How to Make Photoshop Logos

If you have basic experience with Adobe Photohop, creating a logo for print or web can be relatively easy and fun. Here is a step-by-step procedure using a logo design created for a business.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Adobe Photoshop

1. Open a new document and size it to about 4-by-6 inches at a resolution of 300 ppi ( Pixels Per Inch). This is a standard resolution for printing and a slightly larger size than needed for most purposes. If you are going to use the logo on a website, you can lower the resolution to 72 ppi later. The size and shape of your logo may vary, so you can crop the border down to fit when you are finished designing, and also scale it down to fit a business card if you wish.

2. 
    
   Company Name

   Start by typing the name of your company or organization with a font that reflects the nature of your business. Try several different font types and colors, and see how it looks in all capital letters versus caps on the main words. In this example, the clients wanted something elegant that would appeal to their upscale customers and suggest growing plants.

3. 
    
   Drawing Emblem

   Draw an emblem or icon that suggests an element of your organization's purpose or function. In this example, the pen tool was used to draw a stylized depiction of water waves. The pen tool can be used to draw vector shapes that can be scaled without losing resolution, or stretched to fit, as in this example, under the length of the company's name.

4. 
    
   Drawing Decoration

   Consider adding other small, illustrated decorations that will help convey an element of the services you provide. In this case, a triplet of leaves is drawn using the pen tool. Each shape is automatically placed on a separate layer. (Make sure your layers' palette is displayed. It can be accessed by selecting "Window" from the menu bar at top, then "Layers" or "Show Layers" in older versions of Photoshop.)

5. 
    
   Scale and place Decoration

   Place your additional decoration(s) at a select area that will complement the design artistically. In this example, the leaves are added to the tail of the last letter to imply a sprouting water plant. The layers are linked, and the 3 leaves are scaled down simultaneously.

6. 
    

   Add an additional line of type to help describe your activities or services. As in this company's logo, the words written in the slender font tell customers what they can receive from Water Gardens Galore. The bottom line of type is smaller and in a different font style (to distinguish it from the company's title).

7. 
    
   Finished Logo using Photoshop

   Try the basic formula of Title, Emblem, Decoration and Description. It will prove to be a clear, concise and memorable logo for your enterprise.