Ten ways to screw up a perfectly good logo.
You’ll bump into Top Ten lists all over the toobz (thank you David Letterman). How to do this. How to do that. You’ll even find dozens of numbered pointers telling you “How to create a great logo” or some variant thereof, and all are valuable to some degree. We thought we’d kick off the weekend with a look at ways you can screw up a perfectly good logo design project (based on actual case histories from TLF gigs that, for one - or more - of the reasons listed, have gone off the rails). I’ve tried (you can judge how successfully) to write this with both designers and clients in mind. So without futher ado, here’s #10 of 10 ways that can sink a perfectly good logo…
#10 - Design your logo in Microsoft Word, Paint or even the king of pixel based image software, Adobe Photoshop.
Creating a bitmap logo in a pixel based design software is only going to lead to headaches and invariably, uneccessary expense. Same applies to logos developed using so-called logo design software available at the local office supply store. You won’t be able to enlarge your design due to resolution issues. You won’t be able to add your logo to other artwork (unless it’s been designed with a transparent background and even that comes with issues). You won’t be able to change colors without a series amount of work (and even then, with unpredictable results). And spot color reproduction? Forget it. Take a look at your logo assets - if you don’t see a file with the extension .eps (vector) .ai or at the very least .pdf (vector), it’s time to see a designer who will introduce you to the joys of vector based logos. And Microsoft Word? Nuttin’ to do with design…
