Designing a Great Logo and understanding how to design a Good Logo – that’s the basics of the Logo Design process. This article is for all Young Logo Designers and Design Students and even Professional Graphic Designers who are looking to improve their craft and up their game by learning the Golden Rules of Logo Design.
So, let’s start.
Let’s find the Problems first.
Businesses searching for a New Identity System for their Brand or Business often encounter issues such as lacking a Visual Identity altogether or having an outdated one that fails to fulfill its intended purpose. The term “outdated” refers to the situation where the original Logo no longer aligns with the brand’s philosophy or fails to address technical challenges that arise from evolving technology and requirements.
Another reason for a New Identity System could be, the business is seeking to have a New Fresh, and Modern Look for their business. They might be looking to replace or modify their logo from original to any of the 7 types of Logo Design. Change of Leadership in the business or adaptations to modern technology can also contribute to the need for a New Logo Design.
In this article I am not going into the Process of Designing a Logo, rather we’ll be discussing What are the Characteristics of a Great and Timeless Logo Design? The phrase ‘Great and Timeless’ is referring to the meaning of a Logo Design that fulfills all the Quality Requirements and Identification needs, by Timeless it means that a Logo is the Face of the Company or the Business thus it needs to be the same after decades of Technological and Artistic Innovations. A Logo should be something a Brand or a Business is proud of after years and even decades.
Golden rules of Logo Design: From the Experts.
Sagi Haviv, A Master Logo Designer and partner at Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, discussed in an interview with The Futur hosted by Chris Do, a few Great and Timeless Logos that he worked on.
His portfolio mainly includes Logos for US Open, NBC, Showtime Network, Chase Bank, National Geographic, and Animal Planet.
Through his years of working experience as a Logo Designer he breakdown the Characteristics of a Great and Timeless Logo into the following 3 factors.
Appropriate to the Context.
A Logo should not have to say what it does. A logo should not have to pack the elements for each and every service the business is providing. A Great Logo should only communicate the feeling of the business, the personality of the Business, or the Brand. A Logo should be relevant to the practice a Business has. It should resonate with the Target Audience of the brand.
Distinctive and Memorable.
Constructing a distinctive Logo is crucial as it should be entirely unique and distinct from any previously created Logos. The primary purpose of creating a Logo is to establish the identification of a business or brand. If the new Logo bears even a slight resemblance or evokes the memory of another business, the entire purpose of creating a Visual Identity System is defeated.
As we now know that a Logo is the face of a business or a brand just like in real life, we remember familiar faces and recall them by just looking at them, a Logo should be memorable in the very same way. A Logo should be as memorable as if a person has a look at the Logo for five seconds and could explain it to another person.
Keep it Simple.
A Logo should be simple enough that it satisfies all the scaling needs. Bear with me, let me explain. Advances in technology necessitate adapting a Logo Design to smaller sizes, such as website favicons and application icons on smartphones. These sizes are tiny as compared to the Logo on a Visiting Card, Signage, or Billboard.
During the scale-down process, there is a high probability of losing the details of a Logo that has numerous elements and small intricacies. If the concept and idea of the Logo depend on those details then this is the recipe for a disaster in an Identity System.
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