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Designers Spill the Beans: How to Make Your Own Logo from Scratch

jpmoyn 8y ago
The designer said this: "Now that you have in mind what the form of your logo should be, you can move onto drawing it. Every time I get a task to do logo design, I start by drawing. I draw millions of versions of the logo. That way I can put all the ideas on paper and visualize what works the best and what doesn’t." you draw millions of versions? huh?
- bradenb 8y ago
  The designer was being hyperbolic.
  - stuntkite 8y ago
    The designer has probably designed 20 years of logos. When you have experience you get through the million ideas quicker.
- skoopie 8y ago
  That's why the IBM logo was so expensive.
- crushcrashcrush 8y ago
  This kind of comment is why (some) people hate engineers and HN.
  - matte_black 8y ago
    And it’s also the reason why some people love engineers and HN. It’s great to discuss things with people who know how to speak with precision as opposed to childish hyperbole.
    - superhuzza 8y ago
      Do they literally 'love' engineers because they speak with precision? Or perhaps you were using a bit of childish hyperbole?
      - falsedan 8y ago
        Good gentlefolk, not I, for here is only the most witful and masterful hyperbole permitted, nay, expected
  - everdev 8y ago
    Or, you could use a qualitative word: many, tons, a plethora... Let's save the quantitative words for actual quantities. There's few things worse than someone stating something or giving advice and then saying, "Well, I obviously didn't mean what I said". Better to take some time to mean what you say IMO.
  - EGreg 8y ago
    Some people can mean a few people. So what if a few people hate engineers and HN? They are extremely valuable and look how the world has been improved because of them. Perhaps by some, you meant many? Then you should come out and say it. And even if many people hated engineers, that would still not mean engineers must change. In the 1960s the USA had a math and science crisis in schools. Russia was far ahead in engineers, possibly because the culture didn’t really put down “nerds and geeks” as much as in the USA. Blaming the victim for using precise language is perhaps missing the point. The US with its huge population desperately played catch-up in STEM until the H1B visa saved the day! It’s not just my opinion, that’s what Kaku says, among SOME, perhaps MILLIONS, of others: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NK0Y9j_CGgM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NK0Y9j_CGgM
- nkrisc 8y ago
  Preliminary analysis indicates it is unlikely the individual in fact drew the quoted millions of variations. Further analysis indicates likely use of "hyperbole." Analysis concluded.
hisnameisjimmy 8y ago
This advice is basically telling you to learn to become a logo designer.
- kawfey 8y ago
  Sometimes I wish GNU/Linux developers and evangelists wouldn't take this advice, because there's some pretty bad designs (and a few passable) logos out there. https://www.gnu.org/graphics/graphics.html https://www.gnu.org/graphics/graphics.html
- aleksandra_598 8y ago
  Well, kind of. It was supposed to teach a reader how to think like a graphic designer and what to pay attention to. The ultimate goal of the text was to make a logo creating process a bit easier.
notatcomputer68 8y ago
Pick a nice font and color write the company/product name or an abbreviation.
- prawn 8y ago
  This works as a fallback, especially if the alternative is getting caught up on a full design process for a project that might not even go anywhere. For all the logos of all my projects (literally dozens of them), my least favourite was the lone one done by a dedicated graphic designer.
actionscripted 8y ago
1: Find logos you like, and a few from your industry. 2: Pick a few colors you like, and a few in your industry. 3: Pick a few fonts you like, and a few in your industry. 4: Find icons/shapes related to your business (google images: "[business type] icon" as a start, then branch from there based on what you find). 5: Mash it all together as many different ways a possible. 6: See what you like/dislike. Repeat as needed. That's it, that's the secret. Get stuff you like and stuff that works and mash it together to see what happens. Then take your mash-ups and keep mashing and playing until you find something that fits. You don't have to love it, just get something that works. A lot of folks don't like their branding initially. What designers won't tell you is that the process is sometimes just brute-forcing creativity and that's totally okay. You can't always feel inspired or have that "one perfect idea" and you've still gotta get stuff done.
- com2kid 8y ago
  After spending too many hours unable to decide on a color theme (those color theme designers are not all that great IMHO) I saved myself the time and trouble and paid a real designer a good chunk of $ to get an actual logo, a great color scheme, and a PDF of design language guidelines. I'd rank it as the single best decision I've made for my startup. With the design language guidelines I can throw together UI screens super easy, I just need to assemble the parts I've been given in an appropriate way. The logo receives constant positive feedback, and having a good set of colors simplifies a lot of UI and UX tasks. No way could I have done it myself to this level of quality in anything resembling a timely fashion. A good logo and color scheme can had for ~$1000. Yes that is a lot of money for a super early stage startup. Figure it'll take multiple days to do it yourself, 20 hours, $50/hr, unless you seriously low-ball your time, just pay someone else to do it. Honestly, if making anything resembling a consumer facing product, throw a couple thousand and get preliminary design work done up front. Ask for a few sample UI layouts based on whatever rough ideas for "functionality" exist. The important part is learning how information is going to be structured on a page/screen. Colors, font, font size, font style? What sort of grid is being used, how much white space, rounded or non-rounded UI elements, drop shadows yes/no, what do confirmation/cancellation buttons look like? Have someone who is good at it make all of these decisions. Having the same person make all of these decisions means there will be a consistent look and feel to the product.
layer8 8y ago
And here I thought this was about how to make your own Logo interpreter in Scratch. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language) [2] https://scratch.mit.edu/ https://scratch.mit.edu/
- timbit42 8y ago
  That would have been much more interesting.
CharlesW 8y ago
Missing from Tip 2 is maybe the biggest "secret", which is that all visual designers build libraries of inspirational reference material. For example, logo designers will typically have several books full of logotypes, symbols, etc. My recommendation is to start with these two books: Symbol[1] and Logo[2]. [1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780671849/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780671849/ [2] https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780671806/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780671806/
- aleksandra_598 8y ago
  Yeah, you're right. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
detritus 8y ago
> Tip 4: Think About the Form and Not About Symmetry er.. no. Symmetry isn't a be-all and end-all, but any half-decent designer will be flipping or mirroring horizontally and vertically their logos and pieces to check they look 'ok' the 'other way around'. The human brain's a funny thing, and some people's perception differs from others ('No!'), so it's worth ensuring that what you think looks ok doesn't look completely borked to other people. Flipping's a handy tip here.

