The Complete Guide to Logo Design

Logo Basics

Definition of Logo by Wikipedia:

"A logo is a graphic element, symbol, or icon of a trademark or brand and together with its logotype, which is set in a unique typeface or arranged in a particular way. A typical logo is designed to cause immediate recognition by the viewer. The logo is one aspect of the brand of a company or economic entity, and the shapes, colors, fonts and images are usually different from others in a similar market."

A good logo is distinctive, appropriate, practical, graphic and simple in form, and it conveys the owner’s intended message. If you are looking to design a logo then you will want to work with some basic knowledge of the theory behind logo development. In this section we discover logo basics.

1. Everything about Logo Design!
2. Logo – Its Elements and Inevitable Importance for your Business
3. The Six Universal Attributes Of a Great Mark
4. Logo Design Basics
5. Why is a logo important? Can I make it myself?
6. Paul Rand Thoughts and despair on logo design
7. A Guide to Creating Professional Quality Logo Designs
8. 5 Branding Basics Every Logo Designer Should Know
9. Vital Tips For Effective Logo Design
10. Logos: The Importance of Simplicity
11. Corporate Identity Resources
12. Corporate Brand Guidelines
13. Corporate identity and corporate brand building
14. Brand New: Opinions on Corporate and Brand Identity Work
15. Logo Misapplication
16. The Value of Corporate Identity
17. Logo Design Basics: The Five Types of Marks
18. Logo basics that even some graphic designers forget
19. 5 useful logo design tips
20. Logo Design – The Basics (at least in my opinion)
21. Design Forums > Logo and Brand Identity
22. A Guide to Logo Design
23. Using, fusing and abusing “the rules” of logo design

Logo Design Tutorials

In this section, you’ll find a large collection of logo design tutorials by some of the most well-respected logo designers in the industry.
Not only are these tutorials educational, but entertaining as well.
Most of them are documenting the entire process.

1. Logo design tutorial from conceptualization to completion Step by step tutorial / documentation of the full process of the logo design from concept to final.
2. Designing a Colorful Floral Logo With CorelDraw After working through this tutorial you’ll be able to create similar designs in your work.
   
3. Creating a logo from start to finish The logo for Core Practice Partners.
4. How to make an awesome logo Gary Simon starts and finishes a logo while documenting the entire process.
5. 3D looking Sphere Logo Step by step tutorial in Illustrator.
6. Step-by-step logo Designer/Author Chuck Green shows us the general process he takes when designing a logo.
7. Big Bocca – Illustrative Logo An illustrative logo for an italian animation studio will show you a very quick turnaround and the design politics.
8. Logo Design Project Step by Step Walkthrough Step by step documentation of the logo design process from conception to completion.
9. Creating a crazy cool logo An interesting logo based on circles.
10. Geometric Flower Effect Logo in Illustrator A step-by-step tutorial for a logo with a fantastic floral effect.
    
11. Design a Print-Ready Beer Label in Adobe Illustrator A tutorial from setup to production of a really cool beer label.
12. Shopping Girl Character Logo Tutorial Learn how to create a Vector Shopping Girl Character Logo in Illustrator & Photoshop!
13. Logo Design Process and Walkthrough for Vivid Ways The design process and a walkthrough to the final logo.
14. Dache: Logo Design Process This case study provides full creative brief and progress images from start to final.
15. How to Make a Badass WordPress Logo Creating an amazing shiny/metallic logo look.
16. Piranha’s Revenge – Illustrative Logo How should you approach an illustrative logo? What style should you choose?
17. Sikbox Logo Design Process A bit of the ideas and the design process for the logo creation.
18. Create an Origami Logo getting a little taste towards one of the trends of 2009 Logo Design.
19. Use Illustrator to Create a Fun, 3D, Character Logo With a crazy rabbit character.
20. Abduzeedo 2010 Logo Design How the symbol is created and what the inspiration behind it was.
21. Google Chrome Logo Design A detailed tutorial on how to create this awesome logo.
22. Logo Design for myNiteLife Logo Design Project Step by Step Walkthrough
23. EURO 2008 Logo design How this famous logo is created.
24. The Process of Designing a Killer Logo This article covers the creative process behind creating a strong conceptual logo and how to use Adobe Illustrator to your advantage when creating a logo.
25. How to Design a Logotype from Conception to Completion
26. Logo Frustration Take a peak into a real-world project to see an actual logo designer in action.
27. Logo Design Creation Process from Start to Finish by Expert Graphic Designer - Mark Misenheimer
28. Drawing the Volkswagen Logo This tutorial is showing how to draw the legendary Volkswagen emblem logo.
29. Logo Design Process Tutorial A logo for an imaginary company.
30. Umbrella Corporation logo A PhotoShop tutorial for a fictional bioengineering pharmaceutical company logo.
31. Sony Ericsson Logo
32. Create a logo identity Nice tutorial in PDF
33. Making the ATI LOGO photoshop tutorial
34. Colorful Mac Logo A PhotoShop tutorial.
35. Make Your Own Classic Logo with CorelDraw This in-depth logo design tutorial includes steps on designing a golden frame, logo body, red ribbon and golden accent.
    
