Mastering Logo Design: Key Insights and Techniques

this video is for those who want to take their  logo design career seriously and we're going to   dive into areas of logo designing that many  people Overlook or just simply don't know   about and we're going to start by dispelling  a myth what a logo isn't a lot of people think  

that a logo design should Express what the  business or the brand does however this is a   fallacy and it's not actually a rule take the  Apple logo as an example it belongs to one of   the most successful and iconic brands in human  history but does this brand sell apples no of  

course not and sure there is a story behind the  logo design itself but the point here is that a   good logo doesn't have to express or show what  the business does essentially it's more about   expressing certain emotions and giving a vibe  to a specific group of people I.E the target  

audience and that is while acting as a memory  hook the logo should be memorable enough to   stick in the minds of the target audience it  needs needs to appeal to a specific group of   people and fall in line with their psychology  and that brings me on to the next point before  

you design anything you need to know who you're  designing for and spoiler alerts it's not your client this next section is going to show you how  to finally determine who your logo is going to be   aimed at this is really really crucial and so  you do need to follow this because if designers  

overlook this step their design is going to become  kind of lost BAS basically I'm going to start   things off with a secret hack that's going to get  you moving in the right direction find a direct   competitor or similar business to your clients and  make sure it's an active and successful business  

and once you've done that you can head over to  the social media pages of those people and truly   find out what kind of people are interacting with  your clients's business or brand Twitter is really   good for this because the bio on Twitter often  tells us things like the age the profession and  

so on now if you look right here we're on Apple's  X account well formerly known as Twitter and oddly   enough they don't even have more than one post but  anyway i' digress if we come into this guy's bio   right here someone who obviously follows Apple we  can see that he's into technology and AI related  

stuff and he actually mentors people on things  in a space looking around the bios of accounts   linked to your client's Niche can actually give  you a great idea of the sort of person you should   be tailoring your logo designs for and it's a  pretty f way to do that too now a huge part of  

Designing logos is actually mocking them up and  presenting them to your clients and I'm excited   to show you a new product I've recently discovered  that takes making those mockups to that next kind   of level it's an online 3D visualization studio  called Pro visual now this is an incredible web  

app where you can create 3D mockups with ease now  it's got a wide ranging collection of pre-made 3D   models a huge library of tech textures materials  hdri environments and also backgrounds now you   can customize and fine tune ready to use assets  to make any visualization that you can think of  

pretty much and I found it really easy to pick  up and just use right out of the gate and you   can make stunning personalized mockups in a  matter of seconds bringing your design onto   Pro visual is really simple and we can work with  layers right inside prual as well and I actually  

really like how we can rotate our design all while  looking fresh and clean throughout and as I said   it's just really easy to change materials and  environments with only a few clicks as far as   mockup generation and creation goes this is not  something I've seen before also in Pro visual  

there's a share button as well which means you can  share your creations and presentations with your   clients your colleagues or even your friends and  client pitching is a crucial part of the success   rate of a logo designer and so with Pro visual  you're able to Showcase your projects in the most  

attractive and effective way possible and let's  not forget it doesn't require any downloading   or software is right into your browser now  everybody can try Prov visual for a 14-day   free trial but you can get a 20% discount using  my code Satori 20 all in uppercase letters and so  

to learn more about Pro visual just go to that  link in the description box below you won't be disappointed so in this section we need to  identify their personality their values the   interested Hobbies lifestyle and attitude just to  quickly demonstrate let's say your client owns an  

organic juice business we're going to make what's  called a psychographic so we can fully understand   how the customers of this business think what  makes them worry what they want and so on this   normally would take a lot of research but luckily  these days we have resources like chat GPT it's  

actually insanely powerful and as you can see  here we have information about their possible   lifestyle that being health conscious active  focused on the environment and so on kind of   typical things someone who drinks organic juice  might adhere to their values and beliefs also  

follow on from that and you really shouldn't  underestimate how important and Powerful this   information is to you as a logo designer I would  pay close attention to the points about their   goals and also their paying points so here they  read labels on food products they like follow a  

plant-based diet or something closely related  and they find it frustrating that they can't   find sustainable organic products but get this  I didn't ask chat GPT for any help in applying   this information to a possible design but  at the bottom here it does actually give  

