10 Pitfalls To Avoid When Designing A

LOGO

Pitfalls

The Art Of Logo Design Is Plagued With Traps Invisible…TREAD CAREFULLY IF YOU WISH TO LIFT-UP YOUR DESIGN TO LOGO GLORY

How

Boring!

UNCOOL!!

WTFIs this a

Logo or a Mascot?

Looks Quite Familiar indeed

…

Outdated

Designing A Logo Based On Trends

Blindly is likely to leave your logo looking trite, behind the times

and out-of-touch once the trend dies out …

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Target introduced its iconic logo in 1968 i.e. almost half a century

back, yet it still looks fresh.

1. Designing A Logo Based On Trends Blindly

Whereas, Yahoo!’s recent logo redesign failed to impress despite

its modern ‘flat’ look and “scallops” font.

Poor Selection Of Colors spoils the brand. Remember color psychology, use logical tones and

blends, do not use more than four colors and make sure the logo can

be transferred into monotone without much ado.

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2. Poor Selection Of Colors

Remember the Hot Pink Mess?

Some said the youthful hue was purposed to appeal millennial but it

turned out younglings have an eye for brand incongruity and the

OLYMPIC’12 Logo failed miserably.

Employing Raster Or Pixelated Imagescan limit reproduction of the logo. Raster images are less compatible

and lose quality when scaled, making logo useless on different media.

Whereas, it is essential for branding to preserve visual consistency and

make sure the logo looks the same in all sizes and across all mediums.

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3. Employing Raster/Pixelated Images

Vector image, on the other hand, remains crisp when scaled or

transferred to other media.

VECTOR

RASTER

I’ve Sharp Edges! I’m Fuzzy!

Vs.

Adding Complexity Into Design or highly detailed designs hinder communication. The more detailed

a logo is, the more information audience has to perceive and

process. Make sure your logo does not confuse or smudge your

vision. Besides, a logo must be memorable and the best way to

make it memorable is to keep it simple.

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4. Adding Complexity into Design

Simple is better. Take a glance at the corporate identities of world’s

most popular brands. These logos strike a balance that is aimed to

grab attention of the target segment – and for the right reasons.

Ill Selection Of Font Or Typeface can break a logo. Each typeface has its own personality and aura, if

the selected font does not compliment the vision or other graphic

elements then the whole brand could fall flat. Poor choice of font may

leave your logo look weary and off-the-mark.

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5. Ill Selection Of Font or Typeface

A poor typeface negatively affects your message. However, there is a

wide accord about what constitutes direness in Type. So be wary of

the Type you choose. Below are some extreme examples of bad font

choices.

Curlz MT

Old ScriptYellow Magician

Ben Pioneer

Comic Sans

Comic Sans? Indeed. Fun? Off course!

Softer Please!

NO.

I can see it now.

Entirely offensive and unfortunate font

choice.

Using Excessive Special Effectstends to make design confusing and hard to grasp. Do check how

your logo translates to monotone or greyscale across different

media and whether this affects distinguished elements of the

design.

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4. Using Excessive special effects

A logo must be quick to adapt and overdoing effects

harms adaptability of the logo. Do not let your logo rely on

special effects completely. For example, see how easy it is

to transfer SONY Ericsson’s logo in different tones – and

sizes.

Overdoing Or Using Too Many Fontsaffects legibility of a logo. Restrict the number of Fonts or Font

Styles to two at max. Do not use multiple (more than two fonts) with

different font weight else the design might look too busy or

distorted.

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7. Overdoing or Using too many fonts

A logo works best with minimum font variations and logical contrast.

Tag Line

COMPANY NAME

S e c o n d a r y T a g L i n e

TAG LINE

COMPANY

NAME

S e c o n d a r y T a g L i n e

Replicating Existing Logos is not at all a good idea. It is easy to rip-off or copy a popular logo

but the chances are, it will devalue your brand. The purpose of the

logo is to make your brand recognizable and stand out among the

crowd. But a ripped-off logo will diminish your brand, making it

forgetful.

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If your logo reminds your audience of another brand, it has failed to

serve the purpose. So, it is worth striving for uniqueness and

inimitable persona when it comes to logo design.

8. Replicating existing logos

Imposing Design On Clientfavors neither the designer nor the client. Understand the client’s

requirement and design according to the design brief. Do not

impose your concept unless it is for good, and that too, after

client’s approval. This is where the success lies.

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9. Imposing Design on Client

A cool new typeface you just discovered or a color you are

enthusiastic about; if it is irrelevant to the client’s business, do

not use it. Design is a continuous learning process and client

reviews are essential.

DESIGN BRIEF

Here is where designer gets specifications and design requirements

from the client.

DESIGN SAMPLES/MOCKUPS

Here designer comes-up with ideas and possible options relevant to

business and according to design brief.

DESIGN REVIEW

Here client reviews suggestions made by the designer and decides whether

to use it or not.

DESIGN CONFIRMATION

At this stage, design is finalized to the point where both designer and client

are satisfied with the design.

If client is not happy with the design, designer can go back and design an

alternative.

Putting Logo In A Box Or Outlining

Font is often needless and degrades the quality of design, particularly on

low-resolution devices. Besides, boxing a logo limits its use across

platforms.

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10. Putting Logo In A Box Or Outlining Font

You should almost never outline a Font in a

logo and avoid boxed images unless it is

necessary.

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