How To Design A Logo - A Beginners Course Free Download

If you want to learn logo design there are heaps of premium books and training resources out there that y'all can invest in, but if you lot want to learn on a upkeep thankfully there'due south enough of complimentary resource out in that location too, but it can be quite overwhelming to know where to offset and what to trust.

To help you on your journey to becoming a logo designer, below is an overview of some of the best free logo pattern resources online that volition help you become a primary without spending a single penny.

This resource is broken downwards into the following sections, which will cover pretty much everything you demand to know to become started:

What is a logo and why do they thing
How to create a logo design brief
Using a logo pattern process
Inquiry before you lot start
Sketching ideas
Learning Adobe Illustrator
Getting feedback from others
Presenting your logo designs
Dealing with client feedback
Preparing logo files
Learning more than

What is a logo and why do they matter?

I remember the kickoff book I read on logo pattern had a department titled "what is a logo". Honestly that felt quite patronising… is it not obvious what a logo is? Just I learned that at that place's more to a logo than I had realised, and so equally a starting point I recommend reading the blog I wrote titled "What's the purpose of a logo and why practise they matter" which will be a good primer.

Also, this video put together by my good friends Chris Green and Col Gray is too a fantastic overview of what a logo is.

The below video is also incredible. It features one of the greatest logo designers in the manufacture, Michael Beirut of Pentagram where he explains what makes a great logo. Seriously one video worth watching!

Create a pattern brief

Before you start working on thought generation you need to understand the goals of the logo. You need to sympathise who the business is, what they do, who their competition are and the people they volition be targeting. To know this information yous need to inquire questions. I personally create goals, which form a tick listing of objectives that the logo should meet. You can find out how I practise that, and come across the questions I ask too in my blog postal service: A designers guide to creating a logo design brief

This video from Will Patterson is too dandy, and explains how to create a logo cursory. Will has plenty of other logo pattern videos too on his YouTube channel.

If you just want to practise (which is advisable if you're just starting out), the below sites are useful for finding fictional logo pattern briefs:

Daily Logo Challenge
LogoCore Logo Claiming
Briefbox

If yous don't want to practise that, as a practice exercise to learn the tools it's benign to find logos and endeavor to recreate them. If yous desire to create something entirely new, find a logo that needs a redesign, and work through the below steps to improve the logo. There'south enough of bad design out there… just brand sure to follow the procedure beneath, rather than designing 'a pretty picture' – logo blueprint is a strategic business tool, so the sooner you realise that the better.

Utilize a logo design process

As I've learned from interviewing other logo designers on the logo geek podcast, there no single set-in-stone logo blueprint process.

Every designer works in their own way, and then as you learn and meliorate yous'll find what approach works for you. The ultimate goal is to end with a logo, and then how yous accomplish that end betoken is upwardly to you lot. I personally run though a very basic 5 step logo design process, and equally a starting signal I recommend you take the same arroyo. The 5 steps are as follows:

Create goals
Research
Thought Generation & Design
Presentation & Amends
Creation of Logo Files

If you want to go a feel for the dissimilar types of processes out at that place, take a wait at these infographics collected by Artistic Market.

For a more in-depth breakdown, HubSpot have a useful guide on how to design a logo which is worth reading, as is this 'logo pattern from beginning to terminate' guide from Jacob Cass.

Exercise your Inquiry…

Before yous can start designing annihilation you need to have a good understanding of the business and its competition. To know this you'll need to practise some inquiry. Most of this tin be done past asking questions, but information technology'south always worth doing your own digging besides. This blog I created for Creative Bloq a few years back will be a helpful primer: 5 things to enquiry before designing a logo.

Not many designers like doing enquiry, but it's an essential step. The more you sympathize about the business, the better the final solution will be… the better you can nowadays the design… and the greater the likelihood that work will get canonical outset time volition be too as you can demonstrate a clear agreement of the trouble faced.

Sketch Ideas on Paper

It's ever good to start on paper. Everyones favourite designer, Aaron Draplin made the strongest statement for sketchbook work when he contributed the below tip to the free 50 logo blueprint tips from the pros eBook I compiled a few years back, which yous'll likewise enjoy.

"Always start on newspaper. At that place'due south something liberating about the freedom, wobbliness and humanity of a pencil sketch. There's a speed to it. An unpredictability. Accidents happen. You can get to the magic that much faster on paper, than on some common cold screen. Exist it a stick in the dirt, charcoal on a cave wall or a pencil in yous memo book, y'all are tapping into the time-tested method of communication, formulating and invention. And call up to do information technology in your Field Notes for maximum performance and durability."

And to aggrandize on his quote, the below video is worthy viewing… and is possibly one of my favourite videos. It briefly runs through Aarons sketchbook piece of work, and how he so takes that into illustrator to create the finished slice. Aaron kindly admitted in the interview I did with him that he always spends more than time on sketching than he did in this video, and so brand certain you do the same.

This video from my friend Vincent Burkhead is also a fantastic watch, and focuses completely on sketching logo ideas.

