Logo Design

More sample logos here

Your logo is a visual representation of everything your company stands for. Think of McDonald's golden arches or the Nike swoosh-these two impressive logos embody these companies well. But many companies still skimp on developing this key identity piece.Logo Types
There are basically three kinds of logos. Font-based logos consist primarily of a type treatment. The logos of IBM, Microsoft and Sony, for instance, use type treatments with a twist that makes them distinctive. Then there are logos that literally illustrate what a company does, such as when a house-painting company uses an illustration of a brush in its logo. And finally, there are abstract graphic symbols-such as Nike's swoosh-that become linked to a company's brand.

Getting started

• Look at the logos of other businesses in your industry.
• Make it clean and functional. Your logo should work as well on a business card as on the side of a truck. A good logo should be scalable, easy to reproduce, memorable and distinctive.
• Your business name will affect your logo design. If your business name is "D.C. Jewelers," you may wish to use a classy, serif font to accent the letters (especially if your name features initials). For a company called "Lightning Bolt Printing," the logo might feature some creative implementation of-you guessed it-a lightning bolt.
• Don't use clip art. However tempting it may be, clip art can be copied too easily. Not only will original art make a more impressive statement about your company, but it'll set your business apart from others.

Grading: (qualities of a good logo)

Basically each logo is worth 6 points. One point for each of the following criteria. This assignment is worth 50 pts total (6 pts per logo).

• Commitment – Was time spent designing logos, or were they just "churned out?" (2 pts)
• Originality – Are your ideas your own. If you copied your idea, did you change it enough to make it your own work? (2 pt)
• Skill – Do your designs show that you used the software to it’s full potential, or could you have done the same work with a crayon and brown paper bag? (2 pts)
• Viewer impact - is it attractive, interesting, informative? Do I want to look at it? Is it visually pleasing, or intentionally disturbing? Does it "work?" (2 pts)
• Color & Black Works well in color and black and white
• Presentation- Are logos arranged and presented professionally (1 pt)