a few bullet points and how we might use  this information on a logo design and look   here at the very foot of my results it actually  confirms what I've been saying today tailoring a   logo design with a psychographic profile can  help the design and the brand connect with a  

target audience effectively by addressing their  values their needs and their aspirations so you   have your audience Persona nailed down and  you researched your client and the industry   and so now you can begin to make Concepts based  around that body of research and here are some  

really important things to keep in mind when  you are making your Concepts and your design ideas look at your Concepts and then try to  find at least one way that concept reflects   an emotion or feeling in your target audience  from your research you should know exactly what  

kind of emotions you want to evoke in the target  audience let's take a look at the lion concept   from the in banking logo this concept was meant  to mean that the company does everything in its   power to secure the saving deposits of its  clients why because the symbol of a lion is  

powerful it's wise and it can suggest protection  this concept relates back to making the user of   the bank feel safe and secure with their money  here's Master card's double circle logo the double   circle suggests East and West coming together  as one but what shapes psychologically suggest  

togetherness well that's circular and oval  shapes and then you have Adidas's logo which   has a three-step pyramid and that uses shape  psychology not once but twice firstly slanted   lines suggest forward movements which is great  for a sports brand and then the triangle shape  

they make suggests strength and power which is  another great suggestion for a sports brand so   ask yourself does your logo design concept  relate back to the emotional response in a   target audience the next rule is that in your  research phase to have at least three keyword  

pairs although I do suggest more but you should  have one pair for the target audience one pair   for the Brand's motto or mission statement and  one for the Brand's industry if you've done your   research properly this should be easy but what  does that actually look like one really great  

example of this in action would be the innocent  smoothie logo the logo designer or designers   could have researched the brand and taken word  pairs from there like innocent or Genuine from   there perhaps the concept of a Halo to represent  the innocent parts and then a handdrawn simple  

logo to represent the genuine parts could  have materialized and genuine in the sense   that it's less corporate and more approachable  this is how we can generate Concepts simply   from relevant keywords in our process next it's  the Brand's mission statement or their motto an  

example would be Apple's motto which is bringing  the best user experience to customers through   Innovative Hardware software and services a  word pair for this could have been Innovative   experience and this next session is going  to look at how logo designers can still come  

into problems in their logo design process  but importantly how to fix those problems the first problem that I see many beginner and  many intermediate designers doing is that they   have overly busy logo designs and here's  a classic example it's a construction logo  

where the designer has gone wild and basically  just created a digital illustration rather than   a logo design the color choices are pretty good  though more about color later but this design is   too hectic and it's too busy to ever be iconic  or memorable it's just way too easy to forget  

this logo and it's not going to hook into the  minds of the target audience so what we can do   is to vastly simplify the design down to something  like this design right here the Arrow does suggest   a change of movement and we have an easily  recognizable and simple iconic building house  

this design will be absorbed by the viewers in a  matter of milliseconds which is in comparison to   the previous design which is just way too chaotic  to be absorbed the new design is so iconic that   it probably works just fine without the logo type  and as a standalone logo Mark in fact it probably  

works better like this the next mistake that logo  designers sometimes make is that they have a kind   of inappropriate design that they don't even  realize sometimes that is inappropriate sure   you might laugh at these designs that edge on the  confrontational side of things but imagine if you  

were a business owner and the designer you've  been paying money for comes back with something   like this you probably won't find it that funny  then these designs are pretty funny though yeah   this designer has taken some of the notoriously  inappropriate designs and remade them a great  

example is this Oriental design that has been  remastered perfectly also notice how the design   respects the first logo fix that we looked at  earlier simplification the logo just uses a   single color and it's an iconic stamped design so  do remember to keep in mind the target audience  

and question if not the design is going to appeal  to them or if it's going to rub them up the wrong   way so to speak like a lot of these inappropriate  logos surely will the third logo design problem   that needs to be fixed is something I see  everywhere these days and that is the logotype  

not matching the logo symbol this means the style  of the typography does not match the vibe or the   feeling of the logo and this will confuse the  target audience and leave the logo looking pretty   unprofessional we do want professional logos of  course this example of a tech logo uses a playful  

and organic font which totally goes against  what a tech audience probably relates to they   like something modern something less organic and  more professional I also couldn't help tilting   the logo Mark just to see how it would look and  turn out and these aren't my designs by the way if  

