The most successful signs have some common features, and the following are the most important principles.

A sign of success requires more than creativity or skill. Because the logo is ultimately designed to match various occasions, it should perform well no matter where it is used. This can be said to be an unbalanced process, but you must do it anyway. What you have to consider is how to make logo work. Are the following guidelines helpful to your design?

1, it must be very simple

Too complicated design will hinder communication, so don't appear too crowded in the logo: if you combine green space, flags, lines, golfers, island elements, borders, rings, curved fonts, etc. in one logo, it will become a hodgepodge. In fact, you only need a few elements to design a logo with stronger visual effects.

2. It must attract attention.

Thin lines can produce good results as layout design, but they are weak when used on signboards, because: 1) looks unclear; 2) Lines that are too thin are easy to break or even render in various copying processes.

Although the above two signs are very similar, if you stick the signs on the cars driving in the city, the signs on the first car can't be seen clearly at all.

It must be able to adapt to various sizes.

Many designers often don't notice this. When designing a logo, they make it big and beautiful, but don't forget that your logo should be applied to many small things. Remember: whether it is applied to outdoor billboards or business cards, your logo should perform well.

If there are too many details in a logo, when the logo is reduced, the elements inside will be blurred (note the logo on the left in the above picture). A good logo should be as shown on the right, and less details will make the logo still perform well when the size is very small. 4. It must be able to accurately convey business characteristics.

It sounds like a cliche, but sometimes when designers secretly admire their creativity, it is easy to forget some common sense things. For an airline, the sign on the right can convey the company's business characteristics more accurately. Although the sign on the left is interesting, it is not difficult to accurately convey the business characteristics of airlines.

5. Must have distinctive features.

Don't be content with the ordinary. Your company is unique, with unique corporate culture and market management characteristics, so you must think carefully when designing logo.

The circle is a very powerful design element.

A circle is easy to produce visual focus, and its smooth edge is more pleasant than a straight line. Of course, don't forget the round intimate partner: the oval.

Avoid using some popular fonts

Unless your company is engaged in some fashionable clothes and the like, the font you choose must stand the test of time. Generally speaking, a low-key font is the best choice, because it can better withstand the changes of the times.

Avoid signs that are too wide or too high.

Some special shapes are difficult to match on some carriers (such as business cards and advertisements). ), it often makes people feel uncomfortable. A good symbol ratio should be about 3: 2. The ratio is similar to that of an ordinary TV screen (1: 1 is not bad).

Match the logo with the name.

If the name is a part of the logo, the two must match perfectly and can be observed in various positions. In the sign on the left below, the sign and text are integrated by extending the white line, while in the sign on the right, the sign is integrated by reusing colors.

What is logo?

When it comes to logo and corporate image, many people have their own set of explanations. What's the logo? In fact, it is the abbreviation of logotype, which used to refer to the signature or symbol of a company. The word originated from Greek: logos, which means "writing".

In graphic design, text symbols are usually used to refer to the name of a company. If a sign has no words, we call it a "symbol", but the symbols used for communication (such as traffic signs or signs) are actually a kind of "hieroglyphics".

If a logo consists only of fonts, they can be called letter marks, text marks or letter combinations. Usually, these word markers are represented by initials or abbreviations. Of course, you can also use the full name of the company. When symbol patterns and text symbols are combined together, it is what we call "combined symbols". If registered or protected by law, any of the above signs are called "trademarks".

In the publishing industry, many people use text labels or mastheads on the cover to convey the name of the publishing house, but the exact name (especially the newspaper title) should be "nameplate" or "banner". The exact meaning of the word masthead refers to those words that list the name of the publishing house, the owner's name, the employee list, the address and the telephone number.

For the convenience of description, we use the word "logo" to represent the symbol of the company and "header" to represent the publishing industry.

Let's start designing the logo!

Let's see how to use some simple symbols to become a beautiful symbol.

Some printed symbol fonts provide very rich elements for designing a modern logo, and many of these symbol fonts are already beautiful, saving time or energy in designing these basic elements. But their greatest advantage is that they can provide you with some patterns for you to learn when designing signs. You can make them beautiful and practical by combining paths, splitting paths, rearranging, twisting, rotating or scaling, changing colors and so on.

1. What do you want the logo to look like?

Abstract expression

Symbol fonts are very suitable for creating some abstract signs. Unlike some painting symbols (painting conveys objects) or symbolic symbols (for example, we use the earth to symbolize human beings), abstract symbols are conveyed through hints and indirectly, and their meanings are vague.

If you want to design an abstract logo, remember a few things:

It is difficult to express the products or services of the company in words;

What you want to convey are some concepts such as strength, good relationship and imagination.

Your products or services are very diverse.

Grouping elements together conveys the meaning of team, cooperation and so on. Strict arrangement order also symbolizes structural stability, and the overall image of a flower implies the growth of the company.