The designer said this: "Now that you have in mind what the form of your logo should be, you can move onto drawing it. Every time I get a task to do logo design, I start by drawing. I draw millions of versions of the logo. That way I can put all the ideas on paper and visualize what works the best and what doesn’t." you draw millions of versions? huh?

bradenb 8y ago
The designer was being hyperbolic.
- stuntkite 8y ago
  The designer has probably designed 20 years of logos. When you have experience you get through the million ideas quicker.
skoopie 8y ago
That's why the IBM logo was so expensive.
crushcrashcrush 8y ago
This kind of comment is why (some) people hate engineers and HN.
- matte_black 8y ago
  And it’s also the reason why some people love engineers and HN. It’s great to discuss things with people who know how to speak with precision as opposed to childish hyperbole.
  - superhuzza 8y ago
    Do they literally 'love' engineers because they speak with precision? Or perhaps you were using a bit of childish hyperbole?
    - falsedan 8y ago
      Good gentlefolk, not I, for here is only the most witful and masterful hyperbole permitted, nay, expected
- everdev 8y ago
  Or, you could use a qualitative word: many, tons, a plethora... Let's save the quantitative words for actual quantities. There's few things worse than someone stating something or giving advice and then saying, "Well, I obviously didn't mean what I said". Better to take some time to mean what you say IMO.
- EGreg 8y ago
  Some people can mean a few people. So what if a few people hate engineers and HN? They are extremely valuable and look how the world has been improved because of them. Perhaps by some, you meant many? Then you should come out and say it. And even if many people hated engineers, that would still not mean engineers must change. In the 1960s the USA had a math and science crisis in schools. Russia was far ahead in engineers, possibly because the culture didn’t really put down “nerds and geeks” as much as in the USA. Blaming the victim for using precise language is perhaps missing the point. The US with its huge population desperately played catch-up in STEM until the H1B visa saved the day! It’s not just my opinion, that’s what Kaku says, among SOME, perhaps MILLIONS, of others: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NK0Y9j_CGgM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NK0Y9j_CGgM
nkrisc 8y ago
Preliminary analysis indicates it is unlikely the individual in fact drew the quoted millions of variations. Further analysis indicates likely use of "hyperbole." Analysis concluded.