36. Firefish Photoshop Tutorial
37. Toyota Logo Illustrator Tutorial In this tutorial you can learn to create the Toyota logo. It is all about circles and the Pathfinder panel.
38. Logo Presentation tutorial A Photoshop tutorial explaining how to do the presentation of your logos
39. Photoshop Logo Jelly Remake
40. Skype Logo How the famous Skype logo is created.
41. Draw 3D Crystal Icon Logo in Photoshop
42. Brainstorm #9 Logo Process Complete process, including tutorial and brainstorming.
43. Making of Metallic Transformers Logo In this really fantastic tutorial, you’re shown how to build a beautiful logo step by step.
44. Create a Cool Music Logo on a Grunge Background These techniques can be used to make a logo and background for a cool grunge-style Web site.
45. Illustration Logo: Tiger
46. Create Web 2.0 Style Logo with Photoshop
    
47. Versus Inspired Photoshop Logo Tutorial This Adobe Photoshop tutorial will show you how to create a rounded logo, inspired by the Versus cable network.
48. 3D Encide Logo Tutorial PSD Included
49. Papercraft Text Effect on Logos A very detailed logo effect tutorial.
50. Creating a Rockstar Brand, Logo & Styleguide in Illustrator
51. Obama Logo Tutorial How to create Obama's effective logo.
52. Zee Logo in Illustrator
53. Create a Silhouette Logo for a Steak House Restaurant in Adobe Illustrator
54. Designing a Logo The author will show you the process in drawing a logo and hopefully you have more confidence after this tutorial.
55. Modern Green Logo in Photoshop
56. Digg Logo Adobe Photoshop Tutorial
57. Logo Design Process for Just Creative Design Logo
58. Drawing a Good Logo UX Developer Nathan Smith discusses his method for creating an iconic logo design.
59. Logos for the Design Challenged by Gary Priester in CorelDRAW
60. Font Customization Techniques for Sign Logo Creation
61. How to design a logo of letters
62. a1m.at Logo Design Tutorial
63. The process of redesigning a logo Kristof Saelen discusses an effective course of action for updating an existing logo.
64. Strategies for Letter-based Logo Design
65. Learn how to create a Futuristic Logo in photoshop This tutorial will help you create a futuristic logo that you can play with and change to make your very own.
66. Creating the Opel Logo Design Using some classic Photoshop tools, such as the Rectangle, the Ellipse or the Direct Selection Tool.
67. Photoshop Tutorial: Fox News Logo The techniques in this tutorial can be applied to many other tasks throughout the suite of Adobe applications.

More tutorials:

• Good Tutorials - Logo Tutorials
• Tutorio Logo Tutorials

Great Logo Design Case Studies / Processes

Although the tutorials listed above are good for learning the logo design basics or improving your technical skills, case studies from real-world projects are in-depth examples of how professional logo designers work.

Creating an extraordinary logo requires: brainstorming ideas, incorporating standard logo elements, choosing appropriate typography, using colors correctly, ...

