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Logo design process of Otus, a logo made with light.

10th May 09

During this post I am going to share with you exactly how I designed the logo shown above.

I designed the Otus logo at the start of 2008, initially for a start-up business that produced night-vision security cameras. The company dissolved during the logo design process and unfortunately I was not paid for this project. This is a tutorial which details my logo design process from the point of first contact with the client to delivery. To design this logo I used: Adobe Illustrator CS2, Adobe Photoshop CS2, a sketch pad & a sharp 2B pencil. Plus don’t forget patience! Okay, let’s go:

The brief from the client was fairly open but they stated that they would prefer some visual reference to a bird since the name Otus means a Incspring

That’s my first EVER blog post done and dusted. If you have any questions I’d love to hear from you & I apologise for any noob mistakes, hehe.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gareth Hardy

Gareth is a brand identity designer specialising in creative logo design & identity. He is the author of Smashing Logo Design, a book dedicated to everything 'logo'.

17/05/09
9:09 pm

kaimere

Congrats on the first post Grot :) Particularly like you sketch - click process - nice Kai
17/05/09
9:19 pm

James

Nice work. I think the whole 'draft before you design' thing is particularly important; it's a great way to get your ideas straight before you commit to more a involved process. Email me your details Gareth - I'm looking for designers to work with ;)
18/05/09
12:37 am

Richard Barratt

Great first post Gareth, gives a nice insite in what you do and how you do it.
18/05/09
2:02 am

Fabian

Congrats on a great first post..and a dosy at that! Always good to see how a fellow designer nuts out their design concepts.
18/05/09
3:10 am

Jacob Cass

Interesting process and nice first post... and just a tip, you may like to take 50% upfront next time. That way it covers your back if something like that happens next time. Keep it up :)
18/05/09
8:04 pm

Gareth

Thanks everyone for stopping by and looking. @Jacob: I hear ya mate, every day is a learning curve in this industry for sure.
19/05/09
7:42 am

ADAM

VERY NICE WORK...I LIKE THE WAY YOU THINK
25/05/09
7:57 pm

Wes Wilson

Great logo and great first post! I love seeing inside a talented designers process, thanks for sharing!
25/05/09
8:06 pm

Joshua Geiger

Very nice post! Your sketches are really clean too! I love reading the details behind designs, always interesting stuff. And yes, the most fun part about designing a logo is conceptualizing. :)
31/05/09
11:26 pm

dimARTirosov

Very nice Gareth. I particularly liked the part when you read the brief about ten times and then write down the words that summarise it. I think this is one of the most crucial parts when designing a logo, the core of the idea! Many times i find myself frustrated at those moments. I too use that technique of repeating something like a thousand times just to get it inside my head... not at easy thing to do. ANYWAY, great post and keep 'em coming! :)
10/07/09
7:09 am

Jessica

I like your logo, it would look good animated. Like stream of light could jiggle about going over the same pattern again and again slowly making the logo appear.
21/07/09
3:19 am

Jamie Lucas

Nice work mate! I appreciate your talent.
27/07/09
11:54 am

designing logos

Good logo and great first post! I love seeing inside a talented designers process, thanks for sharing sir
04/05/15
6:19 pm

Drew Van Camp

Would love to read this post, but unless I'm missing something your post stops short — only sharing one sentence about the brief. Is there a link I should click to read more-er? It seems everyone else has figured it out, based on the comments I can see.

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