5 Things a Graphic Designer Needs to Remember When Creating a Logo

When it comes to logo design, before starting to design, all graphic designers should be asking themselves these 5 questions.

1. Am I creating this logo in a vector program?

Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard and not knowing it puts the graphic designer at a serious disadvantage.

On the other hand, Inkscape is an open source vector graphics editor that fully supports Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG).

Important tip:

Do not create your logo designs in a raster program like Adobe Photoshop because logos need to be vector images.

2. Is my logo design 100 per cent original?

To avoid potential copyright issues, make sure your logo incorporates 100 per cent original elements. Also, do your research and make sure it doesn’t look too similar to other designers’ work or any other  third-party logo.

The best way to do this is to drag a black and white version of your logo into the Google image search box, which will find images that are similar to your logo.

3. Did I check the font’s license, outline the font and inform the client of the licensing?

• Research your font’s license

  Remember, that a font is the software used to produce the typeface in your logo. Most fonts are “free” for download somewhere, however many of those websites don’t include the font’s licensing information. That’s where you need to do your research.

  If the font’s creator does not explicitly state it’s free for commercial use, you must purchase a license to use a font. Check the license of your font with a simple Google search of: “Your Font Name” + “Foundry” or “Designer”. Then, read the font’s license to see if it’s available for commercial use and if it’s allowed to be modified. If both of the above are true, then it’s safe for you to download and use.

  However, the best way to avoid any licensing issues is to create an original typeface from scratch for your logo. If you’re using an existing typeface, make sure to customise it so that it’s uniquely yours. One way to do this is to significantly modify an existing font for your logo.

• Outline your font

  Now that you’ve picked and/or modified a font for your logo, make sure it’s outlined. It’s important to outline your fonts so the client won’t need the font software installed on their computer to be able to open the file and your logo design will always look as intended.

  In addition, most fonts’ licenses forbid sharing the software, that’s why you need to create outlines and never upload or share a font file with a client.

• Inform the client of licensing

  A designer must always link the client to the font’s license, so they can purchase it, if necessary. It’s the client’s responsibility to purchase the font’s license, not the designer’s. Not many fonts’ licenses will allow a design to purchase a font and sublicense it to a client.

  To inform the client of important licensing information, include something like this in the description of your logo design: “Hi! I hope you like this font I’ve chosen for your logo. If you would like to purchase the license for it so that you can trademark it in your logo, you can find the licensing and purchase information at: (link)”.

4. Is the document colour mode set to CMYK?

Since logos are always likely to be printed, working in CMYK colour mode is your best bet. Some designers work in RGB but on the whole it’s easier to convert from CMYK to RGB than it is to convert from RGB to CMYK.

5. Did I save my logo in the correct file formats?

Since logos are used on media such as print and web, designers should always provide the client with these formats:

• AI/SVG
  
  
• EPS
  
  
• JPG
  
  
• PDF
  
  
• PNG

If you provide them with all these necessary formats, the client should not have to ask you for anything else. After you have all the files, put them into a ZIP folder and submit that ZIP file to the client.

SOURCE: 99designs