It’s all black and white

When designing a logo, do you design in black and white? Or do you jump straight in and use all of the many wonderful colours and shades the latest packages allow you to use?

When brainstorming an idea for a logo, consider the worst common denominator - where the logo will look its absolute worst. This is normally a photocopied / faxed / laser printed document. All of these have one thing in common, they will display your logo in black and white. So if you start your design process in single colour, you ensure your logo does not rely on colour to work.

I always tend to start any design with some rough sketches on paper, which of course means my ideas are entirely black and white. Then, when you move to your mac or pc, leave the design in black and white. This will give you one less thing to worry about so you can really focus on the design. You can make sure every little detail fits together without worrying about what colour each part is going to be. It is only when I am fairly happy with the design that I then move into colour.

Be vary careful with the choice of colour(s) for a logo. A good logo rarely uses more than 2. If you think of all the iconic corporate logos we see in our everyday life, there are few examples that use more than 2 colours (Coca Cola), with the majority making use of just one (Apple, Nike, Adidas).

Size is also very important. Test your logo at varying sizes. If you logo makes use of text, then it will probably not work as a very small thumbnail, so a visual element may be required for use when displayed small. Work on the size of a postage stamp. If the logo does not look good at this size, then play around with it until it does.

When pitching a colour logo or design to a client, always have a black and white version to hand. Many people can be blinkered by colour and not see the true potetial of the design. If someone does not like green, then a green logo would be there last choice. However, if you also show the logo in black and white with the colour version being just a suggestion, the client is much more likely to see past the colour and look at the design.

So the next time you start thinking about designing a logo, make the colour choice the very last step

Posted by Steve

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Posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2007 at 9:00 am
Posted In Logo Design | Tags: , ,

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eightyone design is a small graphic design studio based in Paignton, South Devon. Specialising in innovative and dynamic design for print and web; eighty one design offer web design, graphic design, blog design, logo design, flyers, catalogue, brochures and print design to businesses throughout Torbay and South Devon including Torquay, Paignton and Brixham. Our aim is to provide creative design solutions to any brief, with enthusiasm and a friendly approach.