hisnameisjimmy 8y ago

This advice is basically telling you to learn to become a logo designer.

kawfey 8y ago
Sometimes I wish GNU/Linux developers and evangelists wouldn't take this advice, because there's some pretty bad designs (and a few passable) logos out there. https://www.gnu.org/graphics/graphics.html https://www.gnu.org/graphics/graphics.html
aleksandra_598 8y ago
Well, kind of. It was supposed to teach a reader how to think like a graphic designer and what to pay attention to. The ultimate goal of the text was to make a logo creating process a bit easier.

notatcomputer68 8y ago

Pick a nice font and color write the company/product name or an abbreviation.

prawn 8y ago
This works as a fallback, especially if the alternative is getting caught up on a full design process for a project that might not even go anywhere. For all the logos of all my projects (literally dozens of them), my least favourite was the lone one done by a dedicated graphic designer.

actionscripted 8y ago

1: Find logos you like, and a few from your industry. 2: Pick a few colors you like, and a few in your industry. 3: Pick a few fonts you like, and a few in your industry. 4: Find icons/shapes related to your business (google images: "[business type] icon" as a start, then branch from there based on what you find). 5: Mash it all together as many different ways a possible. 6: See what you like/dislike. Repeat as needed. That's it, that's the secret. Get stuff you like and stuff that works and mash it together to see what happens. Then take your mash-ups and keep mashing and playing until you find something that fits. You don't have to love it, just get something that works. A lot of folks don't like their branding initially. What designers won't tell you is that the process is sometimes just brute-forcing creativity and that's totally okay. You can't always feel inspired or have that "one perfect idea" and you've still gotta get stuff done.

com2kid 8y ago
After spending too many hours unable to decide on a color theme (those color theme designers are not all that great IMHO) I saved myself the time and trouble and paid a real designer a good chunk of $ to get an actual logo, a great color scheme, and a PDF of design language guidelines. I'd rank it as the single best decision I've made for my startup. With the design language guidelines I can throw together UI screens super easy, I just need to assemble the parts I've been given in an appropriate way. The logo receives constant positive feedback, and having a good set of colors simplifies a lot of UI and UX tasks. No way could I have done it myself to this level of quality in anything resembling a timely fashion. A good logo and color scheme can had for ~$1000. Yes that is a lot of money for a super early stage startup. Figure it'll take multiple days to do it yourself, 20 hours, $50/hr, unless you seriously low-ball your time, just pay someone else to do it. Honestly, if making anything resembling a consumer facing product, throw a couple thousand and get preliminary design work done up front. Ask for a few sample UI layouts based on whatever rough ideas for "functionality" exist. The important part is learning how information is going to be structured on a page/screen. Colors, font, font size, font style? What sort of grid is being used, how much white space, rounded or non-rounded UI elements, drop shadows yes/no, what do confirmation/cancellation buttons look like? Have someone who is good at it make all of these decisions. Having the same person make all of these decisions means there will be a consistent look and feel to the product.

layer8 8y ago

And here I thought this was about how to make your own Logo interpreter in Scratch. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language) [2] https://scratch.mit.edu/ https://scratch.mit.edu/

timbit42 8y ago
That would have been much more interesting.

CharlesW 8y ago

Missing from Tip 2 is maybe the biggest "secret", which is that all visual designers build libraries of inspirational reference material. For example, logo designers will typically have several books full of logotypes, symbols, etc. My recommendation is to start with these two books: Symbol[1] and Logo[2]. [1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780671849/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780671849/ [2] https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780671806/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/1780671806/

aleksandra_598 8y ago
Yeah, you're right. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

detritus 8y ago

> Tip 4: Think About the Form and Not About Symmetry er.. no. Symmetry isn't a be-all and end-all, but any half-decent designer will be flipping or mirroring horizontally and vertically their logos and pieces to check they look 'ok' the 'other way around'. The human brain's a funny thing, and some people's perception differs from others ('No!'), so it's worth ensuring that what you think looks ok doesn't look completely borked to other people. Flipping's a handy tip here.