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. (more…)