Logo Analogy

PRINCIPLES

National Flag

If the president of your country messages you and says: “Hey! I think that you are the perfect designer for us. We need you to redesign our national flag.” What in the world can you do?

In my perspective, a flag is the logo of a country. Its mission is to identify a region. If you look closely, the flag designs are very simple. They use colors, geometric shapes, and illustrations to differentiate one place from another.

If you see a red dot on a white background you will immediately think of Japan. If you see red and white strokes and next to it there are some stars on top of a blue background, you will know it is the USA’s flag. And you know it’s Switzerland when you see a white cross on a red background. Transform them to black and white, you will recognize them too.

The flags are designed in a way that is very easy to recognize. They are unique and simple, just how a logo should be. When you are designing a logo, you should have in mind that the design you are crafting, will be seen by millions of people. Your mission as a designer is to make it easy for the viewer and let them associate a logo with a brand.

The secret is to make the logo different from the others, by using simple forms and keeping the core. We will look into these aspects later on. For now, you just need to remember the concept of “identification”.

A logo is for identification. It is the first thing someone sees from a brand, and your mission as a designer is to make it distinguishable.

Nazis

Do you remember how the Nazi symbol look like? It’s the black swastika on a white circle on top of a red background. You may not like what it represents and the influence it has spread in history. But you cannot deny the feelings it created in the past.

This symbol can be seen as a logo, and it is displayed in flags and on military clothing. We can’t even imagine the fear it provoked in some people and the patriotic feeling it ignited in others in the past, just by looking at it.

I do believe that a logo is capable of carrying feelings. Of course, it depends on the branding of each company, the marketing, the philosophy, and other variables. However, it is the mission of a designer to be able to gather all the information a brand wants to transmit and deliver it to the viewer in the form of a symbol.

We will be looking at the execution part in the next section. For now, I’ll limit it to say that a logo must be meaningful because you are creating a visual element that brings together a group of people, those people will call their tribe “X” and will use your design as their visual representation.

A logo can represent tribes, carry history, and provoke feelings. Your mission as a designer is to make it meaningful by understanding the brand’s values and placing them into the design.

8 A White Tee

In this era, a brand’s logo is displayed everywhere, and you must know how a logo will look in all sorts of places. Some companies will have their logo printed on hats, T-shirts, mugs… On all sorts of merchandising that not only a company’s staff use but also their audience.

Think of Nike’s logo on a white shirt and how much people love it. You will be creating a logo that will add extra value to a blank space.

Logo design is not about the looks, but sometimes it does help. Depending on the situation, you will have to create a more visually appealing design. No one would like to wear a shirt with an ugly logo on it, they will prefer wearing a white tee. Change their preference with design, making them even accepting to pay extra money for it.

A logo can add extra value to an object, your mission as a designer is to make it possible by creating a design that is visually appealing to the user.

10 Eating Pizza With Chopsticks

A while ago, I saw a clip where a guy was cutting pizza with chopsticks, then he picked the slice and started to eat while still holding it with the chopsticks. I thought “Wow, he is a genius!” and tried it the next time I ordered a pizza. Surprisingly, it worked perfectly!

Chopsticks are just two wooden bars and if you learn how to use them correctly, you will realize that they can replace anything but a spoon. It can be used as a fork, as a knife, as a spike, as tweezers… Imagine how bulky it feels to have all the cutlery set on the dining table compared to a pair of chopsticks.

I am sure that you have heard the phrase “Keep it simple”. It perfectly applies to logo design, because simple things are the ones that work best. Imagine that the Citibank logo had buildings on the background to represent the city, a coin in the foreground to represent the money, and a fancy typeface to make it eye-catching. Hell yeah! It would perfectly transmit Citibank’s message… But in a disastrous way.

Instead, write down the most important value or values and find the minimal way to represent them. In the future chapter “Hangman” in the Production section, I explain the technique I use to find the optimal results of simple logo designs.

The Citibank logo has an arc that joins both letters “i” and it symbolizes an umbrella that represents protection and security. You can read more about the story of the logo by Paula Scher online.

A logo should be simple. Your mission as a designer is to keep the main things, the main things.

12 Dentists

In 2018 I moved to Madrid, the capital of Spain. It was a completely different place compared to the city I lived in. It is a big city, and one has a lot of options to choose from, for anything. For example, once, I had dental problems so I searched for dentists near my area on Google. It appeared more than 10 local dentists, all under 1km. The one with a purple logo caught my eyes, and it had a lot of good reviews too, so I decided to give it a try.

The funny thing is that two years later I needed to go to the dentist again, but I couldn’t remember the dentist’s name. So I searched for local dentists near my area on Google for the second time. That purple logo popped out and I remembered instantly which one was the one that I went to. To date, I still don’t remember the dentist’s name, and neither is the logo illustrating. However, I have a raw idea of the shape of the mark and that unforgettable purple colour.

Let’s play a game: Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox. What is the first thing you thought when you read these words? If I am not mistaken, it is their logos or desktop icons. We are humans and it is natural for us to associate a concept with an image. The same applies to the other brands. If I say McDonald’s, you will think of the yellow M. See?

When you are designing a logo, you should know that what you are creating will be the first thing the viewers will see from a brand, and the first thing they will think of while trying to remember its name. You will need to create a logo that is easy to remember, different from the others, and remarkable.

A logo is the first thing a client remembers from a company. Your mission as a designer is to make it memory-friendly.

14 The Tiger And The Cat

Lions, tigers, and jaguars are felines. Cats are felines too. Depending on the context you see the things, two similar objects can be completely different. I am not saying that if you bring a tiger to your home, it will be a cat. But if you take a domestic cat to the desert, it would look like a wild sand cat.

Every day I see comments on my colleagues’ Instagram feed and in my own posts which say something like: “That logo looks like the one from X”. It can be very heartbreaking, especially if you are not very confident in your design skills, or you don’t have enough experience. In my case, I convince myself that it doesn’t matter, I know that coincidences can appear, and if I didn’t find that similar logo during my design process, it is because that company belongs to a market that is so far away from my client’s. We both designed a feline, but we are in different habitats, so he’s the tiger and I am the cat.