1. The Logo Design Process of Top Logo Designers The secrets of how top graphic designers create their logos.
2. Designing identities for small companies
3. Henri Ehrhart A logo design case study, from the notebook to the final logo design.
4. JMR Insurance Group A nice logo design case study.
5. BevReview Creative process / Logo Case Study.
6. Dark Cliff
7. Typedia Behind the Typedia Logo Design
8. Foehn & Hirsch Brand Identity Process
9. Vissumo A logo design case study, from the notebook to the final logo design.
10. Two Giraffes Creation of a New Brand
11. A-List Blogging Bootcamps
12. Plancast Penguin Logo Development Process
13. Ennead Architects by Pentagram
14. The Philadelphia History Museum
15. Visit France Logo design process
16. Associated Painters Logo Design Process
17. UKE
18. Homespun Chili Logo Design Process
19. Insyndia Logo development
20. Botanica A logo design by a website designer.
21. Undersea Productions Re-branding
22. Million Monarchs Creative Process
23. WavePulse Acoustics Logo Identity Development
24. Dounia The logo design process for a Mediterranean food brand.
25. Brokers logo design process
26. BlueDrift Logo Design Process
27. Happycry Branding Process
28. Siah Design Re-brand Process
29. Apple & Eve Logo Process
30. Mindberry logo design process
31. HotBox Studios Logo design process
32. The Bounty Bev Logo Design Process
33. Ultimate Potential
34. Grooveshark Case study
35. LatitudeSouth creative process
36. HostLogik
37. Orb Web Solutions Logo Process
38. Directed Edge
39. The Rebel Belle Case Study
40. Alys Grace

Logo Software

Logos should be made in a vector graphic software, such as Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Xara Xtreme, ... These are high-priced pieces of software, but there is a very good free and open source alternative - InkScape.

Adobe Illustrator

This is the most widely used logo designing software. It is simple to use and the final outcome of this logo software will provide you with great results.

1. Adobe Illustrator - Product
2. Adobe Illustrator User Resources
3. Illustrator Techniques by layersmagazine
4. Adobe Illustrator tutorials by pixel2life
5. Illustrator Tutorials by voidix
6. Adobe Illustrator Tutorials & Lessons
7. Illustrator Tutorials Step-by-step Adobe Illustrator tutorials with original source file download.
8. Adobe Illustrator Tutorials
9. BioRust: Adobe Illustrator Tutorials
10. 60+ Illustrator Tutorials, Tips and Best Practices
11. Illustrator: How to Make Custom Swooshes, Swirls, and Curls
12. Mosaic image effect in Illustrator
13. Swirly curls in Adobe Illustrator
14. Illustration, from sketch to finish
15. Amazing Hidden Tricks in Illustrator
16. Creating a Logo in Illustrator
17. Illustrator Tutorials by sketchpad
18. Illustrator Tutorials by vecpix

CorelDRAW

Corel has had a presence in the design industry and at one time likely held the top spot in the area of vector illustration software. It features a node-edit tool that operates differently on different objects, fit text-to-path, stroke-before-fill, quick fill/stroke color selection palettes, perspective projections, mesh fills and complex gradient fills. Unfortunately, only Windows operating systems are supported.

1. CorelDRAW Product
2. Official CorelDRAW Graphics Suite Tutorials
3. CorelDRAW Tutorials by sketchpad
4. Corel Draw Tutorials by designertoday
5. FREE CorelDRAW Tutorials
6. Corel Draw Tutorial Producing a logo and short publication with Corel Draw.
7. CorelDraw 101 Tutorials by webreference
8. CorelDRAW by corelhouse.com Tutorials and Graphics
9. GrafX Tutorials
10. Coreldraw Video Tutorials
11. Tutorio - CorelDraw
12. Vectorials Tutorials
13. CorelDraw Tutorials Free Tutorials
14. VecPix Tutorials
15. Coreldraw Tutorials

Xara Xtreme

Xara Xtreme is notable for its usability and fast renderer. And also for being among the first vector graphics software products to provide a fully anti-aliased display, advanced gradient fill, and transparency tools, features now common to many vector graphics editors.

1. Xara Xtreme
2. Official Video tutorials
3. Xara Xtreme hints and tips
4. Xara Xtreme Tutorials by designertoday
5. Xara Xtreme 5 Tutorial and Example Files
6. Xara Xtreme/Xtreme Pro Tutorials

InkScape

Inkscape supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.) and great care is taken in designing a streamlined interface. Unlike Illustrator, Inkscape is easy on the system resources and runs nicely on just about any system.

