5 Logo Design Mistakes to Avoid | Graphic Design

0:00 Hello everyone, how's it going? This is Anik Jane and today we're going to look at five logo design mistakes that everyone should avoid. So if you're a graphic designer, a freelancer, someone studying in college or even working in a company, if you work your way around logo design at any point, this video is very important for you. I've been a logo designer for like 4 years now. I also on the side run a successful design agency. We design logos and identities for brands across the world. And if you are someone serious about logo design and want to know what mistakes to avoid, do watch this video till the very end. Okay, mistake number one, designing a logo in colors first. I know as soon as we get the brief, a lot of ideas keep clicking in our mind and we just can't wait to execute that logo design with as many colors as we want to. I know it's exciting. It's all the fun stuff, but you might be making a really huge mistake. Designing the logo in black and

0:45 white allows you to focus on the construction, the logo mark, and the shape without having any color biases or preferences in the beginning. Because a logo which you designed works in black and white, then it can practically work anywhere. You see nowadays there are a lot of places where our logos are used from fab icons all the way to massive billboards. So your logo should be scalable. Not only that even in different prints, different textures, different engravings, the logo is used. So to pass all those checks, if the logo works in black and white then it can work everywhere else as well. Mistake number two, creating over complicated logos. Now before we get into that, let's understand what a logo's job exactly is. Why do we even use a logo for a brand where we can just write it down what a brand does? A logo is a mark which just represents your brand. It is not your brand at all. So why have we

1:31 complicated it with the things that our business does? For example, using a coffee bean or a coffee cup in a cafe brand. Why have 10 different elements all clashing for attention with each other in that single mark and make it very complicated. If you look at some of the most famous logos, they're quite simple. They don't say too much. But that does not mean that good logos can't be complicated. I mean, have a look at Uni Liver's logo. It's one of my favorite logos. And yes, it has a lot of things going on inside. The only difference is it follows all the gestto's principles. Even Starbucks has such a complicated logo, but it's one of the most recognizable logos ever. There's a difference between making an over complicated logo that frankly no one can read and striking the right detail and balance that really goes a long way. Okay, mistake number three, not having a combination mark. This

2:16 one's actually very important. Okay, let me explain. This is a logo type and this can also be called as a brand mark or an icon. Now when you combine these two you get a combination mark and you need to have different combination marks for different users. Most designers just focus on that one placement and that one logo and then call it a day. Let's say you have the logo on the website then you must have the logo mark on the left side of the logo type or in the same scenario with the same logo you have it on a business card. There you will have the logo mark right above the logo type just to cover the white space around the business card. So the next time you're designing or even finalizing a logo mark, make sure you have enough combinations so that wherever the client wants, they can put the logo based on that combination. Mistake number four, directly starting on Illustrator or any other design software you use. I know so

3:02 many designers whenever they get a brand brief, they directly open their laptops or desktop and jump on Illustrator to execute the ideas which they have. Your best friend for great logo designs is simple pen and paper. There's a specific reason why I'm saying pen and I'll tell you why. When we are in the initial phase of our logo explorations, we ourselves need to have all the control over the ideations and exploration. But when you directly open a software, you are limited to the shapes it has, the tools it has. You can't explore beyond your initial imagination and that defeats the whole purpose. Start with sketching. Don't worry about how your sketch looks like. It does not have to be perfect. In fact, the more imperfect it is, the more iterations you will tend to create and you'll get closer to that idea which you were not able to find. And the reason why I said pen and not

3:48 pencil is because I remember I should do sketching with mechanical pencil. But the problem and the issue was that I used to rub off my ideas the ones I did not like. And that's where I was making a mistake. That's where I could not understand that it's not about creating that perfect sketch right in the one go. It's about how out of the box can you think about that same idea which 100 other people can also think. Mistake number five, stopping after five concepts. Actually complimenting our fourth mistake, designers tend to make this one too. Okay, you have finally listened to me and started exploring logo explorations on pen and paper. But then you've stopped at the third or the fourth concept. I know we have all heard the famous Paula story that how she designed the City Bank logo on a tissue paper in her first attempt which went to be the $1.5 billion final logo. But honestly, you are not polisher. And even

4:34 if you were, you don't know the amount of efforts, the years she has put into her craft to reach to that level. But there's this one rule that I follow. Do not open your desktop or illustrator or your laptop unless you at least have 20 different concepts or 20 different ideas of your logos. This rule has helped me throughout the years. I use it all the time. I'll tell you why. The first five ideas that you create, even though you have not seen it on Pinterest or you have not opened your laptop for a reference, will be there on the internet. That's why you're pushing the limits. You're going beyond those boundaries and that's where you will find something unique, something that fits the brand, which you can then open Illustrator and start designing on it. So yeah, there you go folks. Those are the five logo design mistakes every graphic designer should keep in mind. Let me know in the comments if you want part two while created and let me know

5:20 if any of these design mistakes actually helped you. All right, I'll see you in the next one.