I finished a restaurant identity design project called Sakai. The logo seemed to have real similarities with an Indian TV spot logo. My client is a Japanese restaurant in London and people were complaining about its similarities with an old logo from a whole other industry from a country that is thousands of kilometers away. My client’s public target has nothing to do with that TV spot and will probably never have contact with it. Neither that TV spot with us.

As a designer, you should pursue uniqueness. But when unwanted coincidences arrive, you must take into consideration a lot of variables. You will need to study how it will affect the business and decide whether to redesign a logo or not.

A logo should be unique but sometimes it will have difficulties to be so. Your mission as a designer is to study it, find the perfect balance and decide the direction of the design based on logical analysis.

16 Lego

As I was window shopping in, I walked across a Lego shop. The establishment had a very peculiar environment, it was very playful and almost everything was constructed by legos. Including the Lego’s logo was built with them. This inspired me to think, what if all logos were built out of lego pieces? If that was the case, we would be able to construct and deconstruct the logos, play with their shapes and make infinite variations out of a logo.

Let’s use the Disney logo as an example. Imagine that each element of the logo is a lego block, and you have to disassemble the whole piece. You start by removing the castle, leaving the word “Walt Disney” on its own. Then, you remove every letter one by one, leaving only the letter D. Somehow, you still can recognize it as the Disney Logo.

In design, it is called responsiveness. This is the ability of the logo to adapt at different scales. On giant billboards, we can display the full version of a logo, and at tiny sizes, we must use the minimal expression of it.

When you are designing a logo, visualize it as if it was built by separated pieces of lego. This small technique will help you while you are starting a new idea because you are going to sketch small and simple elements instead of complex forms. And it will also help you to discover which elements of the full logo are the most representative.

A logo will be used on big and small scales. Your mission as a designer is to design a scalable logo that can adapt to any space.

18 The Beauty And The Beast

If you had to choose someone to be your partner for life, who would you choose? The unloyal good-looking person or the loyal but not so good-looking one? Everybody has their own personal interests, I would choose the second option. The same applies to a business.

Every company has to make the logically right decision and not the emotional one. When you are designing a logo, you want to make the correct logo for a company and not the most beautiful one. “Design without strategy is art.”

For example, once, I had designed a beautiful logo for a dentist called Dental Whale. The logo I first designed was a tooth with a whale’s tail inside, created by the negative space. When I posted it on Instagram, people loved it and many big pages reposted it. The feedback I got from the public was incredible. The only issue I had was with my client’s public target. The client is a small local business wanting to upgrade their image, but not expecting to go bigger, as it is well sustained by their loyal clients: elder people. My clients were happy with the result, but when they first showed the logo to their audience, their clients couldn’t see the negative space inside the tooth. The reaction was the complete opposite, they thought it was a broken tooth, which created a major negative connotation. Then, I had to change the whole identity design.

Through this story, we can learn that the correct design direction is the one that meets the client's needs and goals. Not the beautiful one.

A logo should go along with everything from a business. Your mission as a designer is to design an effective logo that works in and for the company. Prioritize effectiveness before aesthetics.

20 Banana

What if you were going to design a logo for the next leading mobile phone company called “Banana”? What would be your first logo idea? A minimalistic banana? I guess that would be the option most brands would go for if their business is somehow related to it.

In this part I want you to remember one word: creativity. This is the most valuable resource you can offer as a designer. If there are millions of similar logos, what it is lacking is not uniqueness, it is creativity.

As a designer, you must think outside the box. You are not artificial intelligence that offers a series of different logos and variations based on a few keywords like vintage, technology, and serious. You must use these words as a starting point.

Don’t be limited by a concept that seems narrow, you have to expand the boundaries yourself. For example: don’t just think of making a banana for the banana logo, you can explore more options like the banana peel, the texture, the tree, the habitat, the country. Or you can go even deeper and play with its history, curiosities, and stories.

Sometimes, you must think further than the conceptual.

A logo must be unique. Your mission as a designer is to use your creativity to think outside the box.

22 Stop Sign

There is a Spanish comedian called Álvaro Carmona who does stand-up shows of very specific themes from real life. On one of his shows, he talked about traffic signs, and there was one very remarkable idea that he pointed out, which says: “We should make the stop signs with the word “STOP” so small that the drivers should stop in order to read what the sign says.

Of course, this will not happen in real life. However, it is a great introduction to the legibility of logo designs. Legibility is how easily distinguishable the letters in a typeface or font are from one another. Variables like size and colour contrast can also affect the legibility of a logo.

I had asked on my social media if a logo should be readable and hundreds of designers left their opinions. You can still read all the comments and join the debate on my Instagram, there are so many different points of view and one can learn a lot from them.

For me, a logo that can’t tell you which company it is referring to is a bad logo. As we have seen in previous chapters, a logo should be for identification, and legibility is one of the key properties to achieve it. We should prioritize legibility in the context of proportions, contrast, and identification. The clarity on the logo’s concept idea is a plus, but not the prime objective. But the legibility of a wordmark and monogram is critical, you don’t want a client to misspell the company’s name.

As you can see, in this case, the legibility characteristic depends on the priorities of each company and the type of logo you have opted for.

A logo should identify a brand and legibility can help to accomplish it. Your mission as a designer is to find that sweet spot.

24 Kids And Candies

Kids love candies, but their parents ought to give them the right amount and guide them to eat healthy food. Clients are like our children. We should educate them and bring them to our territory. They have their own taste in design, their strategy for business, and their way to do things. However, they might not always be right. That’s when you should show up, take your role as the expert on the field and guide them towards the correct decision.

A logo is part of the business, not part of the owner. People who haven’t worked with professional designers before or do not have a proper design education, will not find the importance of design, so they tend to mix their personal interests and tastes when judging a design. Especially in logo design, colours and proportions are the most criticized characteristics.

So what should you do? First, make sure you are dealing with a difficult client, not a bad client. The difficult clients will confront your ideas with their thoughts. You should not reject their propositions, but digest them and search for the best solution.

Logo design is all about this. Your client will have their personal favoritism, and you too. That’s why you must leave all personal interests apart from and be purely objective. Logo design is all about the public’s eye, not the client’s, neither yours. However, as a logo designer, you have the knowledge, ability, and resources to come up with the correct logo design and know how to transmit why it is the correct decision to the client. Choose the correct decision, not the favorite.