1. Inkscape
2. Inkscape Guide
3. Inkscape Tutorials
4. Inkscape Forum
5. Inkscape Manual / Guide
6. Inkscape Tutorials from Beginner to Advanced
7. Tutorials for InkScape by pixel2life
8. 35 Tutorials to create amazing Vector Graphics using Inkscape
9. Introduction to Inkscape interface
10. Video Tutorials by heathenx
11. Inkscape Tutorials by Sagar Shastry

Other programs

• Raven Online Vector Editor
• List of vector graphics editors

Logo file formats

It's almost impossible to discuss graphic file formats without first establishing an understanding of the differences between the two major graphic types: bitmap (raster) and vector images and file formats. Vector-based images are scalable, editable images which provide graphic designers with unparalleled freedom in illustration and design.

• Image file formats
• Vector graphics The first, and most important logo format you’ll need is a vector file!
• Raster graphics

Typography & Fonts

As a designer, your job is to find a suitable font for the purpose - you will make decisions based upon the client, the market, current typographic trends, budget ... Your solution will be a font that ticks all those boxes. If it's Comic Sans, then that's just great.

1. Typography Basics A 20 Minute Intro
2. Typography in LOGOS
3. Type, Typography and Fonts
4. How To Chose The Right Font For Your Logo
5. 10 Common Typography Mistakes
6. How to Choose Fonts A Guide to Choosing Fonts for Graphic Designers
7. How to Choose a Typeface If you work systematically through the options here, you’ll have a winning typeface choice!
8. Letterspacing & Typefaces Logo Design Tips
9. “What Font Should I Use?” Five Principles for Choosing and Using Typefaces
10. Principles for Combining Typefaces A Crash Course in Typography
11. On font pairing in logo design
12. On Choosing Type
13. Making great font combinations 29 principles. You can’t apply all of them at the same time, but ...
14. How To Choose A Font
15. Simple rules for good typography
16. Improve Typography In Your Designs 8 Simple Ways
17. Typography tips for graphic design students
18. Fonts & typography Resources
19. Logo Design Typography: Helvetica
20. 20 Best Fonts For Logo Design
21. 30 Free Fonts Best for Business Logos
22. 50 Best Free Fonts of All Time
23. misprinted type freeware fonts
24. 30 Top Free Fonts From 2010
25. The Best Free Fonts Of All Time
26. WC Free Fonts
27. 21 Most Used Fonts By Professional Designers
28. Great Fonts for Web 2.0
29. Top 87 Fonts A Designer Should Download
30. Typographica Favorite Fonts of 2005
31. Typographica Favorite Fonts of 2008
32. SimplytheBest Fonts
33. Download fonts | dafont.com
34. FontShop | Free Fonts
35. Creamundo 9800 Free Fonts
36. Font Squirrel Handpicked free fonts for graphic designers with commercial-use licenses.
37. Neat Fonts

Typography Resources

1. History of typography (4 parts, this is just the first one)
2. Planet typography - Online resources on typefaces and typography
3. Typeface Classification by Adobe
4. 50 Helpful Typography Tools And Resources
5. Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Typeface
6. Combining Typefaces Four Ways to Mix Fonts
7. Typography Glossary This page provides an extensive glossary of terms frequently used in the type world.
8. Practical guide to Web Typography
9. Typography Resources
10. TypeDeck All Things Typographic
11. Typographica a journal of typography featuring news, observations, ...
12. Typedia A Shared Encyclopedia of Typefaces
13. Great Fonts for Web 2.0
14. Top 10 things that you can do to manage your fonts better

Online font tools

1. What The Font Seen a font in use and want to know what it is?
2. Identifont The largest independent directory of typefaces on the Internet
3. Typetester Compare fonts for the screen
4. FontBrowser A free online tool to to preview the fonts active on your system
5. Intelligencefont Tune font style online.
6. Fontifier Your own handwriting on your computer.
7. Font Comparer Compare web fonts
8. FontStruct Build, Share, Download Fonts
9. Create Your Own Font

Free Font Tools

1. AMP Font Viewer
2. Font Xplorer
3. Free&Easy Font Viewer
4. FontForge An outline font editor that lets you create your own postscript, truetype, ...
5. Font Frenzy FontFrenzy tames the frenzy of fonts that can clutter and slow down Windows.
6. FastFontSet Allows you to select the fonts for your needs.
7. Font Matcher
8. The Font Thing For managing TrueType fonts in Windows.

