How to create a logo

If you're marketing a company, product, brand, or anything similar, a logo is an essential tool. It gives your consumers a symbol that reminds them of your brand. Here is everything needed to create an effective logo.

Brainstorming

Before you get to the digital part of the logo design process, grab a piece of paper and a writing utensil, and sketch some possible designs. They don't have to be perfect, as long as you have an idea of the concept of what you're designing. Make sure they are unique, recognizable, and relate to your brand.

Choosing software

Once you have a design or two picked out, it's time to use graphic design software to bring your design to life. There are two types of graphics: vector graphics and raster graphics. Vector graphics are logos that can be scaled up indefinitely without losing quality. Vector graphics software is generally more difficult to use, but the designs can be scaled in various ways. Raster graphics are the most common form of graphic, being made up of various pixels.

If you're worried about scaling, go with a vector program such as Adobe Illustrator. If you don't need to scale it too much, go with a raster program such as Adobe Photoshop.

Adobe software can be expensive, to combat this, you can use a free trial of either software, or you can use a Photoshop alternative such as GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program).

Creating your design

Once you've gotten a software on your computer, it's time to start creating your final product. First, create a new file with your desired dimensions. When using vector graphics, you have to pick an aspect ratio. For a square, 1,000 pixels by 1,000 pixels is a good size.

Once you have a blank canvas up, you can start drawing. To create uniform shapes, use selection tools such as the lasso tool, marquee tool, and ellipse tool to select the shape, then fill them with color using the fill tool. It may also be helpful to scan in, or insert a photo of your original concept to trace or reference.

It may take a while to create what you visualize, but there are great online sources for learning the basics of Photoshop, GIMP, Illustrator, or other programs. Make sure to save your file often so you can go back and work on it.

Exporting your design

When finished designing, make sure to save the project in its original format, allowing you to go back and make changes later, and export it to whatever format you may need.

Save your logo as a PNG (Portable Network Graphics), JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), high-resolution PDF (Portable Document Format), and its original format such as PSD (Photoshop document) for Photoshop.

Additional suggestions

• Logos can go through many stages until the final product. See our Computer Hope redesign page for an example of the evolution of the Computer Hope logo.
• You can find great video tutorials for your software on sites like YouTube.
• Keep your designs simple, recognizable, and unique.