A logo is what your client’s clients will see. Your mission as a designer is to be purely objective and design the correct logo and guide your client.

26 Youtube Ads

You know those youtube ads at the bottom, that you have to click the “X” to make it disappear? A logo can have that exact effect used wrongly.

Companies love their logos and they display them everywhere they can. Such repetitiveness can create a negative effect on the viewer. Instead of brand presence, the company will be generating an over-saturation of information. This can provoke the viewer to find the company bothering, just like the annoying advertisements on Youtube.

Instead of using the logo to achieve brand presence, use identity elements and good branding. Showing the logo everywhere will just create an overload of information.

A logo is not decoration, place it wisely.

Part 2:

PRODUCTION

30 Salt And Sugar

My favorite chocolate flavor is the one from Lindt with sea salt. I couldn’t believe it the first time I saw this type of chocolate in the store. A salty flavor of chocolate? That’s so weird, how can it even work! Oh god, I was so wrong, because that chocolate is delicious. The small pieces of sea salt blend in so well with the sweet flavor of chocolate. When you take a bite you can feel a soft chocolate texture, you can taste the 75% of cocoa, and then, only sometimes, a small crunch of salt.

You don’t get the same result by mixing salt and sugar directly, that will taste horrible. The same applies to logo design. Not because you used grids to construct, used the golden ratio to get the proportions, added a negative space detail, applied shadows and gradients, a logo will look good. That is too much. You’re trying to portray every trick you know in one only piece, but logo designing is not about that. It’s about only using the needed, in order to get the best result. Maybe you don’t need the golden proportion, maybe it looks great without shadows or gradients. Maybe only the kerning of the wordmark had to be adjusted.

The next time you design a logo, make sure to use the techniques you know in a clever way. Don’t mix salt and sugar, elaborate a good sea salt chocolate bar.

Designing a logo is like cooking, you try to give the best out of you in the kitchen but the result is an over-cooked steak.

32 Dollars And Cents

When we have dollars, we ignore the cents. Same with the elements on design. Get rid of the tiny elements. But what are these elements and why should you do that?

These elements can be the tagline, fancy tricks like shadows and bevels, textures, thin strokes that can’t be seen at a small scale, small shapes that can’t be seen at a small scale, and any details with the only purpose of making the logo better looking.

The reason you need to get rid of the small details are:

- Avoids unnecessary distractions and possible misunderstandings, since too much information can provoke a misleading idea and bury the core message.

- When a logo is reduced into the smallest spaces, the details won’t be seen, so there is no point in making it in the first place.

You’ll need to know this for the next page’s information.

34 Peeling The Flower

How many petals does a flower need to have to seem like a complete flower? Imagine that you have a rose in your hand, and you start removing the petals one by one. When you remove the 10% of the petals, it still looks like a complete flower, the same as when you remove 20% and 30%. But somewhere between 40% and 50%, you start noticing that something doesn’t look good. Obviously, if you remove 75% of the petals, you can clearly notice there is something missing.

You can do this exercise anytime and try to find the minimum amount of petals a rose should have in order to look like a complete rose. I call this exercise: “Find the sweet point game”.

In logo design, the sweet point is the minimum elements needed in order to transmit what the logo is designed for. Don’t mix up the terms “minimum elements” with “minimalism” because every logo should be simple, not minimalistic. Simplicity is what we should aim for as we have talked about in previous chapters and minimalism is a trend, a style that can only work in specific situations.

Pick any logo you have designed and start removing elements that don’t add any important information. The first things you should remove are the ones we have said on the previous page.

Of course, you will have to filter the tips I am telling you based on the work you are on. Maybe you are designing a mascot logo, and it will need extra details or you are designing a vintage style logo and in the complete version it will need some grunge texture.

You will have to make smart design choices, but I want you to remember to play the “Find the sweet point game” every time you think you have finished a logo design.

36 Zebras

Every logo should work in black and white, like zebras, period.

38 Black Jeans

Ever wondered why women like wearing black jeans? It is because it makes the legs look thinner. The opposite effect happens with white trousers, which make the legs look fatter. It’s not magic, it is just an optical illusion.

In logos, we should keep this visual illusion in mind, and create different variations manually. To the eye, a logo will appear different when the colours are inverted. Just as we have mentioned earlier, black strokes will look thinner than white ones. At bigger scales, this won’t be noticed, but at small scales, will be a problem.

What is to do it manually? It means that you will have to modify the thickness and position yourself, and not just invert the colours of the logo for each necessary variation. Yes, it is some extra boring minutes, but it is what you will have to do in order to hand in the best work for your client.

40 Eyes

Have extra attention while you are designing negative space logos because when you invert the colours, the concept and the meaning of the logo can be totally changed. For example, if you are designing a logo that represents an eye, the pupil must always be black and the sclera always white, because it doesn’t look like an eye the other way round.

Have even more extra attention while you design logos with shades, especially for those illustration logos. If you invert the colours, sometimes it will look off. You will have to find a way to fix that problem, and generally, you will have to make a completely different version of the inverted coloured one.

This is an eye This are circles

42 Hangman

We have learned to play the “Find the sweet point game”, now it’s the turn of Hangman.

It follows the same idea, but the other way round. Instead of removing the unnecessary elements, this exercise consists of adding the elements one by one and stopping until the message is clear enough. In hangman, we have blank spaces and add letter by letter when these are guessed correctly, and the answer is shouted out loud when someone thinks he has guessed it.

Now, try to play the hangman game from the left side. In which step would you have a slight idea of what the word is? Generally, it is in the third one, but maybe you had brave guesses already on step two. On step four, everyone would have shouted “Hello!” being sure it is the correct answer.

If these steps were how obvious a logo’s concept is, generally it should be right between steps three and four. A logo mustn’t be too evident (unless it is a wordmark) and neither too confusing nor unapparent, as it has to be related to the brand.

In order to achieve this, design as if you were playing hangman is a very effective way to go. Sketch down the ideas you’ve got, start adding them together and constantly sketch the possible variations it generates. If two ideas are not enough, add one more, sketch all variants you can think of, and repeat this process. You will come up with dozens of sketches and more often than not, you’ll need to play “Find the sweet point game”.

Again, you will have to make your own decision based on the project you are in. If a wordmark is a way to go, usually it will need to be legible and obvious. Take my advice and apply it smartly.

