Illustrations in your logo.
Simple is generally best, but can an illustrative logo work for you?

llustrative logos are usually more complex and detailed than their iconic or graphical counterparts, and are a highly-rendered pictorial (illustration) representation of some aspect of the company being portrayed. To develop the concept for the illustration, we can focus in on the name, the business concept or a company character/mascot that can be developed. Graphic design purists sometimes frown upon illustrative logos, and often with good reason. This type of logo is often used inappropriately or in instances where they simply won't work. Often, many new to the logo process want to 'throw the kitchen sink' at their new design - a visual version of 'the more the merrier'. Inexperienced designers can often create fully illustrative logos without giving thought to the client's market segment, the types of usage planned or the company's corporate image. It's certainly true that Illustrative logos are NOT for every application or branding scenario. Having said that, there are times when an illustrative logo is not only appropriate, but it's the one and only solution.

Amish Custom Woodworking	Reality Artisans Consulting	Effekt Studio Cinema & Film FX

When developing, or hiring someone to develop, an illustrative logo, it's not just the drawing itself that's important. The artwork has be visually 'comfortable' with appropriate fonts and typography. The illustration needs to be self-contained enough to be effective as a stand alone design. And even though these kind of logos often require a full color palette, the final digital artwork and files need to be technically 'savvy' enough to work with a wide-range of applications. Illustrative logos require a full array of logo file formats and setups so that they can be integrated with other artwork - from full color to linear black and white. Developing an illustrative logo requires the attention of a designer who's familiar with all logo types and the ramifications of same - creating a illustrative logo is not just making a 'pretty picture', slapping on some font work and hoping for the best. A few classic examples of a highly rendered illustrative logos are the two we've featured here. The Steve Dahl Radio Show and the Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan. Each features illustrative treatments of the logo subject, but are self-contained enough to work as logos and despite their relative complexity work on a wide range of media. When working with illustrative logos, it's also possible to create a logo 'sub set' - a series of simplified logos that are based on the original version and applicable when use of the full version is impractical or cost prohibitive. In the case of the Steve Dahl Radio Show logo, not only did we create full lofo usage 'style sheet' for all the various applications of the logo, we also developed a 'Steve-free' version that could be used on hats, T-shirt breasts and other simple applications (right). See our anatomy of an illustrative logo design for a step-by-step case study of how our process works.

Illustrative logos - some pricing notes.
As opposed to other types of logos, illustrative designs require an additional step of preliminary sketches, more designer time and any major modifications generally involve starting from scratch. Each project requires the selection and approval from initial sketches before digital rendering and addition of textual and color elements Accordingly, lllustrative logos are ONLY available through our Professional and Gold design packages. Illustrative logos are generally not available with our Entry and Entry Plus logo packages. There may be certain instances when we can accomidate you if the illustration is not very complex, or if you have preliminary sketches for use to work from. If you require clarification on types of logos, or our pricing policies, don't hesitate to contact our studio.

Next Page: Text only logos

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