A great logo design goes beyond the aesthetics and the obvious components that the eye can easily see. This is not to refute the importance of beauty in design, but other than being appealing to the eyes, a logo needs to serve its greater purpose which is passing the central marketing message to the target audience and help in the branding of the relevant products and services. You may have the most beautiful logo in the entire universe, but if it fails to achieve the branding and marketing goals of the business, then all the beauty and the elegance goes to the drain. To make a great logo, therefore, there are certain logo elements which must be considered in details to marry the physical appearance and the main logo message to make the logo more effective. Here are the four main essentials of logo design-:

The Color

The color of the logo should never be random, and this is one of the essentials of logo design. While considering the color, it is imperative to have in mind that it is one of the visual stimuli to which the brain is highly responsive. Both consciously and unconsciously, the brain will pick or apportion particular meaning to the color that it sees. It is thus important for graphic designers to harvest the power of color psychology to come up with coherence in logo designs which will make the brain pick or give the intended meaning when the target audience lays their eyes on the logo.

Since using different multiple layers of color will evoke different responses in logo, it pays for every designer to have a comprehensive understanding of when and how to use the various colors at their disposal. Most companies will use the responses evoked by colors to determine the color schemes for their designs depending on the particular they would like the target audience to associate with their products or services. Graphic designers, on the other hand, have a duty to have a good understanding of the color psychology so that they can always be in a position of authority to direct clients regarding color use besides using the right colors when designing logos.

Typeface

The typeface will never miss as one of the most crucial essentials of logo design. The choice of typeface can either make or break the layout of a logo design and it is only imperative that it be done very carefully. The fact that there are very many typefaces for designers to choose from sometimes makes it a bit of a challenge to make the right choice without spending a long time thinking. However, this can be shortened and made much simpler if you understand the following about typefaces-:

The moods to be created by the logo – typefaces have the ability to trigger various emotional responses from the target audience. Are you looking to create a serious, fresh, fun, casual or old fashioned feeling on the logo? The choice of the typeface should thus be made on the intended mood.

Number of typefaces used – just like with other elements of design, you need to limit the number of typefaces used as this can cause clutter and make the design lose its meaning.

Caution with new typefaces – there is a plethora of typefaces currently and whereas you may decide to be a bit creative, be careful with most of the new typefaces whose effectiveness have not been seen or are not very apparent.

Readability – whichever typeface you choose, it must be clearly legible so that people can read the message the logo has to pass without straining at all.

Shapes

Just like with colors, the human perceives shapes differently and will attach or derive various meanings depending on the shape displayed. It simply implies that the shape you use in your logo design will send out a particular message to those who will be seeing and interacting with the logo. This can happen both at the conscious and subconscious levels of the mind. For instance, the following shapes will convey various meanings as indicated below-:

Circles, ovals, and ellipses – shows positive emotional messages such as love, friendship, unity, relationship, etc.

Squares and triangles – suggests stability and balance. Triangles may also suggest law, science, power, religion, etc.

Vertical lines – suggests masculinity, aggression, and strength while horizontal lines signify calm, peace, tranquility, etc.

The Scale

The scale is another essential of logo design which must always be given due consideration. With entrenchment of the mobile generation, logo design must also be adapted to be displayed on the various mobile devices and this can only be done through proper scaling. Again, the scale is very important while considering the final and the specific application of the logo you are working on. Whether it is for print or display on the internet, the scale will always affect the final output, and this makes it one of the essentials of logo design that should never be ignored.

These essentials of logo design must be considered for each and every design if you are interested in having a beautiful logo which will also convey the right message to the target audience.

Learn why white space is good in design here!

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Most of the white collar jobs seem to offer very little regarding rewards other than the monetary aspect. If you are looking to pay your bills, then the daily grind might be sufficient, but if you want something more fulfilling and inspiring, then you will have to look for a career which will offer you with more than just what the daily grind has to offer. The graphic design industry offers you with an alternative route to getting more fulfilled in your career with exciting remunerations compared to what you may have gotten the blue chip companies.

The daily challenges and the constant demands to produce quality results are some of the attributes that make a career in graphic design more endearing and appealing to those who are keen on getting ahead with their professions in life. Here are some of the reasons why being a graphic designer might as well be the best thing that will ever happen in your life-:

Impressive Salaries

There is a wide salary range for graphic designers with those who are just starting out earning the least. As one advances in skills and experiences, the salary also keeps on increasing. But before you argue this happens in every other profession, the graphic design industry is unique in a number of ways and which will ultimately add to the final perk that a designer will carry home.

It is important to realize that billions of dollars are spent in marketing and advertising each and every year and there would be no marketing or even advertising if graphic design were not there. Hence, so long as businesses need to marketing, branding and advertising, the graphic designer will always have work, which will be well remunerated because the clients want quality work.

Potential Career Growth

A career in graphic design has enticing prospects for one to advance in their careers and build very impressive portfolios. Being a challenging profession, there is a lot to learn and experience once one is done with the basic education. You get a chance to meet and interact with different personalities, and you also get a chance to work on wide and diversified projects, all of which will help you become a better and more fulfilled graphic designer.

