Can a non-designer create a simple logo design that works?
Absolutely!
Follow the steps below to learn how to create a simple word mark logo. This is a simple logo design style that’s used by some of the most powerful corporations in the world.
Related: Why a Fancy Logo is a Waste of Time and Money (and What You Need Instead)
Here’s why I wrote this article:
One of my course students asked whether or not she needed a logo for her business.
You might think that’s like asking a surgeon if you need surgery for a medical problem.
(Their answer? “Of course you do!”)
I’m here to tell you that you can get away with not having a logo.
That doesn’t mean you don’t need to think about how to present your tagline or your business, though.
And it doesn’t mean you can just type out your business name in Helvetica and call it a day!
Instead, I want you to embrace a simple logo design style that’s used by brands like FedEx, Coca-Cola, Google, and more.
Simple logo design rule #1: Pick a brand font with personality
If you haven’t chosen a brand font yet, these two simple steps will help:
- Take five minutes to do my free brand personality quiz to discover what your basic brand personality is
- Read this post: Brand Fonts: Why Some Website Typeface Combinations Look So Stunning
Let’s imagine our friend Doug, who loves donuts and coffee so much, he’s going to open a little breakfast counter on Main Street that specializes in caffeinated, roasted beverages, and fragrant, fresh donuts.
Yummm …
Doug doesn’t have the budget to hire a designer, but he wants to do something to distinguish his business. He starts by typing out his business name in Helvetica:
Boring!
So Doug looks at different typefaces to see if he can find one with a little more personality.
Related: Free Font Resources
He comes across Futura, and notices that the “o” in this typeface looks a lot like a nice, round donut — and the top view of a coffee cup!
Perfect. His simple logo design now has a font with some personality — and some design potential.
Simple logo design rule #2: Tighten up the letter spacing
Futura straight out of the box doesn’t really work as a logo font.
That’s because most fonts are designed to be readable at text sizes. The weight, letter spacing, and overall design look great when used small.
What happens when you enlarge the font to use it logo sized?
When you enlarge the font, the spacing between letters is enlarged, too, and the letters look too spread out.
So Doug tightens up the letter spacing by squinching (technical term ;-)) the letters closer together.
Even word processing programs will let you do this: look for character or letter spacing settings.
That’s what Doug gets after adjusting letter spacing. But he wants to take it up a notch.
What are his options? Read on …
Simple logo design rule #3: Give your design some zip
His simple logo design is looking better, but Doug wants more!
He decides to punch up the design a bit.
The easiest way to do this is to simply look at the letter forms. Are there letters — or whole words — that you could emphasize?
Can you make specific words or letters:
- Larger
- Bolder
- ALL CAPS
- Italicized
- Colored?
Doug finds a brown color that reminds him of coffee, and a nice, warm orange that looks a little like the icing on his popular pumpkin-spice donut.
He emphasizes the round “o” letters by making them bold, and changing the color.
Finally! Doug has a simple logo design he’s proud of! It’s a memorable word mark logo he can associate with his business.
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Editor’s note: This post was originally published on March 10, 2011. Great design is evergreen, so trends haven’t changed much since then. Even so, it’s been updated with new resources and clearer information. Enjoy!
22 thoughts on “Simple Logo Design: “Doc, Do I Need a Logo?””
Hi Pamela! 🙂
I love this example and how you’ve shown the process. And “squinching” is an AWESOME term. 😉
Every once in a while I like to throw in a technical term so you can learn the lingo! 😉
What an excellent post.
You’re going against the conventional wisdom and giving great advice at the same time.
Many thanks.
Thanks, Margaret. Logos are important — but only sometimes. Why develop one if you don’t really need it? Thanks for your comment.
Pamela,
You are great at explaining the concept of design – I love fonts! Now, if you will excuse me, I have some headers that need to be reviewed after reading this post. : )
Thank you – Theresa
PS: Great webinar yesterday! I plan on purchasing your Big Brand System Design as soon as I finish another training program I’m working on. I particularly liked your thoughts on an “accent color”. I re-worked on some call to action buttons as a result and I really liked how they came out. Thank you!
So glad to hear your liked it, Theresa. It was a fun experience, and I suspect I’ll do others in the future.
Good luck with your headers! 🙂
Me too!
This is very helpful. I’ve created a few simple logos, and also used some online “logo generators.” I’ve found that looking at other logos is good inspiration. Color scheme is another key aspect, which you use to great effect in this example. If I can’t decide on a font, I’ll type it out several times in different fonts to see how it looks. Often the decision comes down to the shape of a specific letter or two.
That’s exactly what I do! It’s a wonderful way to start, because — as you said — sometimes the letter shapes will suggest a solution.
This is exactly how my first ‘logo’ came about years ago, and I still use my rainbow letters, too. I may have to play with ‘squinching’, though!
Brooke, your logo looks great! Thanks for the comment.
I consider logo as the primary aspects of branding. I hope that one day my logo the fist would become popular and stand for the guy with an attitude.
Also if you look at logo’s for nike and addidas they are forever remembered for their simplicity.
Thanks for the lovely write up. I hope bloggers read this post and understand its importance.
I followed this advice a long time ago to design my own logo. I actually found out about http://www.dafont.com from one of your articles, used the site to see how my name looked in different fonts, picked up two and was in business.
Of course, now that I look back I think that squinching would have made the logo look even better.
Bhaskar, your logo is a great example of this concept. It’s interesting and engaging, and you did that with just the letters. Congratulations!
Thank you for the expert feedback. What I am looking for is a way to represent it in a shorter form so that I can put that in my Facebook fan page,LI company page and favicon image. You have a tutorial for that? 🙂
What a simple, and super valuable, piece of advice 🙂 I’ve seen so many small businesses stop at step 1, and not only does it look unappealing, but it just screams unprofessional. I personally think that a logo is a pretty big deal. It’s one of the basic building blocks to your brand, and if it’s not decent, people can’t help but think that’s a reflection of your business and how much you value it in general. Your tip is a fantastic way to get around this if your budget is tight!
You’re right, and it’s such a Catch-22 situation when you’re starting out. You need a logo but you can’t afford a professionally designed one. This solution is one way to create something that looks good until you can afford something else. It’s a place to start!
Pamela: Thank you for the helpful post…here’s my attempt at a logo…I’d appreciate any feedback, but I’m most on the fence about the font. Necessity is truly the mother of invention, so I cranked this out myself since I was broke. 🙂
https://bourgiewinetv.com/2011/03/14/bourgie-wine-tv-ep-013-learn-to-taste-wine-in-5-minutes/
Hi Krista! Your comment got caught in my spam filter, and I just rescued it. Sorry for the delay!
Your site header turned out great: lots of personality there. Necessity can be the driver behind a lot of quality design work. Nice job!
I’d totally agree that most people could do a simple basic logo, but not all of them would see the “o” in Futura as a nice round one like a donut or even further, the “top of a coffee cup”.
Also, they wouldn’t even think to adjust the tracking to tighten up tracking or kerning.
That’s a designer’s eye looking at the logo and not someone using Microsoft Word.
That’s what I’m here for, Justin! I’m teaching people to see things the way we do: to look beyond the obvious and see the forms, spaces and alignment.
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