Logo Design Tips

There are four elements that can be seen in every great logo:
It’s describable
It’s memorable
It’s effective without color
It’s scalable i.e. effective when just an inch in size

When people think about designing a logo, often they think about a stunning graphic image. But when you think about the world's most recognizable logos, they all very simple designs. Think about the Nike swoosh, McDonald's arches, Apple Computer's apple, etc. They are all very simple.

A complex logo can be difficult to reproduce and more importantly, difficult to remember. Further, overly complex logos can 'gum up' when reproduced as a very small image. Think business card, fax header. How about a key chain? Or a ballpoint pen? Complex logos also do not look good when printed in black and white or embroidered.

When considering a logo for essential church we had some artists submt some really stunning designs. But when I asked them to send me a black and white version, they lost all their appeal. Some of them looked more like an ink blot than a logo when done in black and white. Further, several of them were not scalable. When putting graphics on a webpage, often we are limited to images that are only 100-200 pixels wide. In case you're not familiar with pixels, that just means that it is a really low resolution image. Many of the fancy designs relied heavily on having a lot of shading or glossy effects that look aweful in low resolution.

So in the end, we went with a logo that communicates what is essential, loving God, loving others, and loving our selves. It is describable, memorable, effective without color, and scalable.

This post includes quotes from the following sites:
http://www.thelogofactory.com/logo_design.html
http://www.davidairey.com/5-vital-logo-design-tips/