Wide Range of Industry Sectors

A career in graphic design will open a plethora of doors for you and enable you practice your trade in a wide range of industry sectors. You will be at liberty to choose whether you want to branch out to advertising and marketing, web design or you want to major in corporate brand identity. With such a wide range of choices to make, you will be at liberty to choose the one that appeal to you the most and which you believe will give you the greatest satisfaction. Besides, you are not limited in practice, and you also have the freedom to practice in more than one field, thus increasing your versatility and value as a graphic designer.

Challenging and interesting assignment

One beautiful thing you will love with a career in graphic design is that there are no two projects that will be the same. For every project, you will be working with a completely new set of demands and conditions and probably new clients as well. Every day will be a unique day where you will be required to make fresh decisions in coming up with the various designs. Due to this challenging while at the same time interesting nature of assignments, a career in graphic design will never leave you feeling bored at work since you will be working on something interesting each and every day.

Self-Fulfillment

Self-fulfillment is not just important for the sake of your satisfaction at work, but also, it affects other areas of your life. When you are self-fulfilled, you are happy to the fact that through your skills, you were able to make a difference to your clients and the world around you in general. A career in graphic design is one of the most self fulfilling careers you will ever come across. You deal with practical clients, and every project is a chance for you to make a difference and make the client meet their objectives. When your clients come to you and express gratitude for what you did for them, this makes you feel fulfilled and really happy that you did what you did.

Easily be your own boss

Most people dream of being self employed. They admire the freedom and the earning potentials that come with self-employment. However, this is not a familiarity you will find with most of the other careers. However, with a career in graphic designs, once you have gained the experience, skills and the connections to clients, you need nothing else to start your own company or start freelancing on the internet. Therefore, if you have ever dreamt of being your own boss, then you need to think deeply about choosing a career in graphic design.

Check out how to design app logos here!

The post Why Choose a Career in Graphic Design appeared first on LogoMaven | Easy Logo Design Software & Logo Maker.

It is the desire of every designer to come up with unique designs that will impact on their client or their business brands positively. But this kind of branding is not possible unless you know what it takes to come up with a winning brand. Even though knowledge and experience in graphic design are important for proper branding, they are not a requisite in coming up with killer brands.

It is true that it requires time, effort and dedication in developing proficiency in branding at a designer, but if you have a good understanding of the basis of branding for designers, you will take less time and get stellar results without struggling a lot. Here we take a look at the core components of what makes a good brand, and which every designer should be aware of if they want to create brands that will make heads turn whenever they are seen.

Never target everybody

The first item that features prominently in branding basics for designers is that no brand should be made to target everybody. A brand that targets everybody targets nobody. The way to come clean out of this and ensure that you are not aiming wide with your brand is first to identify your target audience.

This can only be achieved by conducting extensive market research and defining exactly who needs your products and services. It is out of this information that you will have a clear picture of who you will be selling to. Hence, you can craft an appropriate brand to captivate their attention. In essence, the brand should be the right fit for the targeted audience. This is by far the most important branding basics for designers you should never forget about.

Simplicity Reigns

It may be tempting to display your design prowess by coming up with very beautiful and extremely catchy designs. However, in the world of branding and design, the objective is to catch the attention of the target audience in the shortest time possible and probably make them take a desired course of action. Due to this, brands have resorted to using designs that are simple yet effective in captivating their target audiences.

This is known as the concept of “Less is more.” It is possible to create the most beautiful design in the industry, but remember, if the target audience admires the beauty of the design and fails to recognize the branding message or the brand promise, then you awesome brand design will go down the drains. Therefore, be as simple as possible in your branding while maintaining quality and high impact designs. Simplicity is thus one of the most important branding basics for designers.

Avoid Special Effects

Closely related to simplicity is the temptation to use special effects while branding. This is another core branding basics for designers. For a brand to be effective, it needs to be remembered by most, if not all, of the target audience. A sure way of achieving this is to avoid special effects in the branding materials. These include but are not limited to effects like drop shadows, gradients, and embellishments amongst other elements.

The danger of using such effects is that they risk compromising the effectiveness of the designs as the targeted audience might find them complex and may not decipher the meaning of the graphics. Even though the temptation to include such effects in your branding may be overpowering, you must resist all attempts to use them. Consider this as one of the branding basics for designers that you should never let go or think about forgetting.

Proper Use of Colors

Colors mean a lot with regards to branding basics for designers. Humans are visual beings with varied responses to different kinds of colors. As a designer who wants to come up with the best designs, proper use of color in your designs is imperative. It will be beneficial in a number of ways to learn about the graphics design color theory to understand the various emotions evoked by the different colors and also to understand the combination of color sheds you can use to get effective results from your branding efforts.

In the absence of these, you will be using colors blindly with no due consideration of the particular effects they will have on those who will see the brand. You shall have thus wasted time and effort in coming up with a blind brand. Therefore, treat the proper use of colors as one of the coveted branding basics for designers. You must just get it right or forget about having a winning design.

Uniqueness

Coming up with unique designs cannot miss when talking about branding basics for designers. Uniqueness is the only attribute that will set you apart from the rest. Of importance is the name and the symbols used in the brand. A unique name should be relevant to the target audience, and it should also be memorable. In addition to this, the name should be accompanied by an appropriate symbol that will help in conveying the central brand message.

Here is how to give any business brand instant personality. 

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