5 MIND BLOWING Logo Design Tips ✍
TLDRIn this video, the host, Wall, shares five impactful logo design tips that can enhance the design process. The first tip is to flip and reflect your logo to ensure its recognizability from various perspectives. The second tip involves exaggerating negative space to ensure legibility at smaller sizes. The third tip is to use geometric shapes for clean and precise designs, especially in app icons or abstract iconography. The fourth tip encourages designers to sketch 50 ideas within an hour to expand creativity and discover what works best. Lastly, the fifth tip suggests changing your location to break the monotony and stimulate fresh ideas. The video also features a sponsored segment on Squarespace, an online website builder, and offers a discount for viewers.
Takeaways
- 🔄 **Flip and Reflect**: Always flip and reflect your logo design to ensure it is recognizable and visually consistent even when mirrored or inverted.
- 📏 **Exaggerate Negative Space**: When designing logos, especially icons, exaggerate the negative space to ensure the logo is legible and clear even at small sizes.
- 📐 **Use Geometric Shapes**: Employ geometric shapes for a clean and precise logo design, which can be more accurate and easier to work with than freehand drawing.
- ✍️ **Sketch 50 Ideas**: Force yourself to quickly sketch out 50 logo ideas within an hour to expand creativity, identify what doesn't work, and discover new concepts.
- 🏠 **Change Your Location**: Altering your work environment can help break creative blocks by providing a fresh perspective and stimulating new ideas.
- 🧠 **Mind's Perception of Shapes**: The human mind is adept at recognizing shapes, so when flipping a logo design, it can help in evaluating the overall form rather than individual letters.
- 🎨 **Design for Legibility at Small Sizes**: Consider how the logo will appear at smaller sizes, such as app icons or favicons, and ensure it remains readable and impactful.
- 🔍 **Test Concepts**: Test logo concepts by breaking them down to see if they maintain their identity and appeal when manipulated or altered.
- 📈 **Golden Ratio in Logo Design**: Utilize the golden ratio or Fibonacci sequence when creating logos to achieve a visually pleasing and balanced design.
- 🚫 **Avoid Procrastination**: Limiting the time for sketching logo ideas prevents overthinking and encourages rapid, exploratory creativity.
- 🌐 **Sponsor Mention**: The video is sponsored by Squarespace, an online website builder that allows for easy website creation with provided templates and tools.
Q & A
What is the first logo design tip mentioned in the video?
-The first tip is to always flip and reflect your logo design to ensure it remains identifiable and visually appealing when viewed from different angles.
Why is it important to flip a logo design during the creation process?
-Flipping a logo design helps designers to spot potential issues with the design's symmetry and legibility, ensuring it looks good and is recognizable even when viewed in reverse or reflected.
What does the video suggest about testing logo concepts?
-The video suggests that designers should test logo concepts by flipping and breaking them up to see if they can still be identified, which helps in assessing the design's overall effectiveness.
What is the significance of exaggerating negative space in logo design?
-Exaggerating negative space helps to compensate for the positive space, ensuring that the logo remains readable and visually balanced even when scaled down to small sizes like app icons or favicons.
Why should geometric shapes be used when creating an app icon or abstract iconography logo design?
-Geometric shapes are recommended because they are geometrically perfect, which makes it easier and more accurate to create clean and precise logos. They also align well with the principles of the golden ratio or Fibonacci sequence for visually appealing designs.
What is the purpose of drawing 50 ideas or renditions of a logo within an hour?
-The purpose is to expand creativity and to force designers to quickly sketch out ideas without overthinking them. This process can lead to new and innovative design solutions that might not have been considered otherwise.
How can changing your location while working on a logo design be beneficial?
-Changing your location can help to break the monotony and prevent tunnel vision. Working in a different environment can stimulate new ideas and perspectives, which can be particularly helpful when feeling stuck or in need of fresh inspiration.
What is the role of the mind in interpreting the shapes and readability of a logo?
-The mind is adept at piecing together shapes to perceive legibility and flow. When a logo is flipped or reflected, it provides a different perspective on the shapes, allowing designers to better evaluate the design's visual impact.
Why does the video emphasize the importance of not being too protective over initial logo ideas?
-Being overly protective can limit creativity and experimentation. The video encourages designers to generate a large number of ideas quickly to explore a wider range of possibilities and to discover what works best through the process of elimination.
What is the benefit of using the shape builder tool in logo design?
-The shape builder tool allows designers to efficiently combine and delete shapes to create complex logo designs. It helps in achieving geometrically sound designs without the need for manual drawing, which can be less precise.
How does the video suggest using Squarespace for logo designers?
-The video suggests that Squarespace can be used by logo designers to create their own professional websites easily. It offers templates, domain registration, and e-commerce capabilities, making it a one-stop solution for presenting a portfolio and conducting business online.
What is the final piece of advice given in the video for enhancing logo design creativity?
