Authentic Logo Design

At a high level, a good logo should be authentic, recognizable, memorable & shareable. It should represent your brand position, stylistically connect with your core audience(s) and be meaningful foundation for your brand identity.

From a technical perspective, the way the logo is created is also important. A good logo should be simple enough to be effective at a small scale. Logos should always be made in vector format so they can be easily applied in any professional program and infinitely scaled to look crisp on a billboard or beyond. Logos should also work well in a single color as it might be copied, faxed or printed that way for specific mediums.

Logos are used in so many different ways that it’s almost impossible to create a single version of a brand logo that is perfect for every brand application, communication channel and marketing medium. Logo variations are key for diverse branding needs. We create responsive logo systems to empower clients with a versatile and adaptable brand identity. Smart brands have a brand identity system that includes a primary logo and one to three secondary, responsive logo variations that might be simplified or take on different proportions to work better in horizontal, circular or vertical formats. For example a normal website header might be a 1:12 horizontal ratio. If you put a circle or square logo in that space, you’re only using a maximum of 8% of the template space which typically makes the logo difficult to read and have a lackluster impact. In some cases, brands might have a professional logo for corporate or wholesale purposes and a more approachable logo variation for the general public or retail. Brands that have sell merchandise will often have secondary logos specifically for merchandise sales. Regardless of the number of logos and their uses, its essential that all logo identities are created in a cohesive style that reflects the brand’s personality, style and purpose. Responsive logos adapt to various contexts, ensuring brand scalability and versatility for marketing, websites, and social media.

Logo designs should always be made in vector format because vector graphics can be scaled to any size without becoming pixelated, grainy or blurry. In graphic design, there are 2 primary types of graphics, raster and vector.

Raster graphics are built from pixels – tiny color squares that are combined in mass to create highly detailed images such as photographs. Raster graphics can provide great detail when the pixel count is high and the image is small, but when raster graphics are scaled they lose detail and eventually become pixelated. All photography is raster-based, pixel graphics which is also why professional photographers are regularly buying the newest and greatest cameras that can capture the most pixels. Common pixel file types include gif, jpeg and png. Once any graphic file is turned into a raster graphic, there’s no good way to turn it back into a vector file, doing so will lose quality & details.

In contrast, vector graphics are mathematical equations that use fixed points, smooth lines, curves and shapes to produce an image. Vector graphics can be made up of an infinite number of points and can be manipulated in any way to provide users with unmatched creative control and detail. Professional fonts are always created as vector graphics so they look great with the same smooth curves at absolutely any size. Vector graphics are most commonly used in graphic design (Adobe Illustrator), engineering, architecture, surveying, 3D rendering and typography. Pdf and eps files can be pixel based, but the most common native vector file types are ai and svg.

Logo fonts or logo lettering are one important factors that comprises a strong logo and strong brand identity. We use a variety of factors to choose the appropriate lettering for our client brands. Logo lettering should match the authentic brand style to help position the brand so that it connects to your audience. We often create custom lettering for client logos and brand identities, to help our clients be unique, authentic and original. Custom logo lettering can stand along to work well by itself as a logo wordmark, custom lettermark or with illustrated icons in a combination mark or brand mark.

Choosing the right colors for a logo is part science, part art and part sociology. Different colors help evoke different emotions and social connections. Not everyone has the same connections to all colors, but when combining science with your social audience and industry we can narrow in color schemes . However color alone is only one part of the equation. For example red is both a common color of love and romance as well as crime and horror. Logo designs and the larger brand identity system should utilize a series of colors that work together with the brand style, brand position and brand strategy. We understand color theory and we consider color contrast, hue, saturation, shade and tone. We also understand the nuances of digital, and various print color representations. We work with colors that can be applied in Pantone, CMYK and Hex color modes so your brand is cohesive across all marketing mediums.

Discover. Define. Develop. Design.

We take a systemic and collaborative approach to our logo design + brand identity processes. We dig deep to discover the business history, culture and how it relates to your story and your vision. We learn your business goals, the competitive marketplace and differentiators. With this knowledge, we develop your brand position and define the characteristics of your brand including: voice, values and style. During the development process, we explore a visual mood board for your approval. The discovery, definition and development leads us into the visual brand identity and logo design process. We ideate through sketches and our creative concepts are clarified to present you with an authentic brand identity. A successful identity concept must work well in black and white before moving to full color. With additional client collaboration, we refine and finalize the brand identity along with possible variations. With the identity completed, we have built a strong foundation for your brand to grow from. The digital brand assets are then created, organized and solidified in your brand identity guidelines and saved out for your use, ready to apply to your brand collateral and marketing efforts. Your marketing strategy is crafted in the development and design stages alongside the brand identity so your brand identity and marketing strategy are ready to be applied together.