Things You'll Need:
- Pencil
- Paper
- Digital design or editing program
- Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator
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Step 1
Start brainstorming with a pencil and paper and sketch out an idea. Involving a graphic artist after you have a basic concept is a good idea, since they have the computer programs and equipment to make the type of file that professional print shops use.
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Step 2
Start with basic shapes and colors and build from there.Select a basic shape or icon that can be reproduced easily in one or two colors on a small scale. For a basic shape, think ovals, rectangles, shields, stars, teardrop, spirals, hexagons or a combination of shapes that will make a pleasing image. An example would be the Nike swoosh, which does not look like a shoe, but looks good on a shoe, is easily recognizable and can be scaled to a small size. Simple designs are best.
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Step 3
An icon is a simple, stylized drawing.Choose an icon, if you wish to have a simplified picture that represents a product or service. It will need to be plainly designed with thick lines and broad areas. The icon should be a stylized depiction without a lot of detail or intricate lines.
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Step 4
Font style should match the nature of your business.Select a type of lettering or font that fits in with your company's image. For example, a bold block type would suit an industrial manufacturer, whereas a flowing script would suit a wedding planning service. Some logos are comprised of just lettering on a background.
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Step 5
Fit your design inside an area shaped like either a square or rectangle (similar in proportion to a playing card). If your design fits within one of these proportions, it will fit well within the limits of a business card, leaving room for names, addresses and phone numbers.
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Step 6
Decide whether you want to place your company's name or initials. Longer names are generally placed underneath.
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Step 7
When you have a good, solid concept, you may wish to draw out the logo in a digital editing program, like the raster-based Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or the freeware Gimp. Most graphic artists use a vector-based program like Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand or the freeware Inkscape to design logos. Vector files can be scaled to any size without losing resolution or having jagged-pixel edges. Either of these two types of programs have font sets to choose from.