Commercial Font Tools

1. FontExplorer X Professional font management software
2. Suitcase A professional font manager for Mac and Windows
3. Typograf font manager
4. FontCreator font editor
5. FontAgent

Colors

Of all the forms of non-verbal communication, color is the most instantaneous method of conveying messages and meanings. The subliminal messages we get from color shape our thoughts.
It’s important for us as designers to use color appropriately and understand the meaning behind the colors we choose.

1. Colours and Colour Effect The Big Colour-Guide
2. Color Harmony in Logos Color plays a crucial role in the message and mood a logo communicates.
3. COLOURlovers Color Trends & Palettes. Share Your Color Ideas & Inspiration.
4. The use of colour What colours signify, and how to find colours that fit with each other.
5. Color Theory Basics Color Theory is a set of principles used to create harmonious color combinations.
6. What does Color Mean?
7. Color Experience
8. Tips for Color Use in Logos
9. Choosing color combinations Tips on creating your next color palette.
10. The RGB Code The Mysteries of Color Revealed
11. Color in Motion
12. Color Schemer Color Scheme Gallery
13. Color combinations Choosing the right color combination is vital for any design ...
14. Color Combo Library This combo library provides a convenient way to search color schemes.
15. PANTONE Color Suffix differences: C, CV, CVC, CVU, PC, EC
16. Color Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology
17. Spot & Process Colors
18. How To Get Spot Color In A Process Color Print Job

Free Desktop Color Tools

• ColorPic a desktop color picker software
• Color Cop a free multi-purpose color picker
• Color Schemer ColorPix ColorPix is a useful little color picker that grabs the pixel under your mouse and transforms it into a number of different color formats.

Free Online Color Tools

1. Color Schemer Galleria a free dashboard widget that allows you to browse all of the schemes in the ColorSchemer Gallery.
2. Aviary Toucan It gives you the features you need to inject color into your creative process.
3. Kuler Explore, create and share color themes
4. ColoRotate A 3D tool for viewing and editing colors.
5. Color Explorer Tools for working with digital colors
6. ColorMunki
7. Genopal Create harmonious colour schemes.
8. Color Hunter Color palettes made from images
9. Pictaculous Upload your image - get a color palette!
10. colr.org Play with colors and color schemes.
11. ColorSuckr Create color schemes based on photos for use in your artwork & designs
12. ColorJack Color Theory Visualizer
13. 4096 Color Wheel helps you create harmonious color schemes
14. Color conversion (RGB/CMYK/HSV/HSL/YUV/YIC)
15. Color Schemer
16. ColorBlender online tool for color matching and palette design
17. Color Scheme Designer
18. Colorspire Color Harmonies tool. Create Color Schemes, Test Color Combinations.
19. Color Combo Tester A web color combinations testing tool
20. Color Picker Color Picker for website use.
21. Advanced Javascript color picker for website use

Logo Design / Branding Reviews

• Reviews - Noteworthy identity work
• Brand New Opinions on Corporate and Brand Identity Work
• Identityworks Also Noted Identities
• Identityworks: Also Noted Identities For graphic designers and all who love logos.
• Logoblink
• creativebits Critique
• Logo Of The Day Logo Research and Review, on the daily basis.

Creativity and Innovation

How can we shake up our thinking patterns? This section shows a wide range of techniques which can help you generate creative solutions to your problems.