-The final piece of advice is to spend at least an hour working in a different location or room to break the routine and stimulate new ideas. This change of environment can help clear the mind and prevent creative stagnation.
Outlines
🔍 Flipping and Reflecting for Logo Design Clarity
The first paragraph emphasizes the importance of flipping and reflecting a logo design to ensure its recognizability and aesthetic appeal. The speaker explains that while logo design may seem simple due to the clean and straightforward shapes, it is deceptively complex to create. A common mistake among designers is not testing their logo designs by flipping and breaking them up, which helps to identify issues with the design. The speaker recommends flipping script or hand-lettered logos to focus on the shapes rather than the letters, offering a new perspective that can reveal design flaws. An example is given from the speaker's own work, where flipping a design horizontally can help identify areas that need correction.
📏 Exaggerating Negative Space in Logo Design
The second paragraph discusses the concept of exaggerating negative space in logo design, especially for logos that need to be legible at small sizes like app icons or favicons. The speaker explains that when designing on a large screen, it's easy to lose sight of how the logo will appear at a reduced scale. To counteract this, designers should exaggerate the negative space to balance with the positive space. The Nintendo Switch logo is used as an example to illustrate how manipulating negative space can affect the perception of the logo. The key takeaway is to ensure that negative spaces are slightly larger than they might initially appear to be, to maintain legibility at all sizes.
📐 Utilizing Geometric Shapes for Clean Logo Designs
The third paragraph focuses on the use of geometric shapes in creating clean and precise logo designs. The speaker advises against relying solely on the pen tool and instead advocates for the use of geometric shapes, which are perfect and easy to work with. This approach is particularly beneficial when designing abstract or app icons, as it ensures a geometrically sound design. The speaker shares personal techniques, such as using the shape builder tool to refine curves and create complex shapes from basic geometric forms. The emphasis is on maximizing the use of vector design programs like Illustrator to achieve the best results.
✍️ Rapid Prototyping with 50 Logo Ideas
The fourth paragraph introduces the strategy of forcing oneself to sketch out 50 different logo ideas within an hour. This approach is meant to overcome the protectiveness designers may feel towards their initial ideas and to expand creativity. By setting a time limit, designers are encouraged to quickly iterate through various concepts, which can lead to unexpected and innovative solutions. The speaker highlights that this method helps in identifying what doesn't work, which in turn clarifies what does. The process of sketching out numerous ideas rapidly is likened to sifting through rubbish to find gold, emphasizing the value of quantity over quality in the early stages of the design process.
🌏 Changing Your Environment for Creative Inspiration
The fifth and final paragraph suggests changing one's location as a method to spark creativity and break free from design stagnation. The speaker shares personal experiences of working in different environments, such as coffee shops or bars, to escape the tunnel vision that can come from working in the same space continuously. This change of scenery is said to clear the mind and facilitate the flow of new ideas. The speaker encourages viewers to spend at least an hour working in a different location or room to experience the benefits of this approach. The paragraph concludes with a call to action for viewers to try this tip and observe the impact it has on their design process.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Logo Design
💡Flip and Reflect
💡Negative Space
💡Geometric Shapes
💡Golden Ratio
💡Field Notes
💡Creative Block
💡Vector Program
💡Simplicity
💡Brand Identity
💡Squarespace
Highlights
Always flip and reflect your logo design to ensure it remains identifiable and visually appealing from different perspectives.
Designers often make the mistake of not testing logo concepts thoroughly, including by flipping and breaking them up.
Flipping a script or hand-lettered logo can help designers view the shapes rather than the letters, providing a new perspective.
Exaggerate negative space in logo design to compensate for the positive space, especially for small-scale applications like app icons.
Geometric shapes should be used in logo design for their geometric perfection and ease of use in creating clean logos.
Using geometric shapes can enhance the accuracy and efficiency of the design process, particularly with tools like the shape builder.
Force yourself to draw 50 ideas or renditions of the logo within an hour to expand creativity and avoid overthinking.
The scarcity of time can lead to quick, rough sketches that may spark new ideas and prevent procrastination.
Changing your location while working on a logo can help break creative blocks and foster new ideas by providing a fresh environment.
Working in a different environment can clear the mind and stimulate the flow of ideas, preventing tunnel vision.
Squarespace is an online website builder that allows for easy creation and management of websites with various templates and features.
Using Squarespace, one can have a professional-looking website with a portfolio and contact form without needing advanced web skills.
A special offer is available for 10% off Squarespace with the provided coupon code for new subscribers.
The presenter emphasizes the importance of testing logo designs in various ways, including flipping and reflecting, to ensure legibility and appeal.
Designers are encouraged to experiment with negative space to ensure the logo is readable and visually effective at small sizes.
The golden ratio and Fibonacci sequence can be utilized in logo design to achieve aesthetically pleasing and balanced shapes.
Field notes and journals can be useful tools for quickly sketching and iterating on logo ideas within a limited time frame.
The presenter suggests that sometimes leaving the comfort of one's office and working in a new location can significantly boost creativity.