you're worried that your design is guilty of this  then go back to the brief and study the target   audience write down words and phrases that relate  to their wants their needs and their emotions and   then match those words to specific Styles or  type face it's just an easy way to create a  

winning combination when you're working on Logo  designs the next mistake that we're going to see   how to fix is a really big pet peeve of mine as a  designer and that is the literal logo designs you   know the story by now light bulbs for electricians  books for libraries or in this case here a bike  

for a mountain bike brand how uninspiring does  this design look jeez sure it's a pretty cool   illustration but as an iconic logo it does nothing  more than Fall Into Obscurity and blend into the   background of forgettable designs now to overcome  this you need to think outside of the box and  

really just get creative now to do that you need  to work hard on making word pairs based on your   logo design research generate words that relate  to the brand the industry sector and the target   audience and then generate some interesting pairs  Silverback is a great example of a logo in the  

mountain biking world and we don't see a mountain  or a bike at all however the iconic design works   well and it is memorable the logotype is slanted  to give the illusion of motion and speed so yeah   this is a pretty well thought out design with  no literal connotations whatsoever then we have  

color and boy oh boy this one can be tough there  are a few different approaches you can take when   it comes to choosing the correct color for your  logo Maybe we can do what the designers did for   the Ikea or Ikea logo design they noted how  important the origin of the brand is to their  

story that being Sweden and so the logo uses  the colors of the Swedish flag or you could   just simply look at the industry that your client  or the company you're designing for is in and then   see what kind of colors are the norm for logo  designs and so here for Branding we see a lot  

of the blue and red being used so you can choose  a color scheme based around that to play it safe   or choose a color scheme that contrasts that to  make the brand stand out you could also just think   about the kind of feeling you want to evoke with  your logo and then apply Color accordingly FedEx  

wants to emphasize a fast delivery service and so  an action related color of orange works well and   that's contrasted with a calming color of purple  which does give it that kind of professional   touch so you've arrived at a stage where your  design is pretty much finished so you think but  

the next stage is arguably the most important  stage of all it is the presentation of your   design ideas and your Concepts to your client and  here are some really good ways to approach just that firstly the client should be reminded  of what a logo design is and what makes a  

good logo design the logo should be timeless it's  simple and it's not the brand but an extension of   the brand and so on reminding them of the logo  design principles and what makes a good logo   design it would actually help to limit the amount  of subjective input they have or they think they  

can have so maybe kick off the presentation by  quickly demonstrating three to five key attributes   that make up a successful logo design and why they  are important yet the most important thing to do   is to remind the client of the problem that they  have it's that thing they hired you for in the  

first place so early on in the presentation maybe  talk about the goals of the project so it could   be something like your logo is going to help the  brand cut out to their own space within the nich   sector or it might be something like it's going  to help them compete with their main competitor  

at this point in the project you should know  all of the project goals inside out the next   trick that goes down really well with clients is  the brand color split screen when your slideshow   or PDF presentation actually gets to the section  where you show the logo designs start off with a  

brand color split screen now if your client has  a very strong brand identity then they will have   a main color for the identity so have half of  the screen in that color and with the logo in   White on top of it and then the other side in  White and the logo of their brand color clients  

typically strongly believe in their brand and  so this slide or page in your presentation will   often resonate really well with them and from  here you can go on to show you know the logo in   different mock-ups and situations but it's really  important or really good to start with that split  

screen brand identity here's the next thing that  I noticed that really helps create conversation   and kind of broke the ice in a presentation show  the logo in unique and cool situations via mockups   now what I mean by this is to have the logo on  say a pen make a badge with the logo on and just  

show interesting situations where it's being used  not only does this help them visualize the real   use case scenarios of the logo it makes the pitch  less cold and it adds more of a human element into   it which clients seem to really respond well to  so the next thing that really gets a resounding  

yes from clients when it comes to presenting  your logos or your Concepts is to show how your   logo will interact with the target audience for  example if the logo is a clothing brand show the   target audience of that brand interacting with the  logo add into your presentation that the logo will  

appeal to this group of people and also why not  only will this make your design idea stronger but   it helps to bring the client away from my own  bias and then of course try to remind them the   logo isn't for them but it's for the people who  interact with a brand the presentation of your  

logo is an art form in of itself being able to  sell your design ideas is often more important   than the actual design or equally so and of  course if you want to learn yet more graphic   design goodness just click that video on screen  but until next time guys design your future today

peace