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(Ray)
(Fogra 39)Job:08-30930 Title:RP-Design Logo
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3. I design more logotypes today.
In the past, I almost never created wordmarks, though I’m not
sure why. I think designers have something against them be-
cause they don’t highlight design skills in as obvious a manner.
The truth is they are easier to use across dierent applications
because they require less rules to implement. Still, let me just
say, I don’t believe in “just type” treatments unless they are built
from custom typography. The font choice does say a lot about
a company, but visually, I believe there needs to be something
more than just type to be memorable (g. c, d).
In the last decade or more, you’ve seen companies move
toward shorter names, which makes a logotype possible.
Amazon, Yahoo, and Google are just a few success stories.
4. Have a good roadmap.
How do you know if you’ve created the perfect logo? Know
what it should do, before you go about creating it. So often
logo design begins as an art project and not a communications
project. Save yourself time and make more eective work by
clearly dening the goals of your brand.
5. Get to the point.
In today’s marketplace, there is so much visual clutter, the con-
sumer doesn’t have much time to gure out who you are and
what you’re selling. Brands need to dene their product and
position in the marketplace as quickly as possible. This means
everything in a brand identity has to pull its weight. Now, more
than ever, renement from the company name to the visual
aesthetics is scrutinized.
I’ll use the Initio3i logo as an example. Initially, I designed this
mark for Initio Advertising (g. e, top). I started by creating
a custom typeface, then I added a unique element to it that
focused on the major change in our industry: Instead of broad-
casting messages to the masses, clients through advertising
communicate one-to-one with their audience. Great! Later, the
company split into two legal entities and the “3i” was added to
the mark (g e, bottom). Not so great, but we lived with it for
awhile. Finally, realizing that the personality and position of the
new company now revolved around the denition of 3i, we re-
ned the same concept into a simpler, more memorable mark.
Not an ideal process, but we found success in spite of it (g. f).
6. Environment is king.
This truth has never changed. I was taught this in school and
it’s still true today. Consider the primary point of contact where
your consumers interact with the brand. Build the mark to
t that environment. Some marks require exibility, where
others can leverage their exclusive real estate. A logo that lives
exclusively on a website, phone, or tablet has dierent consid-
erations than a mark that is embroidered on denim.
7. Don’t be an artist.
Finally, I would like to give all of the logo designers in the world
this piece of advice: If you are an artist, get out of this busi-
ness. Let me give some context. I dene an artist as someone
who has a voice, and they create work that conveys that voice.
Graphic designers aren’t artists, they are communicators. A
communicator projects the voice of the client. It’s very easy in
this profession to mix up the two. Too often we forget that our
visual preference does not outweigh the needs of our clients.
Don’t make that mistake.
edc f
(Ray)
(Fogra 39)Job:08-30930 Title:RP-Design Logo
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