your online internet forum is within your reach if you follow these basic principles and see it through to the end.
5 Ways to Modernize Your Telecom Logo Design
Posted on June 22, 2017 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
Is your telecommunications logo design as old as your company?
If so, it’s time to give it an update.
Your logo is a very important part of your brand’s identity. It is often the first thing that attracts a customer to your company.
Therefore, you need to make sure it looks its best. Your logo should never appear outdated. Instead, it should always have a modern and contemporary look.
However, sometimes modernizing your logo is even harder than creating a new one. It can be difficult to determine which elements to keep and which ones to throw out.
If you’re confused about how to effectively update your logo, keep reading. We’ve got the top 5 tips for modernizing your telecommunications logo design.
1. Minimalism is Key
Minimalism in design has completely taken over.
It looks good, it works, and it makes sense.
Excess design only confuses your audience. Minimalist design cuts the fluff, so your audience knows exactly what they’re getting. They are able to tell in one quick glance exactly what your company represents.
For example, if you sell communications installations services, people should be able to tell that by looking at your logo.
Take a look at your logo and ask yourself, “Are there any elements that don’t need to be here?”
For inspiration, check out Starbucks’ newest logo. Note the simple changes they made to minimalize their logo without losing its identity.
2. Decide on the Most Important Elements
While minimalism is very important, you don’t want to strip your logo down too much.
If you do, you risk making it unrecognizable.
Go through every element of your logo: font, color, layout, graphics, and style. Then ask yourself, “What are the most important aspects of my telecom logo that need to remain?” Try to keep the most important elements of your logo intact.
3. Define Your Reason for Change
Make sure you understand exactly why you want to modernize your logo.
For example, are you looking to appeal to a younger generation? Understanding your reasons modernizing will help paint a clearer vision for your design.
4. Make Sure it Makes Sense
Sometimes, we get so caught up in modernizing our logos that we forget to make sure that they make sense.
Amazon made this mistake decades ago. Their logo had a picture of a river running through it. Obviously, this river represents the Amazon River. But does Amazon the company have anything to do with Amazon the famous river?
Not really.
They soon realized this, and updated their logo. Now, there is an arrow pointing from the letter A to the letter Z beneath the word “Amazon.” Aka- they’ve got everything from A to Z. Makes much more sense, right?
5. Create Multiple Redesigns
Don’t make the mistake of releasing your logo without testing it first. Also, don’t make the mistake of settling for the first redesign you come up with.
Instead, create multiple redesigns and test all of them before making a final say. You can pick your top 2 or 3 choices and send out a survey to your colleagues in order to determine the top pick.
Telecommunications Logo Design: Wrap Up
We hope this article gets you excited about modernizing your logo!
How to Design a Versatile Logo for Electronics
Posted on June 19, 2017 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
Ever since man learned to draw we’ve been communicating through pictures. Some of the earliest languages are pictographic. Symbols representing ideas and things.
Today, the language of advertising is the image. When you watch a television commercial, are you expecting a rhetorical speech?
No.
Why not? Because images connect to a very powerful part of our brains: the emotional part.
So, what is the simplest form of advertisement? The logo.
Logos are essentially brand encapsulation.
Think of the most iconic brands in the history of advertising. You could probably tell us more about each brand just by thinking of their logo than you could about your own grandmother.
Designing a logo for electronics should be no different than designing a logo for any other brand. And today we’re going to tell you exactly how to do that.
1. Freshness Counts When It Comes to Your Logo for Electronics
If you look back over the years, major companies keep updating their logos.
Of course, the main aspects of each logo stay the same. Apple Macintosh went from a rainbow colored apple to a simple apple silhouette when they became merely Apple.
But design trends change over time. And unless your electronics company makes tablets that look like they were built in some fictional version of 1920, you should stick to current design trends for your logo.
2. Timelessness Should Also Be on Your Mind
It’s extremely hard to judge timelessness. A lot of art gets labeled as a “timeless classic” long before it’s had a chance to prove the claim true.
But there are a few ways to design a logo for electronics that is more likely to be relevant in ten years.
The key to balancing freshness and timelessness is to use design elements that haven’t disappeared in the last few years.
Couple those with design elements that really did stand the test of time and you’ll have a winning logo.
Of course, you will probably have to tweak your logo over time to keep it fresh as certain elements go out of style. But the basic structure should be timeless.
3. Making Your Logo Memorable Is the Key to Winning
It’s easy to go overboard.
You decide you want to symbolize everything your business is about and end up with a beautifully complicated design.
Great! Print it and put it on your wall. But don’t put that on your product.
Making a splash and being memorable are two very different things. You could create a beautifully intricate logo and have everyone forget what it looked like as soon as they roll their eyes elsewhere.
Too many symbols in a logo will kill your logo, so, make it simple and easy to recall.
How do you do this? Ask yourself what is the central mission of your business. Now think of an object or letter or even style that describes this mission.
When designing a logo for electronics, you want your logo to fit one simple message.
Conclusion: Just Do It
Just start drawing it. Even if your first logo draft is too much, you can identify a symbol or a design within your first draft and pair everything else down.
Keep it simple, and get to it. Create your own logos with Online Logo Maker!