Over the past 12 years as a self-taught brand identity
designer, I've learned some mind blowing tips and tricks
that make the process so much easier and more enjoyable.
The first tip is to make connections.
Most likely you've been taught that when you're making a logo,
you should think literally about it.
For example, Apple incorporate, their name is Apple.
So create an apple icon.
Well, yes and no.
Anyone can be literal in their idea.
However, a professional logo designer can be more figurative
in their approach.
In an industry where there's so much competition, where 20%
get 80% of the work, you need to stand out more than you think.
So I use MindNode to make good connections for my concepts.
A good example to explain connections is my Skillshare original class.
In this class, I show how you can create a logo concept for a
space company and make the design more figurative rather than literal.
Making connections through mind mapping helps not only you, but
your clients as well.
They're able to see your thoughts.
It shows how you got the information to translate to visuals.
Mindmaps have given me accidental ideas.
Looking at the Fibonacci security logo for an example,
I found that fingerprint identification could be a key
visual to illustrate security and the Fibonacci sequence.
Without mind mapping and making intentional connections, this
would have been more difficult to do, if not impossible for me.
The next step is to trace and refine.
You've all seen those amazing minimalist animal logos.
They just all looked clean and professional.
You ask yourself, how on earth did they manage to make this
animal look so professional and clean?
The answer is the trace and refine method.
This method is all about using an image from anywhere like
Google and tracing over the design using simplistic shapes.
The best way to do this is to restrict yourself to drawing
geometric shapes when tracing.
Then all you need to do is repeat the process, simplifying
the original shapes you see on the photo.
When you do this enough, you'll start to see that automatically
you're designing a simple logo because you've applied these
restrictions to the design.
The best way to design logos based on real objects is to
trace and refine them.
The trace and refine method works well for a lot of
different styles of logos.
However, animal logos are one of the styles that are harder
just to eyeball.
Proportions of animals can be hard to keep when simplifying the design.
So make sure that you always refer back to the original
image and take a break so you can see your progress with fresh eyes.
And if you're a creative professional like myself,
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templates to show off your latest design concept to your client.
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Tip number three is squint, flip, blur and destroy.
It's so important to make sure that logos we make are one
scalable, two, memorable, and three, appropriate.
And the only way we can make sure that we get all three of
these things in our design is through testing.
I've shared many different ways of testing your logo designs
out in the past, but today is slightly different.
I think I've cracked the enigma in logo design testing once and for all.
The first test is the squint test.
Squinting distorts the logo in a way that can help us see
balancing issues and other errors within the design.
It's a quick test that you can do throughout all stages of
design and with any sort of design work.
There have been many times where I've squinted and it's
held to be spot in proper kerning or out of balance
visual elements in my design.
The second test is to flip and mirror.
This test is especially useful for logo type design as it
enables you to stop reading the logo type and start viewing the shapes.
We're so used to reading that when viewing typography, it
could be difficult to see major errors if we don't have a
method of viewing it differently.
When mirroring my logo types, I either print the logo out so
I can annotate the design and make notes of changes.
Making notes directly onto the logo really helps keep the
changes in perspective.
If I don't have the ability to print the design, I just use
red circles in Illustrator to show errors that need changing.
This is also a great way to show you the depth of your
knowledge and the amount of time you've spent on the design
when presented to the client.
The next one is to destroy.
Well, you don't actually have to destroy it, you can just
distort it enough.
It sounds mad, but it really does help to know when a design
isn't recognizable and doesn't work, it helps give a new
perspective on the functionality of the design.
When I destroy/distort a logo, it helps identify key
components that are out of whack.
For instance, take this logo.
It looks good right now when you're viewing it undistorted,
but when you distort the design, you can see a huge balancing
issue on the top right.
Some of you could probably see the issue before I destroyed
the design, but you get the point.
The next tip is all about making sure that your logo has
never been seen before.
Google has an amazing feature where you can reverse search
with an image for the logo design that you're working on.
You'll be surprised how accurate Google search is when
reversing the search with your design.
Yes, this is not full proof by any means, but it can help you
see whether your logo has been used somewhere else without
you even knowing it.
This also shows designs that are very similar to.
The next tip is to use a visual double entendre, but not the
definition you're thinking of.
Double entendre has two definitions.
Who would have thought?
It's false.
No way.
Not this time.
We created it.
For example, you can jam two images together or two
connecting visuals together to create a unique design like this one.
I know this seems so basic, but it actually works really well.
This is formerly known as a double entendre.
So the next time you're out of ideas, go to your mind map and
find two key visuals and try to jam them together and see what
you come up with.
The next tip is to sketch small.
The biggest mistake I see from many designers is their logos
aren't consistent and the negative space in between the
designs is out of proportion.
An easy and effective way to fix this is to draw really small.
I use a grove made brass notepad on my desk for taking
notes and drawing small ideas whenever I have them.
You can also use a sketch pad like field notes to force
yourself to draw small.
This doesn't just help you keep the design consistent when it's
scaled up, but helps you decide whether the logo is scalable at
the size that you're drawing it.
If it works small, then it should work big.
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