It is not the case that a logo will cost an extra 50$ and is just a matter of spelling out the company name in an attractive typeface. I did the logo above for a client who wanted a simple, modern and dependable characteristics displayed through the logo for his communications company.

So, instead of writing about what makes a good logo I’m going to give a few tips on how to use Adobe Illustrator to put together a logo.

Why should you create a logo with vector graphics?

Vectors consist of points, lines, and curves which, when combined, can form complex objects. Whereas bitmap or raster graphics (eg. JPGs) are composed of pixels that contain specific color information. When enlarged, bitmaps pixelate. Whereas vectors will scale up or down without loss of quality or sharpness. So the same vector logo file looks as great on a business card as on a billboard­.

So, with logos, it’s vector, vector, vector all the way.

Using Adobe Illustrator to Snap to Point

You can use many different packages to handle and create vectors. My choice of software for doing this is Adobe Illustrator. Whether you have sketched the logo by hand on paper first or whether you are creating the logo from scratch in Illustrator, it’s important to make sure you have Illustrator’s Snap to Point feature running. Snap to Point allows you, when dragging objects, to align an anchor point exactly with another anchor points (anchor points are the beginnings and ends of paths or lines).

So the first thing you must do in Illustrator is to go into Preferences… and choose Selection & Anchor Display and make sure that Snap to Point is checked with a value like 2 px set.

The screenshot on the left above shows the plus sign being dragged by one of the anchor points. The cursor (as we are using the Selection Tool (V) to move the object), is a black arrowhead with a white outline. When the arrowhead is precisely on top of another anchor point while dragging it will turn white with a black outline. At this moment, you know if you let go of the object it will land exactly where you want it to be.

So grabbing objects by anchor points and using Snap to Point to place them in precisely defined positioned is crucial to creating logos in Illustrator.

Viewing and Hiding the Bounding Box in Adobe Illustrator

One of the problems you can face whilst moving objects by a corner anchor point is inadvertently re-sizing the object!

In the image above you can see an object without (left) and with (right) a Bounding Box. The Bounding Box is an extra line around an object with eight white handles which can be using for scaling. It’s very handy sometimes but other times it just gets in the way. To get rid of the Bounding Box, simply go View > Hide Bounding Box or Cmd/Ctrl-Shift-B.

Converting text to outlines in Adobe Illustrator

While doing logos it’s fairly usual that you type out the company’s name in a typeface close to how you want it to look (in this case Dax) and then edit the letters separately. To do this, with the type selected by the Selection Tool (V), go Type > Create Outlines or Cmd/Ctrl-Shift-O. Follow this up with a Cmd/Ctrl-Shift-G or Object > Ungroup to ungroup the letters.

Lining up objects in Adobe Illustrator

Fairly often, when designing logos, you will want to get certain letters to line up. I do this by using the Control Palette which is usually beneath the main menu. When two or more objects or groups of objects are selected by the Selection Tool (V) the Space and Align icons appear.

The use and look of these icons are exactly the same in Photoshop and very intuitive. I use them all the time.

What do you think?

Do you use Illustrator to design or to create logos? What methods do you find yourself using again and again?

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

After I had designed a vector logo for a client, I was asked to web 2.0-ify it.

This is what I did. The “Toby Beresford” and the cogs are on separate layers in Photoshop. Individually I set the Layer Styles of Gradient Overlay and Bevel and Emboss.

The Gradient Overlays are the same on both layers. I picked a light blue colour for my background colour and a dark blue colour for my foreground colour and selected them in the Gradient pull down menu in the Layer Styles pop-up box.

In the same pop-up box, but with the Bevel and Emboss style selected, I played around with Depth, Size and Soften, as well as the opacities of the highlights and shadows until I got the desired effect on both the elements of the logo.

Lastly I created a shiny table top reflection effect using the Free Transform tool.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

The best kind of logo, in my opinion, is one which relies on an image or shape to convey the company or brand. I would call it archetypal communication.

Above is an amalgam of five of the most famous of such symbols (actually four, the fifth is from a text logo!), can you spot where they’re from? Answers in comments, please.

One of a graphic designer’s most sacred unwritten rules is to not misrepresent or distort a company’s logo in anyway. Whoopse! Well, kids, don’t try this at home!

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

I find it better to start off with Adobe Illustrator using only one colour as this is the most simple form the logo will take and if it looks good like this – large and small – it’ll look good after any treatment or in any context.

This first one is with Helvetica Neue. I told myself ages ago I would never use this typeface because everyone else does all the time. Overlapping the characters and having the colour multiply in the intersecting areas is an effect I like – didn’t quite work here though.

I went for VAG Rounded for this one. I doctored the y because I liked the idea of the descender come from the middle of the letter. I quite liked having the ascenders and descenders extended to differing lengths.

This was based on a free Larabie typeface called Eden Mills. The moment I saw the typeface I said; “This is it!” The client said; “I’m not a vulcan.” More Larabie free fonts.

This one was based on a retro typeface, Bauhaus heavy, which can look modern given the correct treatment. A very distinctive y which I like.

Another Larabie typeface was used here called Forgotten Futurist. I messed around with this one alot and I think it’s my favourite.

I thought I’d have to do one logo with an icon or symbol. What icon could I use for applications? I went for a cog thing.

Here’s a question for everyone – graphic designer and layperson – which one did the client go for?

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

The above picture is made from 17 logos of the most famous brands in the world.

The question is very simple: which letter comes from which logo? Please leave your answers in the comments section of this post.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

You may wonder … Great idea from Graphic Design Blog for a design experiment. Designers were asked to quickly sketch or produce logo ideas for a couple of made-up companies “Caffeine Rush” being one of them. Here’s my interpretation. I can’t wait to see if someone has come up with exactly the same thing!

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.