Generate logo ideas for your brand.

From idea to logo: think before you draw

A logo is not a drawing of what a company does.
A bakery does not need a loaf of bread. A dentist does not need a tooth.

A logo is a signature. It needs to be recognized, not explained.

✦ Start with one sentence

Before any sketch, write one sentence: what should people remember about this brand?
Fast. Handmade. Reliable. Playful. Pick one. Two at most.

Everything you draw should serve that sentence. The rest can go.

✦ Five kinds of logos

• Wordmark. The name in a chosen typeface. Strong when the name is short and distinctive.
• Lettermark. Initials. Useful for long names.
• Symbol. A shape that stands on its own. Takes time to become known.
• Combination. Symbol plus name. The most flexible choice for new brands.
• Emblem. Name inside a shape, like a badge. Classic, but hard to use small.

✦ How to use these ideas

1. Enter the brand name and a few keywords about its character.
2. Read the concepts as directions, not as finished designs.
3. Pick two or three directions that surprise you a little.
4. Sketch them by hand. Small. Quick. Twenty thumbnails in ten minutes.
5. Choose one and refine it in vector software.

✦ The three tests

The small test. Shrink it to the size of a fingernail. Can you still read it?
The black test. Make it one color. Does it still work without gradients or effects?
The memory test. Show it for three seconds. Ask someone to draw it from memory.

A logo that fails these tests is decoration, not identity.

✦ Common mistakes

• Too many details. They disappear on a phone screen.
• Starting with color. Shape first, color later.
• Following a trend that will look dated in two years.
• Using free icons that thousands of others use too.
• Not checking if the idea already exists. Always search before you launch.

✦ In practice

A small coffee roaster. The obvious idea is a coffee bean. Every roaster has one.
Look for something only this roaster has. The street it is on. The old scale it uses. The way the owner writes the name on the bags.
That is where a real idea hides.

A consultant working under her own name. Often a wordmark is enough. A good typeface, careful spacing, maybe one detail in a letter.
A symbol would only distract from the name. And the name is the brand.

A festival that changes every year. Here a flexible logo works. A fixed core, with a pattern or color that changes per edition.
Recognizable and fresh at the same time.

✦ Four questions before you choose

1. What do you want to say? One word about the brand. Not three.
2. What must be seen first? The name or the symbol? Decide. Both cannot lead.
3. What can go? Remove one element. If it still works, it was not needed.
4. What is the next small step? Twenty small sketches. Before any software.

✦ A small checklist

• Works in one color, black on white and white on black.
• Readable at 16 pixels, the size of a browser tab icon.
• No thin lines that break in print or on a phone.
• Has a horizontal and a stacked version.
• Checked for similar existing logos and trademarks.

✦ From the classroom

Our students design their first logos in black on white only. No color, no effects.
It feels strict. It shows immediately whether the idea is strong.
Color can make a good logo better. It cannot rescue a weak one.

Say one thing. Say it clearly. Then stop.