Best Logo Design Prerequisites to Become an Unbeatable Logo Designer

We all know that our logos are what define us and our business. They are the most recognizable things about your business. Twitter’s bird, Nike’s tick, McDonald’s golden arches and Apple’s apple are some of the most famous examples of logos.

This is why your logo needs to be striking, professional yet simple enough for the public to accept. But if you want your logo designs that are engaging, attractive and everlasting, you need some unique tools in your arsenal that will help you along the way.

Here are some of the best logo design prerequisites that a good logo designer needs:

PENCILS

This is the most basic tool that every logo designer worth for their needs and a most have. It is also something that most people nowadays might overlook because of its simplicity, but it is one of the main tools needed. You must have a pen or preferably a pencil of some kind. We will suggest a mechanical pencil so that you can work without breaking your flow every now and then to sharpen it.

In addition to a mechanical pencil, do carry colored pencils in different colors like yellow, blue, red, and green so that you can easily highlight your best logo design ideas. Also, color pencils are helpful as they keep you engaged and keep your ideas separate. Otherwise, you might just mix up all your work and later on wouldn’t be able to decide where you started and where you ended.

PAPERS OR A SKETCHBOOK

Now we know that all the designing is done on a computer, but you still need a pencil and papers in the initial stages. Some logo designers prefer working entirely on the computer but that is not advisable. The freedom and independence that you get with a paper and pen, not to mention the speed, cannot be had with a computer. Especially when you are developing ideas. Once you have found your best idea, you can transfer it to your computer and work on it, but until that time, we suggest sticking to the paper.

Also, there’s no telling when or where an idea might strike you. The best designers get inspiration from anything and everything that they observe. So keep a pocket-sized notebook and a pencil with it so that no matter where you are, you can jot down your idea. Who knows? It might be the best logo design that you’ve come up with.

ONLINE LOGO MAKERS

Logo makers have been around for quite some time now. These DIY logo design sites allow you to create logos without having to go through the hassle of going through a web agency. A logo maker consists of usually three easy steps to design a logo. First you’ll need to enter your company and industry, then you will be able to choose from a wide range of logo templates. Using the online logo maker you’ll be able to adjust and add a personal touch to your logo. Once you’re finished you can download your high definition logo files at an affordable price. This is a great method if you are looking for a quick and easy logo design option.

VECTOR GRAPHICS SOFTWARE

So, you have your idea on paper and you know that it’s the one. Now you will need the right type of logo design software. For designing a logo you will need what is called a vector graphics editor.

ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR

Adobe Illustrator is, without a doubt, an industry leader when it comes to working on vector graphics. If you are serious about your career as a logo designer, then you need to learn how to design a logo in Illustrator.

It is rich in features, contains powerful tools and allows you to draw your own elements or duplicate elements from other pictures and scale and edit them at your will. You can draw anything that you can imagine by using the Pen tool, that creates curves as well as straight lines, or the pencil tool that is used to draw simple paths using freehand drawings. The best part is perhaps the precision that these tools allow you to draw with. Another tool that you will fall in love with is the Pathfinder tool. But that’s not all. The Adobe Illustrator provides a lot of other tools and plugins for your drawing pleasure.

You can purchase Adobe Illustrator individually or you can get the entire Adobe Suite which will also include software like Photoshop and InDesign.

Also Read: Essential Tools for Graphic Designers

INKSCAPE

Like we said, Adobe Illustrator is the most powerful tool out there but it comes at a price. The software that is the closest to Illustrator while being free is Inkscape.

This software is free of cost and it’s an open source. This means that it is developed by a whole community. It is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. There are a lot of free resources online that will help you to learn how to design a corporate logo.

Inkscape also has the pencil and pen tools that Illustrator has along with tools to create text and color tools that will help you if you want to learn how to design a logo in Inkscape.

FONTS

Some logos contain only symbols but most of the logos contain either typography or a mixture of both. For the later ones, you have to either create fonts or download and purchase them. You can find millions upon millions of fonts if you just start looking. Just make sure that the font you purchase or download for free matches the company’s overall image.

One excellent resource for fonts is the Google Fonts library. All the font that it contains are open source and you can easily download them and use them. You can even customize them for your purposes. The only problem with freely available fonts is that since there are not many high-quality free fonts out there, a lot of designers use them. That may prove to be a problem as you are trying to make your logo design unique and creative.

Apart from all these tools, what you must have is the knowledge. You can only get that by reading different literature and looking up different types of logos and studying them. So read away, and use the above mentioned tools to become a force to be reckoned with in the logo design industry.