44 Grandma

Have you ever explained to an elder person how to use a smartphone? If yes, what is their usual reaction?

I have discovered that the elders, like my grandparents, are used to differentiate a phone Application from another by their colours, geometric shapes, and big letters. For example, they name the phone call app as “the green one”, Google’s App as “the G” and Youtube’s App as the red rectangle.

Now let them try to remember what a complex App looks like. I guess they can’t describe it.

This has everything to do with the principles of simplicity, memorability, and responsiveness. Simple designs are the easiest ones to remember, and thanks to the responsiveness, there is a simple version of the logo that represents the brand.

My tip for you on this page is to design everything that even your grandmother can understand. To achieve this, you must use little colour variations and simple geometric shapes.

A logo must be so simple, that it can be described in a few words.

46 The Swoosh

How to measure if a logo is simple enough? In the previous page, I shared how my grandmother had an invented name for each phone application and how she differentiates one from another through this peculiar way. For me, a logo is simple enough when it can be described with one phrase.

An example of a good logo’s description is the red and yellow circles that join together. Can you guess it? It’s MasterCard.

Now try to describe the world's top companies’ logos with less than ten words and you will find how simple it is. Then try to do the same thing for local businesses and you’ll see how hard it is. If it was difficult for you (if you are a designer), imagine how it will be for the general public.

An example of a bad logo’s description is a chef with a green hat and a red jacket holding a coffee cup with steam coming out where it says “coffee bar”. I’m not exaggerating, it is the logo I can see from my window.

So what can you do? Take Nike’s logo as the model to follow when you start the next project. Their logo is the only one I know with an official name: “The Swoosh”. This is very powerful because it makes everyone call it the same way and it is also proof of how simple the logo is. The next time you design a logo, come up with a name for it.

The best way to study and to improve is to go through past works and correct the mistakes one had made. Revise old logo projects you have done and try to give them a name, or describe it in a few words. If you can’t, think and sketch what could you change.

48 You’re Ugly!

The same outfit looks different for different people. There is no magic outfit that will transform you into the most good-looking person. Regardless of how beautiful a dress looks, it will depend on who is wearing it.

You may have read a thing called “colour psychology”, which says that every colour can provoke a specific feeling. For example, red is for taste, yellow for joy, purple for wisdom, and black for elegance. The same occurs with other design elements, rounded corners communicate friendliness and sharpened edges convey a more violent message. These can be accurate to a certain extent, but it isn’t a manifesto. It can be a reference, but not a strict rule.

What if every fast-food chain used the red colour in their logos because it encourages appetite? There is no point in being a logo designer if there is no strategy behind the design.

As a designer, you must make clever decisions based on each situation. Remember this... If you follow the established rules, it will block your creativity. Challenge the established and create your own rules in design.

50 Fish Memory

I always say that we should focus on the most important elements, but the reality is that sometimes it’s difficult to extract the core parts from an object. In this case, I always use a technique that I call “Fish memory”. It consists of looking at something for 7 seconds, then close your eyes for 7 seconds and after that, draw what you remember in only 7 seconds.

This way, you can focus on the critical components. When you close your eyes you’re actually filtering the elements the viewers tend to pass over, and your first sketch is what your designer intuition thinks it’s the principal element.

Practice is key, I encourage you to practice this technique by sketching animals. Start with the most common ones and follow with the most exotic ones. Other recommendations to practice are daily objects, food, buildings, and body parts. Just have fun.

52 Threesome

What is kerning? What you need to remember about the concept of kerning, is the correct adjustment of spacing between the letters.

BAD KERNING LO OKS LIKE THI S.

Got it? If you use a professional typeface to design a wordmark for a logo, kerning issues rarely occur. But when it does, there is no mathematical method to fix it. The best kerning is achieved by the eye as the visual adjustment is for humans and mathematical adjustments are for robots.

The technique to adjust kerning by eye is to do three letters at a time. It will be much easier than adjusting each letter seeing the whole word. You can hide the rest of the letters or create a shape and put it over them. The thing is to focus on just three letters and when you think it is ok, move on to the next group of three.

Just for example, if the word has 6 letters, adjust the kerning by grouping the letters like this:

- 234 - 345 - 456

54 Water Jar

If the previous technique teaches you the theory, this tip will be how to assure that the kerning is good enough. Remember to use it as an instrument to get close to perfect, because there will not be such a thing as perfect kerning.

So now you’re seeing 3 letters at a time. You’re tweaking the distance between these letters, and it is pretty difficult to get the best proportion of this distance, as you don’t have anything else to compare to. When you make the first letter closer to the second one, the distance between the third one and the second one seems too large.

The secret is to start with one and make that proportion the example to follow with the rest. Now imagine that the white space between the letters are empty areas you can pour in water. The volume of water you pour in between two letters should be equal to the volume you can pour in between the following two letters.

Why water? Because the liquid is so fluid that whenever it touches the edges of something, it can flow into other blank spaces, and those spaces must be considered in the kerning adjustment. We can see it through the following visual examples:

C B A

56 Spiderman

When you’ve already spent hours designing the same piece, your eyes and mind get used to it. This is why when you leave a design for a night, the next morning you say: “How could I possibly designed such a horrible thing!”.

In these cases, the best thing is to get up and rest. Go for a walk, listen to music, have a cup of coffee, breathe some fresh air, and get rid of the eye- strain. But if you’re a work addict like me, and want to keep producing, what you have to do is to look at your design from a different angle. Rotate your pc or monitor, or turn your head around, or simply invert the design.

It is such an easy thing that you can apply it right now, but it is also forgettable. So think as if you were Spiderman and is natural to be hanging upside down from the ceiling. Yes, we are the spidermen of logos.

This technique is actually used by artists when drawing portraits and animals. Instead of starting from the head, they start drawing from the legs. The reason for this is because our eyes are familiarised with the subject and your mind auto-completes the possible errors it has. However, when you turn the logo around, you see it from a new perspective which you’re not used to and your brain can’t relate it to any familiar shape. This is how you can be totally objective and find possible inaccuracies you passed by before.

Try it when adjusting the kerning, combine it with the trick you’ve learned on the previous page, and you’ll see that it works every time.

