Category Archives: Logo Design

To celebrate The Queen’s 60th year sat upon the throne, a new logo has been designed (see below). Your first impression may be ‘that’s bloody horrific, it looks like a child drew it!’. Well….it was. The logo was designed by 10-year-old Katherine Dewar, from Chester, who won a competition for children between the ages of 6-14 (yes – we know crowdsourcing is bad etc but I think we can make an exception in this case!). I have to admit that...

You may or may not have noticed that I love a monochromatic colour palette. I’ve had a few requests asking whether I could display some of my previous logo projects in black and white, which I feel is always the best way to truly look at the form of a logo. I’ve put together a custom designed WordPress website (with the help of Dan!) that does just that. Take a look at www.blacklogos.com.

When a brand is performing well, its logo is the ultimate symbol of success. When a brand fails and ceases to exist, the poor logo becomes an eternal reminder, haunting its previous owners who once were so proud to show it off. Businesses fail every day, even more so in the current economic climate, with even multi-national companies being threatened with the possibility of bankruptcy. Some of the larger well-known brands that ceased trading have logos that will allow some...

You’ve probably heard of the phrase ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. I’ve always found it interesting as to whether this claim holds true for logo designs as they can effectively be either a picture (icon/symbol), a word (wordmark/logotype) or even a combination of both (crests/enclosures). Most marks are instantly recognisable as they are often used in the absence of type as a standalone icon, and obviously wordmarks contain the name of the brand they represent. Crests and enclosures...

The sad thing about trends, in any field, is that as they become overused they eventually turn into a cliché. A visual cliché in a logo is something that you should avoid at all costs, as one of the main characteristics of a good effective logo is that it should be unique. So if the world and his wife are utilising your same idea then it can effect not only your competitive advantage but also the way in which your...

Let me tell you a little story that is the inspiration for this post… A couple of weeks ago I received an enquiry asking for details of pricing guidelines for logo design. I responded asking for more details about the project in order to calculate a quotation based on the specifications of the project. It turns out that the company in question had recently launched a website but had ‘forgotten to sort out a logo’. In place of the logo...

It seems it’s become more important than ever to show how a mark was constructed rather than the message behind the concept. Something I’ve noticed that is becoming more and more predominant is the incessant use of circular grids in logo design. The kind of grid I am talking about is not the golden ratio, but a peculiar obsession with the use of circles in order to form curves, shapes and even letterforms. It reminds me of this famous image by...

The Halloween season is over and now another issue has resurfaced that scares designers worldwide. Unfortunately, Brandstack, a website which sold community submitted logo designs for three years, has closed it’s doors once and for all. I’m not one to put the boot in as I will be sad to see people lose their jobs, but the fact that another stock logo outfit has gone out of business is technically a good thing in terms of preserving the integrity of...

I’ve decided to jump on the bandwagon and do one of those annoying competitions to allow anyone the chance at winning a copy of my book, Smashing Logo Design. To enter, all you have to do is send a public tweet or to @downwithdesign explaining why you are ‘down with design’. It can be positive or negative, it’s entirely up to you but be sure to include the hashtag #downwithdesignbook. You can send tweets from 12pm – 12am GMT on...

I’m pleased to say that my book, Smashing Logo Design, will go on sale in both the UK & US on Friday 10th June 2011. Pre-orders are now being taken from all of the large book retailers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Waterstones. To find out more about the book please visit: www.smashinglogodesign.net

Unless you’ve been hibernating for the past god knows how many months, you’ll know that there has recently been a Royal Wedding. With so much intrigue into the design of the dress, what flowers they will pick and even down the nature of the vows, I was sat watching it looking out for logos. Yes, I know that is very sad, but in a way I was forced to watch it (I’m sure you’ve all been there). It got me...

Industry vs Discipline It could be argued that logo design will always be seen as an individual discipline of graphic design, however, due to the recent change in tactics employed by design companies and designers alike, it could be determined that logo design should now be regarded as an industry in its own right. There are two sides to the argument. Firstly designers who previously only offered logo design are now finding they have to expand their services in order...