Logo Design

I haven't had a history of doing TOO many logo designs. But those I DID get the opportunity to do I've enjoyed a lot. I'm making good progress on the one I'm working on now. Hopefully in a couple weeks I'd have a finished product to show here.

It got me thinking lately about logos. In this day and age basically ANYBODY can whip up some kind of font and design for their company name using a basica Paintbrush program or Microsoft Word. Back in my dad's day he had to either purchase his fonts using those expensive rub-on sheets or he had to draw it all by hand. I remember sitting at his side praying that I would get a sheet of those letters I could use for fun...but they were so expensive he had to just give me left overs. So I'd end up with font sheets that only had letters I could never use...like "Ks" and "Xs"

I visit some offtopic boards online for fun sometimes and I see "competitions" all the time for people offering $25 to anyone who can make them a logo for their company. Sure enough, they'll have kids cropping up all over the place designing these random logos for them. Sometimes they look pretty good I'll have to admit.

But then what makes a GOOD logo versus a BAD one? What separates the amatuers from the pros? I found a good explanation on the wikipedia. A good logo:

• is unique, and not subject to confusion with other logos among customers
• is functional and can be used in many different contexts while retaining its integrity (e.g., small or large, color or black/white,printed on paper or embossed on cloth)
• abides by basic design principles of space, color, form, consistency and clarity
• represents the brand/company appropriately.
  

I've seen it said that a Logo design is considered the pinnacle of a graphic designer's talent. It has to have a HUGE imprint with such a small device. It's such an honor to be asked to do someone's business logo....they're trusting me to do something that will be the embodiment of their business from the first day it's in business till the end.

Above all...it's fun to do.