58 Blood In The Snow

How easily can you imagine the image of a blood drop on the snow? The colour contrast in logo design is a powerful technique that fortifies memorability, legibility, and identification.

Imagine a blood drop on the snow, such a vibrant red on top of such pure white. This colour contrast definitely makes the red stand out. You must pursue the maximum contrast possible within the boundaries of uniqueness, and this leads to the main idea of this page.

Don’t just focus on the colour of the logo. Before choosing them, you should have analyzed the market and the company’s nearest competitors. Base your decision on the optimal working results, taking into account the strategic part of colour picking. When everyone goes red, go green. Think wider, if the market was the snow, your logo should be the drop of blood. The best thing you can do is to generate colour contrast on market colours and the logo you have designed, be the highlighted one.

60 Clickbait

One of the most powerful abilities a logo design has is its capacity to show what the designer wants. I always try to find ways to design and apply a logo in a way that it can create the subject of a talk.

The logo I designed for Sakai Japanese restaurant is based on Japan’s red sun. The logo’s mark is almost a circle and uses red as the principal colour. So for some billboards, I placed the icon on top of a white background, followed by the phrase “Welcome to Japan”. The expected reaction is confusion and curiosity. My goal was to attract attention using a simple and effective way. On top of that, it makes the viewer relate to Japan with the restaurant unconsciously, which helped the new brand position itself in the market really fast.

The point is to let you know and encourage you to experiment with the possibilities of how a logo can provoke curiosity, generate questions, create feelings and lead to the direction the designer wants if it’s used in a clever way.

62 Music Notes

Design is nothing without strategy and logos are nothing without identity. When you design a logo, you’re not only designing a symbol but opening the doors of a whole brand’s identity.

Remember the lego analogy? Now is time to take it into action! Torn a logo into pieces, separate every element including the shapes, colours, and concept. Now, shift your mindset and think as if these pieces were music notes and you had to compose a song out of it.

Colours are the lower tones than can be used repeatedly. They are the companion of the higher notes that are in charge of the melody. These high notes are the visual shapes that are created when you fragment a logo.

By combining the fragments alternately, you create a melody, which is a brand’s pattern. A brand can have multiple patterns as a song can have several choruses. A good pattern can always refer back to the original logo because of its similarities and because they share the same core concept.

The typography is just like a song’s lyrics. Sometimes it is not necessary, but when it’s there, it carries the main message. In a song, the musicians play with poetry and meaning. In identity design, we play with the visual part of typography to refer back to the brand as well as to facilitate the reader’s experience.

If we combine these elements, we create a complete composition called brand identity. This is why reframing the perspective by splitting every element on its own helps us in the creation of a brand.

64 Mario Bros

A simple “I don’t like it” can turn down the whole project and your self-esteem. However, there will be times when the project really doesn’t turn out as good as expected and you have to start from scratch, or even lose the trust your client had in you. This is why persistent communication and feedback are needed. We can achieve it by having a clear and strict process.

If you have ever played Nintendo’s Mario Bros you know how time-saving and pleasant it is to have a checkpoint at a high skill demanding level. If there were no checkpoints, and your character dies, you would have to start from the beginning. But how can you apply this in logo design?

Set stages in your logo design process and make your client participate in them. These stages will be our checkpoints. These can be the discovery session, the concept generation, the sketch, the look and feel, and the digitalization. Let the client be aware when you are leaving one phase and passing it to another.

When you have finished the discovery meeting with the client, let them know that your next move will be making mind maps and generating ideas. Check twice with your client that what you have agreed on is correct and you will base your work on what is discussed. Then, show them what your ideas are and pass them on to the next phase, only when they approve it. You will lose the excitement of design presentations and the wow factor when you nail the designs, but you ensure the best results possible and avoid unwanted negative reactions. Moreover, your client will even have a bigger affection for the logo since he has been participating in its craft.

If you encounter the worst scenario again, which is to start everything from scratch, the process got you covered, because you can use the process as a backup and ask the client: “In which stage do you think that your ideas didn’t meet with my understanding?”.

Part 3:

PRESENTATION

68 Groceries

The biggest difference between a design service and the products we buy in a groceries store is the tangibility. Design is something we see but can’t touch, as well as its results on business which we can get but can’t really correlate.

We can resolve part of this problem by packaging your services. Not selling your logo design as a package with a fixed price, but using the correct language.

Leads will come up to you wanting a logo, expecting that it is a digital, intangible product. You have to make it seem like a real-life object. From sketches and digitalization, refer to the logo as your craft, as if you were a blacksmith polishing his sword. This is how you first talk about it when you create it.

When you present it, make it in a way as if you are handing a newborn baby to their parents. You must give advice to your clients on how to use it, how not, when, and where. If you say these, they will give the logo the importance it needs, thus its value.

If you are selling it, talk about it as if it was a tangible product. Use words like packages, files, and corporate material. Sell and present your logo design services as if the client went to the groceries store and came out with a bag full of PNG, JPEG, and SVG files.

70 Breakfast

Breakfast can be as simple as a sandwich. But to stay healthy, you need the whole breakfast pack: a bowl of cereals, milk, a sandwich, and some fruit. Sometimes, what you want is not enough to fulfill what you really need.

There will be clients who will show up in need of a logo. Just a logo. But if you dig deeper, you will find out why they need one, and the reason tends to be because they need “something”, a symbol, to represent their new brand. You clearly know that they don’t just need a logo, but if you agree to that, you know you will be falling into their trap.

When you agree to make “just a logo”, you are underestimating its value. Involuntarily, you are assuming that a logo is only an image that has no effect on a business. You are leaving the judgment to the client’s taste, devaluing the strategic part of a logo.

You are a logo designer, but you don’t just draw logos. What you do is to come up with solutions for business problems in the shape of logos. This is the most important message you have to transmit to your client, that you’re a problem solver, not an order taker.

If you are just ordering taking, sooner or later, the design that you had created will need to be redesigned. And as Ralf Speth says: “If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design”.

72 Real Estate

One of the most influential aspects that changes a logo design presentation is the mock-ups you use. Not only can they bring what is digital to real life, but they can also be a deciding factor whether a client approves a logo proposal or not.

I highly recommend you invest time and money in buying and designing beautiful mock-ups, as much as you would do in real estate. The better investment, the better results.