1. 10 Ways to Boost Your Creativity
2. How to Improve Creativity
3. How to Boost Your Creativity 20 Tips from Psychology for Boosting Creativity
4. Boost Creativity 7 Unusual Psychological Techniques
5. How To Boost Your Creativity For graphic designers
6. 10 Steps for Boosting Creativity
7. An Easy Way to Increase Creativity Why thinking about distant things can make us more creative.
8. Creativity Prompt A Blog Designed to Boost Your Creativity
9. How The Creative Process Works
10. Unlocking Your Imagination
11. How to Be Creative
12. Creativity and Rebellion Why They Go Hand-in-Hand
13. Courage and Creating
14. Identity and Creating
15. Inspire Me Thursday Self Help Blog, Self Improvement, Inspiration Spirituality.
16. All at Once Gives steps for developing personal creativity
17. Think Like a Genius and Its Qualities
18. Mycoted Creativity, Innovation, Tools, Techniques, ...
19. Overcoming Artist's Block
20. MAX your creativity
21. Creativity: Why Bother? 10 Benefits of Expressing Your Creativity

Logo Ideas & Portfolios

Need an inspiration? There is nothing wrong to see other designers' work and portfolios.
Here you can find most inspiring logos and talented logo designers.

1. Carbonmade Logo design portfolios
2. LogoGala Logo inspiration, insight to the logo design process
3. Logospire Logo inspiration gallery
4. LogoSauce Logo inspiration
5. lo8os Logo Inspiration
6. Creattica Great logo and brand design showcased.
7. LogoPond Logo Inspiration
8. LogoLounge
9. Logo portfolio Our portfolio of logo designs
10. deviantART Logos & Logotypes
11. Behance
12. Logos with a meaning
13. Inspiration, imitation or innovation how do designers create unique identities?
14. Logo Faves Logo Inspiration Gallery
15. Identity Archives Project A keyword-searchable database of logos and brand identity designs.

Logo Design Awards & Contests

Logo design awards & contests,... Show your work.

1. Mediabistro Logo Awards
2. The European Logo Design Annual
3. American Design Awards
4. Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award
5. WOLDA The worldwide logo design annual
6. Brands of the World Logo Awards
7. Graphic Design Competitions
8. HOW Logo Design Awards

Famous Logo Designers

Learning from the best. Here are the most notable graphic and logo designers in history. Some of them are not among us today but their masterpieces are eternal.

1. Iconic Logo Designers An inspiring collection of graphic design talent.
2. Saul Bass
3. Paul Rand
4. Lindon Leader The Man Behind The FedEx Logo
5. Ivan Chermayeff
6. Tom Geismar
7. Joe Finocchiaro
8. Raymond Loewy
9. Herbert Lubalin
10. Otl Aicher An Expanded, Abridged Story
11. Alan Fletcher Fifty years of graphic work
12. Steff Geissbuhler
13. Milton Glaser

Books on Logos

And finally, here`s a great selection of reading material.

1. Logo An awesome showcase of the best logo designs, shown in black and white.
2. Identity Crisis 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities into Successful Brands
3. Logo Savvy Top Brand Design Firms Share their Naming and Identity Strategies
4. Marks of Excellence The History and Taxonomy of Trademarks
5. LogoLounge Book 6 2,000 totally new logos from designers worldwide plus articles on inspiring identity projects
6. Really Good Logos Explained Top Design Professionals Critique 500 Logos and Explain What Makes Them Work
7. Logology
8. The Secret Life of Logos Behind the Design of 80 Great Logos
9. The Little Book of Logo Recipes Successful Designs and How to Create Them
10. How to Design Logos, Symbols and Icons 24 Internationally Renowned Studios Reveal How They Develop Trademarks for Print and New Media
11. Color Management for Logos A Comprehensive Guide for Graphic Designers
12. Logo-Art Innovation in Logo Design
13. No Rules! Logos Radical Design Solutions that Break the Rules
14. Designing Brand Identity A Complete Guide to Creating, Building, and Maintaining Strong Brands
15. Logo Design Workbook A Hands-On Guide to Creating Logos
16. Los Logos Assembling the works of designers from around the globe.
17. LogoLounge 3 2,000 International Identities by Leading Designers
18. A Designer's Research Manual Succeed in Design by Knowing Your Clients and What They Really Need (Design Field Guides)
19. Logo Design That Works Secrets for Successful Logo Design
20. American Corporate Identity 2007 More than 950 all–new examples of outstanding creativity
21. Beyond Logos New Definitions fo Corporate Identity (Graphic Design)
22. Designing Corporate Identity
23. Brand.New
24. Big Book of Corporate Identity Design
25. Logo Font & Lettering Bible
26. Tres Logos