I’ll like to believe that there is no perfect logo in the world but it’s hard when brands like Nike and Apple have come so close to having perfect logos representing their brands. And it has to do with their brands growing with a consistent logo approach over the years maintaining a brand personality so distinct, it’s hard to mistaken their logo for something else.

For a logo to be effective, it has to be used in the most consistent manner throughout all communications representing the brand. But that doesn’t mean a pluck-from-the-sky logo can be a good logo because of its consistent usage. It just means every brand should have a good logo design to begin with that reflects the values and beliefs of the brand.

As simple as it seems, logo designing is one of the most challenging tasks a graphic designer can take up. It takes creativity and skills to communicate everything about a brand (from personality to values and beliefs to products and its services) through just one iconic logo. Every little detail has to be taken care of to ensure that its role as a brand logo is maximised.

Here’s a set of rules which I abide to when it comes to ldesigning a good logo. As I discover more and more fascinating things about logos, I update this set of rules to improve my logo designing skills. And I hope to share my discoveries with all of you out there. If you have any to add, feel free to let me know.

Keep the design simple and straight forward.
Discard things that is not essential and necessary. For example, the visual of an eagle just because the Client personally loves eagles but the bird doesn’t have anything to do with the brand. You are not designing something to reflects your Client’s preference; you are designing a logo that reflects everything about a brand.

Do not use more than three colours.
In fact, when you start designing, you should design it in black and white because a good logo works both with colours and in grayscale. If a logo needs colour to be a logo, then it is not a good logo at all.

Readable typography.
It’s the most important element of all. Audience should not be spending time figuring out what the logo is all about or what it reads. They should be able to capture any words immediately when they come across your logo. It doesn’t mean you can only choose bold fonts, it means you have to choose your fonts accurately. And please, not more than two fonts in your logo design. It gets messy.

A timeless design is essential.
Of course, a logo can grow as time goes by; but growing is different from changing it entirely. Thus, a logo design has to be timeless in its Big Idea. For example, apple is the chosen object to represent the Apple brand. No matter how the logo evolves over the years, it’s always a bitten apple object. A bitten apple is timeless (unless apple fruits do not exist 100 years from now).

Design in flat 2D at initial stage.
This is very important. A logo has to look good on flat colours – without the shadows, effects, 3D finishing, glow, etc. Always remember that logo usage goes beyond printing materials. It goes onto premium items, stationaries, websites, outdoor structures, etc. Thus it has to work with or without the special effects that make it beautiful when printed out.

Never use a photo for your logo.
And I really do mean NEVER. Because a photo is not an icon, and it’s simply not professional to do so. And a photo is not as easily recognisable compared to an iconic design. Never use art clips as logo too!

A well balance logo design is compulsory.
This includes alignments, colour balance, solid shapes and stability of design. The elements have to hold the design as one and not seen as individual elements.

Logos are standalone.
It should be able to appear on its own without a tagline to explain the brand or anything alike. A tagline functions to enhance the logo, not support it. When audience sees a logo, they should be able to associate it to the brand without the support of taglines or other visuals.

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