Design tips

Coco Chanel once said, “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off”. The same thing applies to design. You want to make sure people can read your logo from a distance, or when it’s really small – keeping it “clean” (designer speak for “lots of blank space”) will achieve this. Here we can see how Savant Yoga has utilized blank space to invoke a feeling of calmness. This logo for a photography business takes minimalism to a new level, and creates a camera icon out of two brackets and the letter “o”. This logo proves that you don’t always need a whole bunch of colors or symbols to create a great logo. Using blank space in your logo design is also helpful when it comes to brochure design, poster design, t-shirt printing, and plenty of other marketing collateral. Your logo is easier to integrate seamlessly into different designs and formats. Return to Table of Contents

Shapes are a really great way to make your logo stand out. For this logo for a law firm, we put the firm’s name inside boxes to achieve a professional look. This also helps with cross-platform branding, as a “boxed in” logo works well digitally, as well on letterhead, presentations, and merchandise such as pens or lanyards. Shapes with interesting gradients or textures can be used to push your design to the next level. Here, FX Technology Co. has used a blue to yellow gradient to achieve a really sleek look. They’ve used a laptop icon inside the circle, but this could easily be changed to a bunch of flowers, a wine glass, or a stack of weights depending on your business. Return to Table of Contents

Boy, wouldn’t this logo look great on a coffee cup! When designing your logo try to make sure you think about its intended uses – are you looking to use it on a uniform, or will it just be for your website design? You can use a Mock Up Generator to see how your logo will look in situ. It’s also good to think about how you’re going to promote yourself when creating a logo. If you’re going to be doing a lot of networking, create a logo that looks good on business cards. This coral logo from Bird View Photography is arranged in a horizontal manner and would look great on a card. Return to Table of Contents

Source Pepsi has been around for 120+ years as a brand. The modern Pepsi logo we know is drastically different from how it had started. But the transformation from then to now was a gradual one. That’s because Pepsi was always building on the brand it had established, it wasn’t trading its old brand for a new and shiny one. Besides, a drastic change would have been confusing for its consumers. People might not have recognized the Pepsi brand or product as easily, in stores or in advertisements. It’s ok to be bold and try new things. Use patterns, overlapping shapes, and contrasting colors to create a modern logo. The “C” layered over the semi-circle helps elevate this design to the next level, and the contrasting blue and purple tell us that this company is bold and forward-thinking. Modernization doesn’t have to be ‘in your face’ to work. For this logo, Discovery Education chose to use an overlapping box effect. The subtle geometric pattern on the top box really helps to bring the logo right into 2019 – helping the brand feel fresh. Also, they have used a sans serif font which stops the logo from feeling stuffy and dated. Return to Table of Contents

In our blog post “How to pick colors“ we explained how color is the most valuable tool in a designer’s toolbox, and it’s no different when making a logo. In design, we call this “visual salience”. It’s a great term to use in casual conversation to impress your designer friends, and also a great way to create an impactful logo. Share this graphic on Twitter One easy way to create visual salience is to use a ‘pop’ of color. In this Evergreen logo, the pop comes from a green leaf icon above the black text, but you could also make the first letter of your name a different color or even a whole word. Adding this small pop of color stops your design from feeling flat, and is a trick designers use all of the time. The Amazon logo is a great example of this. Return to Table of Contents

Be literal, but make sure it fits your organization. Some companies, such as non-profits, demand a level of seriousness that a production company or ice cream shop can get away without. Ask yourself: if I saw this logo for the first time, would I trust this company? Here Helping Hands have managed to create a logo that is both respectable but uses hands. Muted colors and serif fonts are key here, and stop the logo from feeling too cartoonish. A font can go a long way to helping you create the right logo – luckily Venngage has a huge font library (we recently added 40 new fonts!) and we even have blog posts about font psychology to make sure you nail it.

Your name is Electric Box Productions, huh? Have you considered…putting electricity inside a box? Sometimes it really is that easy. If your name is a thing, make that thing your logo. Don’t be afraid to lean into the obvious, there’s a reason that Apple’s logo is, well, an apple. Brewery logos are notorious for being literal, like this Cigar City Brewing logo: Take note that some brands had to protect themselves from competitors infringing their registered trademark because the words at their logos weren’t translated into local languages or the logos literally depicted something that wasn’t translated. For example, a South Africa-based Jordan Winery that was using an image of a chameleon on their sued one of the competitors, Lovane, for featuring the images of chameleons on their merchandise. The problem was the word “uluvane” meant “chameleon” in one of the local languages in the country, which could potentially create associations between the two brands. The two brands spent quite a lot of time in court and paid thousands in legal fees, which could have been avoided had Jordan Winery used trademark translation to protect their brand. Gold Spoon have been really clever with their logo design here, and have used their titular icon (the gold spoon) as a replacement for the letter “p”. This reminds me a lot of the hidden arrow in the FedEx logo and just goes to show that literally doesn’t mean boring. Return to Table of Contents

Monochromatic doesn’t always mean black and white! Sometimes black and white can seem harsh on our eyes, especially if we’re trying to create a feeling of zen. You can use various shades of the same color to create subtle contrasts within your logo. By using various shades of pink, Serenity has created a logo that is very calming – much like their spa must be. If you’ve been searching for the answer to, “what is good design?” well now you know. Return to Table of Contents

Some indexing design is useful during database modeling, even if indexes may change during actual deployment and usage. Of course, it is possible to have too many indexes, just like it is possible to have too few. Indexing is an ongoing process. During design, you start the process on your model. Design work is on the primary keys and constraints. Indexes are important when considering queries on the data. When modeling, you should consider how the data will be queried. Take care not to over-index. Indexing revolves around query optimization.