A pattern of overlapping objects around a central point, suggesting development, deliberate action or unity. This interlocking figure also conveys the meaning of relationship and team strength.

Express something specific.

Many beautiful signs are designed according to specific objects. For example, a printer may think the printing process is a very interesting job, but for consumers, we will think it is too noisy and full of ink. So the printer will hope that his logo can indirectly convey the quality of his printing machine.

2. Beautify the logo with a background, or enhance the intensity and contrast.

Build an art stage

A simple background is like giving your design a performance stage. Many symbol fonts are already beautiful, but if you use a background, the effect may be doubled. We use background because:

I hope the logo looks more powerful;

Further beautify logo

Smoothing the originally unsmooth edges;

Strengthen color expression;

Create a feeling of vitality;

Using simple background graphics, the three most ideal backgrounds are round (or oval), square (or diamond) and hexagon. These figures are simple and symmetrical, and it is easy to focus on the line of sight. Bad graphics that can be tried are: ellipse, rectangle, triangle and polygon (more than six sides) placed vertically, showing a sense of divergent energy.

Adding a vibrant background can often add a lot of color to a logo. Some logos involving many tiny elements may have messy outlines, but if they are placed in the background and eventually applied to some practical items such as business cards and other office supplies or various advertisements, their visual impact will be increased and the adaptability of the logo will be stronger.

A background is equivalent to adding a trunk to the original elements, which also gives the logo a breathing space and looks more dynamic. The whole looks more striking.

Different shapes and backgrounds have different visual effects, so you can try different shapes to watch the effects when designing. Pay attention to the sign on the right above. The external angles and hexagons of the internal elements correspond to each other.

Positive and negative space exchange

These symbols have a good visual effect on a dark background. But when the elements inside are white, the background becomes the dominant visual element, which sometimes makes the logo more vivid.

Observing the above three, the visual difference between the leftmost and rightmost is very big.

Look at the two pictures mentioned above, which feel completely different. The picture on the left has no background, and we can feel as if there is light emitting from the middle to all sides. If we turn it into white and add a red background, the effect will be completely different at this time, and the background will suppress the elements greatly.

Sizing and reassembly

When some elements deviate from the center or rotate, it can make the logo feel tension and appear more dynamic and energetic. Different positions can convey stability, movement and other characteristics. Which is better? You need to observe with an artistic eye. But no matter which one you choose, you must stand out!

Rotate, resize and move each element to the edge of the outer ring of the contact, and you can see that each treatment produces different visual effects. Put it below to convey weight and stability; Touch the right edge to convey movement, etc.

What kind of sunlight is the best design in the picture above? The change and position of internal elements affect the information conveyed by the sign. Which one would you choose?

3. create!

Separate elements:

Adopting some primitive symbol elements directly is only the most primitive step. Sometimes, you can take them apart and reassemble them, and you will find many useful patterns hidden inside. We offer several possible methods:

Separate elements;

Rearrange the other half;

Move a part;

Place one or more elements;

Remove a part of an element.

Change one or more small elements

Many symbol elements are generally symmetrical structures, and we can consider redistributing these structures, as shown in the figure below. From the same basic structure, we can produce three different structures, and the results are all good:

Only some elements are used.

We can remove some elements: sometimes local elements are more interesting than the whole, especially when placed in the background. Try this method and surprise you.

Simply cut off half of the pattern in the above picture, and you will have the feeling of sunrise pattern.

Cutting a subtle element produces another interesting feeling.

Reorganize the split elements.

Sometimes one element is not enough. Copying part or the whole element, then overlapping or placing it, can also produce some refreshing pictures.

Sometimes we can take some of several ready-made symbol elements and combine them into a new element.

4. Add company name

Names can be small. ...

Your company name is part of the logo. For many office supplies and printed materials, your logo must be legible. And a smaller, plain and simple company name will appear more professional and calm.

Where did you put it? Unfortunately, there is still no absolute standard, because different patterns have different visual effects. Try to put the company name on each side of the background of the pattern, on the left, right, corner or other position of the pattern, and observe it carefully.

How wide is it? The company name is best suited to the width of the logo name. If the name is too short, please widen the letter spacing. Generally speaking, capital letters are more suitable than lowercase letters in symbols.

..... the name can also be very big!

If the sign is mainly used outdoors, such as truck body or building, it is better to have a big name. At this point, the company name dominates the whole logo, and font design has become a key design element.

How to design letter signs

Use your company's initials and graphic elements to create a beautiful and influential logo.

In the Middle Ages, craftsmen put unique seals on their products to show quality assurance. Later, it became our trademark today.

Early trademarks were very decorative, and letters were usually outlined with some complicated and gorgeous lines. Compared with the current logo, although it has the same purpose, it has made great progress in appearance. Modern trademarks rarely use these complicated styles, usually only use the outlines of some objects, and the font of company names is generally simple.

