Cool Logo Ideas – Tips for Creating Logos That Don’t Suck

There are millions of the people in the logo design world dishing out one bad logo after the other. It seems as if the world has lost its sense of creativity and people are no longer able to get inspiration to think things out of the box to design original and high quality logo ideas. Perhaps we can also blame it on the advent of the internet and the availability of crappy logo generators that anyone who knows nothing about design can use to generate a logo by clicking just a few links.

But I know that you don’t subscribe to the mediocre crop of designers and you are keen on designing logos that will stand out from the crowd and brand the business effectively. To help in your quest for becoming an epic logo designer, here are certain tips and ideas you can use to ensure that you don’t create logos that suck.

Create readable logos

The first annoying thing you will see with most logos today is that they are never readable or at least you have to strain in order to mark out what is written or drawn in them. The primary reason for this is poor choice of fonts. Most of the current designers are eager to try out the latest fonts, some of which have never been tested in various mediums. In as much as you are allowed to take advantage of your creative freedom to try different components in design, your choice of font should be spot on so that your designs are readable. Remember, an effective logo should grab attention and the moment it can’t be read, it losses this important aspect.

The logo must be scalable

Many are the times when you see a beautiful logo on the company website, but when they send to you a printed mail, the logo looks so boring and different because it has been printed in a small size. The problem here is that the logo was not designed to be scalable. An effective logo must be scalable enough so that it doesn’t lose its properties irrespective of the display size. Ideally, the logo should retain all its design components when printed in small marketing materials such as pens or business cards or when displayed on large prints such as posters or billboards.

Get the colors right

Color choice is another area where most logo designers get it all wrong. Apart from making the logo visually appealing, the choice of color should also be aimed at evoking the right emotional responses from the target audience. Colors should thus be used effectively to communicate ideas as well as convey trust to the target audience. This calls for having a good understanding of the color psychology in design so that you know when to use which colors during the logo design process. Additionally, a beautiful logo is not the one with all the colors of the rainbow. Remember, the world is edging towards minimalism in design and it is not the number of colors used, but rather the effectiveness of the colors in the design.

Be careful about adopting trends

It may be tempting to base your design ideas on a certain fad in the industry that almost everyone has adapted to. But this is very dangerous since trends come and go. If you design the logo to adapt to a certain trend, the logo will cease to have its appeal once the trend is over. A great logo is one with the ability to withstand the test of time and remain effective for many more years to come. You should therefore aim at coming up with timeless designs that don’t follow fads or trends. This is why corporate giants like coca cola, Apple, Google, Nike, McDonalds and many have managed to create strong brands because their logos are timeless and not based on any given trend.

Use Negative Space

The use of negative space in design is a nice trick for creating beautiful and timeless logos laden with hidden meaning or symbols. The industry standard for logos with negative space is the FedEx logo. It conveys a powerful hidden message about the company’s desire to move forward and also make fast and quick deliveries.

Be yourself

Another despicable thing being witnessed in the logo design industry is plagiarism of logo ideas. Designers are in a hurry to make a quick buck and so the best they can do is to browse logos and copy the designs at the expense of utilizing their skills to come up with original designs. The only way to become a proficient logo designer is to always strive to create original designs. There are so many places and so many things which can be used for inspirations and it is just sad that designers refuse to think and resort to copying.

Check out these logos in just one color!