The selection of the mock-ups is also critical. You must use them in a smart way. The image style, colour, and lighting adjustments should be cohesive with each other. The objects from the mock-ups should be related to the company and better if they are objects that the company will use. There is no point in designing the typical shopping bag if the company you’re working with is all digital.

The number of mock-ups is also a very important factor you should consider. Not too little, not too much. Four mock-ups is a perfect amount, then you can add 2-3 more, showing different angles.

I also recommend you create some mock-ups yourself. You can just take some photos of the objects from the client’s company and then find a clever way to place the logo on them. The office doors and windows are great choices because it makes the mock-up feel personal and familiar, there’s no other thing more powerful than that.

The thing I want you to remember after you go onto the next page is to change your mindset about buying premium mockups and spending time on them. They are a deciding factor if your design proposal is approved or not, thus investing some time and money would totally be beneficial for you.

74 Mirror

Stand up, go to the bathroom, and look at yourself in the mirror. What do you see? You see a designer, not a design. So why do you still feel criticized when someone talks about your design.

You’re you and you make the design. Design is your creation, but it’s not you. One “bad” logo doesn’t determine that you’re a bad designer. You can have ups and downs, good days and bad days. A bad day won’t determine that the rest of your life will be doomed. Got it?

Logo design is like a game, the second you feel too attached to it, you lose. You lose because you’re letting your emotions decide for you, but you already know that a good logo is the one that provides the most effective solution for a business problem.

Be totally objective on your work, and when someone criticizes it, don’t defend yourself. Instead, be analytical and understand their points. Don’t let your ego or your emotions interfere.

76 Edge Of Tomorrow

The biggest mistake a logo designer can make is not presenting the final design or sending a pdf with the explanations.

You could have designed the best logo in the world, but it can be easily rejected because you haven’t finished your work as a designer. In a presentation, you have a direct conversation with the client, so they can ask you anything at the moment. You are losing this golden opportunity if you don’t present the design. The client will have questions, they will try to solve them on their own and come up with conclusions from their side. This translates into rejections and design changes.

Present the logo in a call, conference, or video conference. You will be able to see their reactions and also learn from their expressions were and what exactly they like/hate.

Remember that, with the same client, a second presentation is not likely to happen. Therefore, every presentation of yours can have the same structure, jokes, phrases, and vocabulary. You can use the same script every time!

New clients won’t know. On top of that, you can be constantly learning from the mistakes of past presentations and improve the script every time.

Have you ever seen the movie “Edge of Tomorrow” starring Tom Cruise? Clients won’t know, but you have done this hundreds of times.

78 Speed Art

Are you keen on watching the speeded-up logo design process on Instagram? Well, don’t ever do that in a presentation.

As you already know, clients tend to think that designing a logo is an easy thing. Making it look even simpler won’t help. If you just show how you mess around with the shapes and join them together, clients will think: “Did I pay someone to do that?”. Don’t blame them, it is completely normal since you’re just showing the execution.

Instead, walk them through the logo design process.

The first thing you need to do is to show all the equipment you have used and your workspace. It can be a video or a couple of images of you, while you are working on their project. This helps to make the client relate to the effort and material you need in order to do the work, and not a person and software.

Next, show all your sketches, because the artistic ability is a giant plus on their understanding of complexity. Don’t worry if the sketches are ugly, because a bunch of ugly drawings on paper will look good. On top of that, it will demonstrate your hard work. This is a good time to show a video where you are taking notes, mind maps, ideas, and sketching concepts. Here is where you should record a video and show the speeded-up version to the clients. Physical work during the process is always more impactful than the execution of the final logo in software.

It is this simple to make things look more complex, or at least just how it is. Then, you start the history class, which is explained in the next chapter.

80 History Class

A presentation is more than showing the results, but a recap of what you and your client have discussed and agreed. This is the reason why you should walk them through every stage as if it was a history class.

After showing them your design process, the clients will be hesitant to see the results. Make them wait, because first impressions tend to be bad. When clients have no idea of how their new logo is going to look like, they expect something familiar. So when they see a refreshing and unique logo, the usual reaction you get is skepticism. They will be surprised by how it turned out, and if they are good enough, they will try to understand the why. At this moment, a logo presentation turns into you trying to convince clients of why it is good.

You must flip the order and start with the why and then, finish with the results. This is how a good design presentation should be, and here are some tips you should apply:

Start from the beginning. If you had a discovery session, start with it. Summarize what you and your client have discussed during the discovery session and the understanding of the keywords from both of you. It is critical to always include the client’s participation because you have to make it seem like a group activity, not only yours. In addition, clients won’t disagree with something they have said.

Empathize that you’ve moved on only because your client had approved it, but don’t say it in such an obvious way. Here is an example of how I say it: “Alright! After the keywords we have agreed on, I moved on to the style scapes which you guys had found very interesting. There was a concept that you particularly liked and it is…”

Walk it through phase by phase, build momentum and show them the creation at the end. Apply this presentation method and take your design proposals to the next level.

82 Tracy (Trace It)

After the design is presented and approved, and the deliverables are going to be printed, one of the most common mistakes is to have a font untraced.

Untraced means that a text (a letter, a word, or phrase) still has the font’s properties. Have you ever opened any design file on another computer, but that computer didn’t have the font installed, so it changed automatically to another font? That’s exactly the problem I am talking about.

Some printing companies will warn you if they see that problem. But in the case that they don’t, you must prevent this.

The quickest fix is to trace the text. In Adobe Illustrator, you just have to select the text and press: “Shift + Command (control) + O”. That’s it. If an object has a stroke layer, select the object and go to “Object > Expand”.

These two little tricks will prevent some unwanted problems with printers and your clients. Don’t let it ever occur.

84 Lint Remover

One of the exercises you must do every time before finishing a logo, is to remove all the lint.

What is the fluff of a logo? I call fluff to all those anchor points a shape has which are absolutely unnecessary. These fluffs are created because of the use of shape-builder, path-finder, etc.

Their existence is just an accident. They are so tiny that if we don’t look closer, we won’t see them. They are so unharmful at first that we decide to pass over them. However, they can create some unwanted problems in the future. So it is better to take 2 minutes and get rid of them.

The best way to do it in Adobe Illustrator is by selecting the object, and press “Command (control) + Y” to enter the outline mode. You will clearly see the anchor points, and you’ll just have to hold the pen tool (shortcut is “P”) and left-click on those points.

