Comments on: What makes a good logo?

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:49:55 +0000

Thanks for the help!!

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:04:23 +0000

I think the most frustrating thing about clients asking a designer to create a logo is this: “You’re the designer, but I wanna stick my fingers in your pie.” They want control of every little thing, but they want us to push buttons on the computer to make it look pretty. Designers need to clearly explain that they are in control and the client has 3 options . Period. There are milestones, of course, but the client does not make design decisions. If they do, the hundreds of thousands of dollars designers spent on education mean nothing.

By: Jassica

Jassica — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:50:33 +0000

Recently I’ve read a post. It went something like this: “My business is high end. I need a designer to use the “Virgin” logo’s font to write my business name and create a unique, iconic mark for my business. My budget is $50″.

My reply was: There is no “Virgin’s font” the word Virgin was custom written. If your business is high end, you need a high end logo not some clip art crap slap together like all these “logo sweat shops from India make for $149 and less”. Client’s reply was “your estimate is unrealistic. Bye”. I laughed.

By: Lee Newham

Lee Newham — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 11:09:43 +0000

What companies visuals identities are more important that what it does? If that is the case ( I can’t think of any) then that company seriously needs to look at what it does.

By: R.P.

R.P. — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 05:28:21 +0000

IMO, aside from being recognizable and memorable, a good logo makes you want to look at it and gives you some degree of pleasure. When I’m working on a logo I tend to agonize over typefaces and will often cycle through 100s for each word involved. Some words look right in certain fonts and others just don’t. Once I find the font, or combo of fonts I want to use I base the graphic elements on those.

It’s a bit crazy and I’m lucky I don’t have a boss to breath down my neck about the time spent, but I really like the results I get. A good logo intrigues and gives pleasure and a great one has a life and personality of it’s own.

I can think of many cases where a company’s visual identity has become far more important than it’s products or services. I am confident that 90% of business owners underestimate the importance of their visual identity and their logo, specifically. Bad design hurts credibility and helps the competition.

Great article, BTW!

By: Stephanie Perales

Stephanie Perales — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:15:31 +0000

Why did you use the OU logo if you could have picked a lot of others?

By: David Airey

David Airey — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:00:15 +0000

Hi Andrew, here's a post you might appreciate: I wish I'd known that The comments are also worth a read. Don't be nervous. Just be humble. Good luck.

By: Andrew Philip

Andrew Philip — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:40:05 +0000

David ive just finished my first year studying Graphic design at college and thoroughly enjoyed. I have also just gained a part time job in a local Design company which i start next week (soo nervous), i was wondering if you have any tips or advice for me to be successful in this industry? and also what i should expect on my first day because i have no idea how design companys work. thank you

p.s nice website

By: Nasir Khan

Nasir Khan — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:59:44 +0000

David, Great article.
However, I disagree with you that OU logo is great.
It gives me a feeling of a “hole in the pocket”.
Overall I think you should add “evoked positive feelings” to the list of traits you mentioned above.
thanks

By: David Airey

David Airey — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:03:14 +0000

Wherever I’m living I focus on the positives, Ian, and believe me, there are many places worse-off than Bangor. It’s proving a good base while I write my book. After that’s done, who knows? My feet itch.

Lee has a lot of experience, and knows what he’s talking about. He’s given you some great advice again. You factor the cost of fonts into what the client pays, whether you’re buying a new family, or using one you bought in the past.

I typed “fonts clients” into the search box on my blog, scrolled down the results a little, and found your question had already been answered in the comments of my Henri Ehrhart post. The people who read my blog are pretty unbelievable when it comes to offering advice, and with 15,000+ comments on my posts, I’m sure you’ll get some more help using the search box. If you don’t, though, feel free to leave questions as a comment on a relevant post.

Pricing isn’t straightforward, that’s for sure. And there are a lot of factors involved.