Logos are essential to branding your business. The biggest mistake I made initially when learning to design logos was making them too complicated. Take the time to look (and perhaps try to draw) some top logos: Fedex, Cocacola, amazon, Apple, Disney, McDonalds - they aren't that complicated? When designing your logo, work backwards. Think:

1. Size: What size will the logo be? (a one by two inch space on a letterhead? Only on my website banner? On a billboard?) If it's going to be tiny and printed, make sure it looks great in black and white and without a lot of detail.

2. Color: Logos should look good in black and white. In some situations, your logo may mostly viewed digitally so you can be a more liberal with color and gradient (like the mozilla firefox logo and x-box 360 logo).

3. Elements: Keep it simple. Maybe a unique type (like in Coca Cola) or a tiny cute little element (like the arrow in Fedex).

4. Research logos you like. Figure out why you like them. (simple? unique? a certain style?)

5. Brainstorm! What are adjectives or elements that describe your business? Do you want a feeling of movement in your logo? 3D appearance?

5. Sketch out your ideas. Even if you are terrible at drawing, you can go through so many more ideas and visualize it beforehand.

5. Then, go to the computer and draw it out.

Or, skip all that and call me. ;)

Brenda Fleming | New Mexico Art