Just like your favorite clothes, keep your logos clean.

86 Sandwich

We have said that every logo should work in black and white. One of the reasons is that when it works that way, it will look good in any colour. This tip will talk about how to choose the correct colours. It’s not what you’re thinking, it’s not which colours should be chosen, but how.

One thing that you have to keep in mind, is that when you’re designing a logo that will be printed physically, you can make design adjustments so that you will help your client save some money.

Always use 2-3 colours maximum for a logo design. And if one of the secondary colours is a highlight or a shade, reduce the opacity instead of picking a new colour. By reducing the opacity, you’re actually keeping the same colour characteristics. This way, the printer will only have to do the same. By not having a new colour, the printer will not need to add any extra time and resources into that, hence a lot of money will be saved.

Think as if the colours were a sandwich, each layer of colour is a new ingredient, and the more ingredients the more expensive the sandwich will be. You must achieve the same flavour with the least amount of ingredients.

The difference in just a logo may not be that visible, but it is a start. Apply this onto other design assets, and see a tremendous difference. Achieve big differences with small adjustments.

Extra:

FREELANCING

90 Apple Store

“What’s your budget?”, and “How much does it cost?” are the two eternal rivals. It is said that whoever responds to it first, loses. Many mentors and leaders teach why you should ask it first, and how should you do it. I have a particular thought about this topic. When it comes to a serious conversation or a negotiation, asking about the budget just seems unprofessional.

Imagine that you enter an Apple Store to buy an iPhone, and the staff asks you how much money do you got right now. And based on that amount, he will bring out the phones you can afford. How would you feel?

Instead of that, the correct process the staff should follow is to ask you about what kind of phone are you looking for. Questions about how will you use it, any special specifications you would need, specific functions you want, etc. Then will be when he asks about the price range you’re comfortable with, and show you the options according to all your necessities.

See the difference? It’s the same, but with a new story and a different language. The key is to blend in the question with more questions, making it a diagnosis. Instead of throwing out the budget question.

92 Personal Trainer

I used to think that my services are worth more than what the job actually paid. So every time I had this feeling, I thought that all my effort is not worth the project. Hence, I did not put 100% of my energy into these projects. I thought to myself: “When the good project arrives, I will put my 100%”. Guess what, the good project never arrived.

Making good work will bring more good work to you. Making not-so-good work will bring not-so-good work to you. It’s that simple.

Think of yourself as a personal trainer. You help people build and achieve the best body of their lives. Your successful cases will be so proud of themselves that whenever someone asks how they achieved it, they will recommend you.

Now imagine that you didn’t put in the effort. The people you train don’t achieve any results, and some of them even fire you. Those people will not even be asked who they have been trained by. They don’t get that opportunity.

A designer and a personal trainer share something in common. Their results are visible, measurable, and public. Everybody can see it, and they can have an objective opinion about it. This makes your service easily recommendable if you put in your effort and made it good.

This is a reminder for those people who are like me. Put all your energy and passion into every single project you take. If you won’t, just don’t take it. By making great work, you will receive great recommendations and will keep making great work. Your customers will become your best salespeople.

94 Robots

Network. Many introvert designers are afraid of this word because it has the word “socialize” intrinsic in its veins. The earlier you overcome this insecurity, the better. The following tip is for those who have taken this step and are actually trying to network with other people.

To expand your network means to make more friends. It’s that simple. It does not mean to “follow for following” on Linkedin. Neither it means to say “Hi” via text message on other social platforms. It is to create genuine human-to-human connections, as a human, not a robot.

Networking is reaching out expecting nothing in return. It is making real friends who will eventually help you in the future, and vice-versa. Networking is caring about that person. It is helping them because you care, not because if you help them, they will help you.

How to network? Show up whenever they upload something. Leave a genuine compliment about something recent. Give honest feedback about something they have done not so long ago.

Why network? Because those who are in yours, are the people who most likely to give help you, personally and professionally. They will recommend you, they will first think of you when they need something to get done.

96 Go Fishing

This is a tip that few people want to tell you, as it is a taboo subject. After reading this and understanding it, it will be your choice to use it or not. I feel the obligation to share this technique as I know it can help many designers.

If you are not sure about what price range you should charge, or the market value, go fishing. Create a fake profile, and reach out to people in your field. Ask them their prices for something you usually do. Learn from them.

Take this opportunity to learn how they tackle client necessities, working methods, processes, negotiation skills...

Before doing anything, know what are you trying to get from the conversation. You will be wasting someone’s time, the least you can do is to prepare it, and have crystal clear what do you want from it. Prepare your script, follow it, learn from it, don’t extend it, and be educated.

98 Asgard

If you have followed Marvel’s Avengers Saga, you will know that remarkable quote from Thor: “Asgard is not a place. Never was. This could be Asgard. Asgard is where our people stand.” This phrase tells us that the people are the most important thing. Regardless of where we are, we can call our place to the ground where we are standing.

If a potential client comes to you looking for your services, it is mainly because of the work you have published online and past projects. But what makes a client decide to work with you, is you.

You are the reason why clients will choose your services and love you. If you don’t transmit the good vibe and trust, clients will not choose your services, regardless of the reputation your personal brand has, or the amazing projects you have done, or the awards your agency has won.

This is why developing your communications skills and being human is much more important than developing the designer inside of you.

Would a client choose to work with your agency/personal brand but without you in it? What would Asgard be without Asgardians living in it?

Extra:

BONUS

102 The Infinite Ladder

The feeling of being someone that you’re not. The internal feeling of not being as competent as other people perceive you are. That feeling of knowing that you are not the best version of yourself (yet). This should not be the reason to make you stop working, and position yourself as an expert.

This is called impostor syndrome, and we all got it or have gone through it. It is totally fine, and understandable. This is stopping you to make better work and progress. And the way to overcome it is by a mindset shift.

Impostor syndrome occurs when you’re watching your future, and think that there is still a long journey to go. Another typical reason for it is by comparing how far have other people gone on the same journey compared to you.

Either the first or second reason, my advice for you is to see each person’s journey as a different ladder, an infinite ladder. It will never end, and each person goes as far as one can. Each person has a different ladder, different struggles, and different victories.

