Mastering Logo Design: From Hand Sketch to Digital Masterpiece

Unleashing Your Creative Genius in Logo Design

Logos are not just born, they are carefully developed in a process that is guided by brand strategy and best design practices. When these two sides come together in perfect symmetry you’ll have a logo that can speak to your customers in memorable and lasting ways.

In this article we’re going to go into logo creation in a way that should make you feel empowered to start the process for your own company. We’ll look at the importance of free-sketching your ideas, what design principles should be considered, and what to do with your sketches. If you are not particularly confident in your drawing abilities, that doesn’t mean you can’t take part in the logo design process. You just might need some help drawing logo and we’ll cover that as well.

What are the Logo Design Best Practices?

It’s always a good idea to go over the “rules” before starting any endeavor. This is not intended to halt your creative thinking. The rules, or best practices, let you play in the right sandbox while also benefitting from the work that others have done. For designing a logo that means:

1. Stay Simple: When it comes to logo design, simple is best. Simple logos very clearly communicate who you are to the customer. They can also be easily remembered and recalled. 

2. Know Your Audience: Of course your logo needs to represent your brand but at the same time it can’t confuse or even alienate your audience. For example, a big fluffy cartoon bear might be great for kids, but for a serious businessman… 

3. A Logo Should Scale: Ensure that your logo will have the same clarity and presence no matter where it is used. If it is scaled up or down or used in print or on a screen it needs to still clearly communicate its’ portion of your brand story. 

4. It Should Stand Apart: See what the competition is doing with their logos but don’t allow the design to hew too close to a competitor.

5. Make it Unmistakable Yours: Your logo needs to be uniquely and unmistakably yours. Part of that will come from following your brand standards. The rest will happen by infusing it with the intangible aspects of who you are – your attitude, tone, “vibe.” 

Putting it all into action

Look at a brand like Heylocate to see how all of these best practices can come together. The Heylocate logo is a stylized, yet simple, design. Its two-tone color palette is on-point with the brand and visually appealing.

Following 5 Design Principles To Bring Your Logo to Life

With an understanding of the best practices to follow for logo design you can start to dive into your design ideas but be sure to keep these 5 logo design principles in mind.

1. Maintain Visual Balance: Keeping a visual balance in your logo is important. This can be:

• Symmetrical
• Asymmetrical
• Radial

2. Keep an Even Distribution: All of the various elements in your logo-icons, font, geometric shapes, etc.-should have an even and equal relationship. This is particularly important when using the logo in applications like billboards and email marketing. Making an icon 50% larger than any other element in the logo pulls the focus of the customer and can be confusing.

3. Develop a Cohesive Look: It can be easy to find an icon you like and then some cool colors and an interesting font. But how do they all work together? When you look at a professional logo you’ll quickly see that all of the elements have a cohesive look and feel.

4. Follow Color Theory: Blue is never just blue. Dark blue has a more serious, ominous feel while light blue has a freer, happy feeling associated with it. When you are selecting colors look into what color theory to see what they represent.

5. Choose a Strong Font: The font used in a logo is often the last thing selected but it is no less important than any other element. It’s the part of the logo that most clearly delivers your message so it needs to represent that strongly.

Now take all of this and start sketching!

How to Digitize Your Logo Sketch

When you have a logo sketch that you love, or at least that you are happy with, it’s time to get it digitized in either Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Here’s what you need to do.

Get Your Sketch Ready

To get started you’ll need a clear, well-lit, high-resolution digital picture of your logo sketch. You can drop it on a scanner and capture a digital version that way as well.

Select Your Software

Photoshop and Illustrator are two of the most popular tools for this type of work. You should use the one that you feel most comfortable in and that will give you the result that you need. If you like working with raster-based editing, Adobe Photoshop is where you want to be. But if you want a strong vector art program you’ll want to take your sketch into Illustrator.

There is also a third option if you do not have a license for either of those pieces of software: you can use the GraphicSprings logo maker located here.

Add a Layer to Trace Your Logo

The pencil sketch you started with is going to be a reference guide for the digital version. In a new layer, use the pen tool in Illustrator or try out a brush in Photoshop. Use these to trace your logo. This creates a true digital version.

Select Your Colors and Add Effects

Now it’s time to have fun by adding:

• Colors
• Textures
• Gradients
• Shadows

Refine Your Design

Now you have a digital version of the logo you designed. It’s probably great but is it perfect? This is the time to make adjustments as needed.

Elevate Your Logo

If you need a little assistance with your logo design at any point in your process we can help with our custom logo design service. 

1. Provide Us With Your Sketch: Take that photo (or scan) of your logo and upload it onto our site. 

2. Work With Our Talented Designers: Our design professionals will be in touch to learn about your brand and company goals. They’ll also explore things like where you will be using your logo and the messages you want it to convey.

3. Put Your Logo to Work: It won’t be long before you have a high-quality, digitized logo that perfectly represents your brand.

Tell Your Brand Story With a Captivating Logo

When you follow best practices and established design principles for creating a logo the result will be a “brand ambassador” that can tell your story in a visually powerful and memorable way.