This is the second logo design tutorial, which is again aimed at complete beginners. The exercises are designed to break down the thinking behind designing a logo into bite size chunks. Don’t forget to check out the first logo tutorial too.
This logo design exercise will allow you to concentrate on another important aspect of logo design which is to start looking for suitable fonts/typefaces. As with the first logo tutorial we are again going to use the two words we used previously. If you didn’t do the previous exercise choose 2 words which are different to each other (ie. Dog and cat, angel and devil)
Logo Design Tutorial Exercise 2
1. Think about what sort of typeface/font might represent the words well.
Taking the word “angel” for example we might look for typefaces/fonts which are very round, or light weight or simple. The word “devil” on the other hand conjures up a much harsher, perhaps heavier or angular typeface/font.
2. Try out different fonts
You can of course look through the fonts on your machine and test out different fonts, but for this exercise I am going to suggest you go over to Dafont.com which offers variety of fonts free to download. The great thing about Dafont is that it allows you go type in your chosen words (you have to first choose from one of the type categories) and then see how they look in each of the fonts.
3. Always remember as with most things simple is generally best
You can see below some more unusual fonts used to spell out Devil. Some look really interesting in themselves, but remember to use them sparingly. In most cases it’s best to avoid crazy over the top fonts, especially especially Comic Sans and stick with much simpler ones.
4. Download a selection of the best fonts
Once you have found several fonts you feel are appropriate download them and test them out in Illustrator (Inkscape is free vector software you can use and an alternative.) Why not also experiment to see if you can combine them with some of the elements from the first logo tutorial.
Hopefully this exercise has got you thinking more about choosing appropriate fonts. There is much more we can delve into regarding using fonts in future logo design exercises.
Note: If in future you intend to use any of the fonts from Dafont for paid commercial use make sure you check the licenses on the fonts – not all fonts may be used for commercial work without permission.
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5 Comments
Hello, I just started a business and need a logo. I’ve been looking for information on the internet but all I found was to make a logo tutorials, none had the creative process of the logo.
This tutorial covers the creative process from the beginning. Grab a pencil and paper, and start generating ideas.
The program I used is Adobe Illustrator and it handles well. I do not know Linkscape.
I have tested different fonts, and I followed the advice going to dafont.com website where I downloaded several fonts. I did not know this site thanks for the information.
It seems a very simple and easy tutorial to follow.
I hope to create a logo that I like.
Thanks for the post. Greetings.
Thank you for posting this. Very helpful. And those fonts are wicked good looking.
Great Article for Beginners….
Just to add on to the importance of a Logo Design is that people process an image in their mind more readily than words alone. A logo serves as the visual stimulation to kickstart the audience’s memory, leaving a greater and lengthier impact than words alone can do. It is the simplest and most direct way in promoting a business presence; it’s a “what we’re about” statement without the long-winded speech.
Logos give brand name recognition and add visual appeal to any document or web page. Because your logo is a unique graphic image, your visitors’ eyes will naturally be drawn to it both on the web and on your printed materials.
Hi Tara,
Love your blog, this post is really helpful to beginners, awesome!
Thanks K