If you don’t stop, can keep climbing that ladder, you will be constantly breaking your personal records, and becoming a better version of yourself each and every day.

Whenever you feel down, or suffer from impostor syndrome, zoom out from that ladder, and see how far you’re already from the start. See how much you know and have done. Don’t compare with other people, compare with yourself from the past. You’re already something that past you would be proud of.

104 Darwin

How can you improve your logo design or design skills in general? The answer is simple, by looking at more good design. The key is to train your eye with great design so that you can apply it to yours even when you’re on autopilot.

It is said on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution that the human has the same intelligence now and before. Our only advantage is that now we have more knowledge accumulated, seen more, and have more resources.

This means that if Steve Jobs was born in the 18th century, he wouldn’t be able to invent the iPhone. However, if we took an intelligent person from the 18th century, and take him to 2008, he would be able to invent the iPhone.

And what does this mean? It means that you are already good, but to unlock your true potential, you’ve got to see the better design and train your eye. Start by following truly talented designers on all social platforms. Watch different styles and spend more time analyzing them.

The Chicken Or The Egg?

Which one came first? The idea/inspiration or the action?

Does your working process start when you have an idea? If it is like this, I guess that most of the time you’re still waiting for the idea to come. So instead, why don’t you invert that process, be more proactive, and start by looking for inspiration?

Taking action even if you’re still not prepared, or know what to do. Start when you’re not prepared, and you’ll find what will be your next move. All of my best ideas and projects started by me forcing myself to do something with a pencil out of blank paper.

How can you take action? Taking action in design does not require sketching. Here are a few examples of how can you take action: read a book, read an article, watch a documentary, watch a TED talk, listen to a podcast, write down notes of little experiences from your daily life, remember something valuable you’ve said... The list is infinite.

The key is to just do something, don't wait. Anything can be a source of inspiration. Look for it.

Illustrator Shortcuts

I haven’t said that Adobe Illustrator is the software to go for logo design because I suppose you already know it. Here are the most essential keyboard shortcuts I use to be more productive and work in a faster pace.

Disclaimer: Command (Mac) = Control (Windows), and Option (Mac) = Alt (Windows).

• Save File

Command + S

• Place Image

Command + Shift + P

• Paste On Same Place

Command + F

• Duplicate Move

Command + D

• Artboard

Shift + O

• Trace / Outline

Command + Shift + O

• Shape Builder Select All

Shift + M

• Select All

Command + A

• Direct Selection

A

• Move Artboard

A Spacebar + Drag

Moodboards

Another way to boost your creativity is by training it. You can achieve that by looking at good designs and having a moodboard.

I suggest you to use Pinterest to set moodbaords as it as a really powerful function and there are a lot of great designs published there.

Behance also has a Moodboard function where it is called Tendency Panel. Behance is great to read case studies and watch top level complete design projects.

For photography inspiration, and professional imagery, I use Unsplash.

Recommended Reads

For designers is critical to learn a bit of everything. I have listed 10 books with varied themes (Marketing, personal growth, business, social media...) that you should buy and read.

• Burn Your Portfolio Michael Janda
• Start With Why Simon Sinek
• Purple Cow Seth Godin
• Made To Stick Chip & Dan Heath
• Steal Like An Artist Austin Kleon
• The E-Myth Revisited Michael E. Gerber
• Zag Marty Neumeier
• Crush It Gary Vaynerchuk
• Win Without Pitching Blair Enns
• Logo Modernisim Jens Müller

Recommended Typefaces

There are millions of fonts and thousands of great fonts. It is recommended not to use more than 10. My tip is to focus on one, master it, and goon. The left side is free Google fonts and the right side are premium fonts you should buy when you can.

Monserrat Futura

Free (Google Font) Premium (Paid Font)

Playfair Display Helvetica Now

Free (Google Font) Premium (Paid Font)

Anton Bodoni

Free (Google Font) Premium (Paid Font)

Nunito S&S Nickson

Free (Google Font) Premium (Paid Font)

Win Without Pitching Lobster Logo Modernisim Avenir Next

Blair Enns Free (Google Font) Jens Müller Premium (Paid Font)

Logo Briefing Questions

One of the most important parts of logo design is to set the expectations, and base our design on the real problem. We use the briefing session to understand all the needs and expectations. This is a list of some of the questions I ask the client in the first meeting:

• What are the touch-points the audience will have with the logo?
• What are the expected reactions of your audience with this design?
• How do you think this logo desgin will help in your current situation?
• How do you see the business in 5 years?
• Is there any plans to diversify the main purpose in the near future?
• Who are the main competitors?
• What barriers of purchase do we need to overcome?
• What are the reasons to believe?
• Who is your target audience?
• What are the key values the brand believes in?
• What are some emotions the audience will experience?
• Is there a unique story behind the business? @another fanatic
• The one word that best describes your company? @kenny.kenray
• If your business was an animal, which one would it be? @maitevisual
• If it was a person, which adjectives would describe it? @negron.ai

Limit Yourself

When you feel that ideas just don’t come, and creativity doesn’t seem to arrive, try to set some boundaries. Sometimes, you have to limit yourself in order to make something creative. Too broad boundaries and too many possibilities will ironically hurt your ideas generation.

You can limit any one of these 4 T’s:

• Time

Design in a short period

• Tool

Explore other methods

• Technique

Different process

• Theme

Choose one topic

One of the very first activities I was told to do through my design education, is to: select a topic, and pick 3 words related to that theme. Create a wordmark for each word, and try to represent it with the simplest manipulation I could think of. Ideas came flying.

Useful Phrases

If you are sharing your work on social media or uploading case studies online, and your mother language is not English, I feel you. That is why I have prepared a table with some useful vocabulary that may be the words you are looking for to describe your designs, process, or whatever.

• Convey the message
• Communicate with
• Transmit the concept
• Talk about

• The main thing
• The core concept
• The principal
• The most important

• Adjustment
• Tweaks
• Fixes
• Moves

• Aspect
• Feature
• Characteristic
• Element

• Look and feel
• Deliverables
• Collaterals
• Peripherals

• Mark
• Icon
• Symbol
• Trademark

• Disruptive
• Break the pattern
• Unconventional
• Avant-garde

• Proposal
• Return on investment
• Lead
• Budget