Logo design is arguably one of the hardest parts of graphic design though with a little insider knowledge, you may find it’s not so difficult after all. By understanding what makes a “good” logo and the principles behind effective logo design you will be on the right track in no time. In this tutorial you will be guided through the logo design process, from initial brief right through to delivery while being given vital logo design tips along the way.
For the sake of this tutorial we will be creating a fictional logo – for now I’ve gone with a logo that reflects the first and last letters of my name – J & C. Through the use of negative space and a few nifty Illustrator tricks we will combine these characters (J & C) to create an iconic logo design. At the end of the tutorial, you may find that your own initials can be used too.
Skills you will learn by doing this logo design tutorial:
- How to use Adobe Illustrator to create a logo
- What makes a good logo
- Principles of effective logo design
- The logo design process
You will need:
- A copy Adobe Illustrator CS3+ or any another vector editing program
- 30 minutes of time
- This EPS File OR the Helvetica Neue 83 Extended typeface.
Logo design tutorial:
1. Before we head straight into creating the logo you must understand what a logo is, what it represents and what it is supposed to do. A logo is not just a mark – a logo reflects a business’s commercial brand via the use of shape, fonts, colour, and / or images. A logo is for inspiring trust, recognition and admiration for a company or product and it is our job as designers to create a logo that will do its job.
2. But what makes a good logo? A good logo is distinctive, appropriate, practical, graphic, simple in form and conveys an intended message. There are five principles that you should follow to ensure that this is so: In no particular order, an effective logo is simple, memorable, timeless, versatile and appropriate. An example of a logo that achieves all these things is the Apple logo.
3. Now that we know the basic principles behind logo design, we should begin the logo design process. In the real world we would be given a brief, have to do research, brainstorming, etc. though for the sake of this tutorial we are creating a fictional logo design based on my initials, J & C. For now, open the jc.eps file that you candownload here.
4. In this EPS, you will find the completed logo and also the outlined version of the J&C. I’ve used the typeface Helvetica Neue 83 Extended with 82pt type so if you have this typeface you will not need the EPS file. You will be needing the Pathfinder tool panel too, so go ahead and open this up. Go to Window > Pathfinder. I also find working in the Typography Workspace is the best for logo design. Go to Window > Workspace > Typography to set this up.
5. If you are using the font directly (not from the EPS), you will need to outline your text as this will turn your text into movable objects. To do this, right click on the text and click ‘Create Outlines’. After you have done this, you are up to where the CD users start off. Now you will have to ungroup your characters – to do this, select the text, right click, click ‘Ungroup’.
6. Now we are going to turn the ampersand into 3 objects rather than just one. To do this we must release the original path of the ampersand. To do this, select the ampersand, right click and then choose “Release Compound Path”. You will notice the two counters of the ampersand go black – this shows that it is now in 3 pieces.
7. From here we are going to turn the ampersand into negative space, ie. using the white space to create an object. To do this, select the ampersand and turn it to the colour white using the swatch panel. Take note not to turn the two inside counters white. Now select the two counters and the ampersand, right click and press “Group”.
8. Now that we have the logo all set up, it is time to position the ampersand. Using the select tool, select the ampersand. Position the ampersand over the J and it should look something like above. Align the left side of the ampersand with the left vertical side of the J, ensure that the J is not broken into two parts.
9. From here, using the select tool, select the C, right click on it, go to Arrange > Send To Back. This moves the letter C behind the other two letters and is necessary for the next step.
10. Select the letter ‘C’ with the move tool and position it underneath the white ampersand. I’ve positioned the ‘C’ just where it meets the middle of the ampersand as outlined with the red arrow above. Zoom in to 6400% and ensure that it is exactly in line, not just close, but exact. Precision is required in logo design.
11. You will notice that the ampersand doesn’t cover all of the C and leaves an unsightly jagged edge at the bottom, as pointed to by the red arrow. To get rid of this you will have to select the Direct Selection tool, click once on the ampersand and then once one the bottom right node. Zoom in as much as you can and drag out the node in a diagonal straight line.
12. You may think that this is the completed logo design though it is not. Although it looks exactly like the finished logo, the ampersand is still white which means when placed on another background other than white, the ampersand shows as white, as shown in the example screenshot above.
13. To counter this what we have to do is use the pathfinder tool to cut out the ampersand from the other letters. We need to make three ampersands to be able to do this. Select the ampersand and go to Edit > Copy and then Edit > Paste In Front. Repeat this twice. You will not be able to tell but there are now three ampersands there.
14. Grab the selection tool, select the top ampersand and then while holding shift, click the ‘J’. From here we want to use the Pathfinder window to cut it away. While they are selected choose the Minus Front option from the pathfinder palette. At this stage it looks like it has not done anything but it has.
15. You will have to repeat the same steps as above but for the letter ‘C’. Select the ampersand, and while holding shift, click the letter ‘C’. Choose the “Minus Front” selection from the Pathfinder palette to cut away the ampersand from the ‘C’. It will still look nothing has changed but it has.
16. There is now one ampersand left. Click on this using the selection tool, right click and click ungroup. This will allow you to select the three parts of the ampersand. Click on the large part of the ampersand and press delete. The shape of the logo is now complete. Highlight the four parts of the logo, right click and click group. This will ensure the logo stays as is.
17. After the logo shape has been completed, you will want to fine tune it and experiment with colours and typefaces. I’ve shown some variations for you just to give you an idea of what you could do, though experimentation & comparison is the key here.
18. After you have finalised the logo design, you would essentially deliver it to the client in a variety of formats including eps, pdf, tiff, jpg, gif and if you’re feeling nice, you may want to include a FavIcon too. Now that you are done, try to see if you can do it for your own initials too.
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