This post is an expansion of tip #47 in our post 101 Graphic Design Tips for Business Success.
Your Logo’s Future
Before you even start conceptualizing your logo, plan on the future life of the logo. Make your logo flexible, so the client can use it in all types of media and marketing mediums. Begin with the potential of multiple end products in mind. Your logo may travel through all types of media that you wouldn’t have imagined.
It may end up on a storefront sign, car wrap, or on something small like a pen or keychain. Be prepared to have your logo embossed, embroidered, silkscreened, watermarked, blown-up, or shrunk down.
Logos aren’t just for pretty business cards and stationary. They are widely used for marketing and communication in an array of forms. Ensure that you have thoughtfully prepared your client for success. They are not the experts at what they need to make this happen, you must help them here.
There have been many times when a vendor is tearing their hair out because the only logo the client can find is the 12k .gif off of their website. Not a good choice for a billboard or backpack.
How To Create The Most Versatile Logo
Here’s how you create the most versatile logo:
- Create your logo in a vector-based program. Illustrator or CorelDraw not Photoshop. (Vector-based means that the software is based off of a mathematical formula not pixels like Photoshop. This allows you to scale your logo without losing any detail.)
- Set it up to a good beginning size: a common size such as 4” x 4” or 6” x 6”.
- Keep it simple. Minimize your usage of gradients, shading, shadow, anything that will lose its detail when shrunk down in size.
- Use PMS colors. This allows you and others a quick way to identify the correct color usage for the brand and logo. Vendors will also use this information to closely match when a PMS is not available in materials like plexi-glass, vinyl, fabric, and thread.
- Plan on multiple color usage. Do several versions for your client: full color – CMYK, 2 or 3 Color – your PMS colors spotted out, Black, and White.
- Plan on multiple files variations: .ai, .eps, .jpg, .gif, and a .png with a transparent background. Your client will most likely use the .jpg, .gif, or .png files, since those are the ones that they are likely to be able to see on their computer. However, they will be asked for the .eps or .ai file when they need promotional materials created for an outside vendor.
Make this “variety pack” part of your finished product delivery. If you want to give them an added bonus, size one of the logos down to email signature size and let them know how to add it to their outlook.
Now you can rest knowing that you have given your client all the tools they need to make themselves and their logo look good – no matter what!