These letter signs are still one of the most important signs in trademarks-they are full of style, strong impact and easy to make.

Let's see how to design an effective letter sign.

Before design ...

Of course, letters are the basic elements of letter signs, and different letter shapes and proportions will determine the rest of the whole sign. First of all, learn to observe. Generally speaking, we put letters in an open background area, and then think about how other design elements fit in with it.

1, enter the company name first.

Select a font, then create the outline of the font, make its lines become paths, and delete some blank areas that were left inside.

2. Create image elements

Create (or find) a simple image element (of course, the image element must be related to your company's products or services). In our example, it is a tropical fish shop, so we choose the tropical fish image element. This element does not need too complicated details, what matters is its overall outline.

Step 3 combine

Fill in the blank area in the original letter with this image element. Note that although the outline of this image element is different from the original blank area, it does not affect our recognition of this letter.

1, how to draw these elements?

Start with the real thing

If the customer's own products you design are specific products, if there are many kinds of products, we can try some of them. Each one has a different meaning. If the customer provides a certain service (such as a hotel), then we can look for it in a certain environment, such as a cactus (a hotel in a tropical area) or a teapot.

If a realistic image cannot be accurately expressed, try symbolic mode.

A symbolic design is usually pleasant and conveys some intangible information of the company, such as a sense of strength. The symbolic pattern we are looking for is not a very abstract and mysterious pattern element, but must be instructive (like some signs) or something we often see.

Some realistic images can have rich symbolic meanings, such as birds, which convey the message of peace; Light bulbs convey good ideas; Bulls convey strength and motivation.

2, how to draw: keep eye-catching, but simple.

Show their appearance

Signs must be able to convey information quickly. We must draw a picture that best represents the characteristics of this object, such as the hammer below. If we draw it from the top, no one knows what it is.

Cooperate with some detail elements if necessary.

Although some decorative elements are beautiful, they are too complicated and not the ideal form of letter signs. We don't need too many details, we just need to be able to identify what this object is.

What are these details?

It's best to add an eye. You can tell what it is at a glance.

If you want to add lines, you must control the thickness and number of lines.

Lines can give people a feeling of fast movement, but if you are not careful, you will have too many details in the logo. The line thickness should be consistent, and don't use many different thin lines to design the logo.

In this sign, the thickness of each line is the same, and the interval between lines is the same.

The contour line should not be too complicated.

If the teddy bear is big, we can easily recognize it, but the problem is that if it is reduced to the size of a letter, it looks like an ink mark. Why? Because its outline is too complicated. One of the solutions is that we only use the head of a teddy bear. Although only a part is used, it will not affect the image recognition.

What font do you choose?

When designing this logo, we can choose a very thick font or a very thick font, so that when matching with other image elements, we can still retain its letter characteristics. However, we should avoid choosing some letters with too compact structure, because the blank areas formed by the corners in these letters are usually very narrow and high, which greatly limits the flexible use of image elements.

The above are all kinds of fonts and their font names.

Where to put 3: not the white area.

As we said above, the original hollow of the letter was removed, and then the empty space was replaced by other image elements. Usually, the added image elements are generally larger than the original hollow areas.

You don't need to think carefully about where to put it every time. As shown in the above three examples, the effect is strongest if the image elements are consistent with the sense of direction presented by the original letters. Pay special attention to how the tulip pattern in the above picture forms the letter P. Unlike the other two, it only uses some flower elements.

The principle of placement is to make the letters easy to recognize.

We must conform to the original structural features of letters:

In the picture above, the pen is beautiful, but what are the letters?

This arrangement is undoubtedly the most suitable.

Avoid placing it like the picture above. Our picture elements should be in harmony with the original letters, not in conflict with the original natural shapes.

Try these techniques:

Repeat image elements and then apply them to letters, or add a pattern to each letter of the company name:

A group of ants is not as good as an ant, which is in line with our thinking inertia. The technique used repeatedly like this must be that the original letters are very easy to recognize.

In the logo above, notice that the "I" has not been processed. Generally speaking, avoid adding image elements (such as letter I, no blank area) to letters that lack hollow or negative areas.

How to design text symbols

Text label refers to a logo that does not contain graphics. Designing this logo can actually be very simple!

If a logo does not contain graphics or pictures, it is called a text tag, which is relatively easy to design. Text sign is the most widely used sign type. In fact, many large international companies are using this logo, such as IBM and Sony.

Like other symbols, text symbols are used to represent something. Before starting the design, we should spend some time to think clearly about what the logo is to convey and what it stands for a company or group, a thing or a person. Is it a product or a service? Who is the target customer? Without clear answers to these questions, designers can easily resist the temptation to add a lot of fancy graphics, which are actually not needed by the company. The more you know about the company, the less detours you take.