…and this video from Von Glitchka is swell too! Sketching is where the magic happens.

When coming upwardly with ideas, it's useful to await at some of the best logo designs out there for reference. One of my favourite inspiration books is Trademarks and Symbols, but as it's at present out of print, quondam and rare it's sadly really expensive… Thankfully you lot can view it completely free online here.

I as well recommend following Logo Inspirations on Instagram for a daily dose of inspiration, and also cheque out Logo Archive to run across some of the very finest marks and symbols ever fabricated.

Acquire Adobe Illustrator

One time you accept your ideas downwards on paper you'll now desire to brand digital versions of them. As a logo needs to work at a range of sizes, from buttons correct upwards to shop signs and billboards, the file type you lot'll need to create is vector format which is a blazon of image built upwards from mathematical points rather than pixels, meaning it tin can be scaled indefinitely with no loss of quality. To create vector images, you lot'll need Adobe Illustrator.

In that location's also a couple of free software packages that will allow you to create vector files which are listed in the post 'The Tools Needed to be a Logo Designer', however as Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard software, the below resource focus on that.

Below is a real quick outset guide to the basic tools of Adobe Illustrator.

The Pen tool is ane tool that you actually need to master. This video from Chris Do is a useful one to lookout to help you depict perfect Bezier curves! It's likewise a useful written report of type, so a win-win. To acquire more about the business of design, I highly recommend following Chris and watching more of his videos on the Futur channel.

There's obviously way more y'all can learn in Adobe Illustrator… this is just a taste to get you lot started, only you tin can discover a list of great free tutorials in this blog from Creative Bloq: 75 best Adobe Illustrator tutorials.

For more premium educational content, I recommend both SkillShare and Lynda Learning – both of which have costless trials. Yous practice need to enter your card details to sign up, but if you unsubscribe before the trial ends it's totally free.

Using Fonts

Using fonts is an integral role of logo design. About fonts require a commercial licence to be used inside a logo, withal at that place are some sites out there that make it easy to find complimentary fonts for commercial use. The first site is Font Squirrel, and the 2nd Google Fonts. Although I'one thousand confident both sites provide free fonts for commercial use, exercise make sure to check a specific fonts licence yourself to be 100% certain.

When using fonts, one of the biggest mistakes new designers make is incorrect kerning, which is the term used to describe the spacing between each letter. The below video from Sean McCabe beautifully explains how to properly kern letters. To practise and perfect your skills, I recommend playing this kerning game – only keep playing until you get 100% every fourth dimension.

Get feedback from other designers

Once you take vectorised your logos, I recommend getting feedback from a trusted designer friend before going any further. One of the best places to observe other designers who tin can get friends and mentors, or to inquire for honest feedback on your work I recommend joining the Logo Geek Community on Facebook. Information technology's totally gratis to join, and has some of the best logo designers in the world all in 1 place who can assistance yous learn and better. Post your work, get feedback and inquire for help. That'south what it's there for.

Presenting your logo designs

When you lot have completed a number of logo designs that effectively solve the brief, y'all'll want to and then present those designs to your customer (or if you're working on a fictional project it'south still good to present the work to others equally you would a client… especially in the Logo Geek customs – I love context!).

This video from Ben Burns at The Futur is a not bad overview on how you properly present logos to clients.

Dealing with client feedback

If you're working for a client, you tin can expect to get feedback. This can either make or interruption the blueprint, and so how y'all handle this is a skill in it's own right.

This video from Nesha Woolery is a useful resource to assistance you get the best feedback.

Preparing the logo design files

Once the logo is complete and agreed you'll need to finalise the artwork and set up the final files. Firstly you lot'll want to refine and finesse the artwork to make sure everything is perfect. This guide will help yous to do that: 5 tips for refining, perfecting & finessing a logo.

You'll also need to prepare a number of file formats. And then you know what these should be I recommend reading through 'a designers guide to creating logo files'.

Learning more than

There'due south always more than to learn about logo blueprint, so here'southward a few costless ways yous can keep learning:

Keep practicing. Logo pattern is a skill. Y'all merely get improve by doing.
Study the best designers and agencies. Work by agencies such as Pentagram, Design Studio and Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv e'er inspire me, as well as designers such equally Paul Rand and George Bokhua. Follow them on Instragram, and keep an eye on their work. Sites similar Make New and Blueprint Week are also useful ways to see and capeesh the latest design work.
Network with other designers. Inquire for feedback and advice. The best place to do that online is the Logo Geek Community, just also continue an centre out for out local design events well-nigh you.
Listen to the Logo Geek Podcast to learn from other designers. Y'all tin also see a listing of other great free blueprint podcasts on the resource page which I'm always adding to.
Download the Logo Designers Boxset, a free collection of eBooks that I've worked on to help yous through the logo blueprint process from start to stop.
If you're set up, and want to find real clients bank check out this guide: Where to Find High Quality Logo Design Clients

Hopefully this has been a useful guide to get you started, just if you lot have any other questions do not hesitate to contact me, or mail in the Facebook community.