Creating a Logo in Illustrator: My Process
When it comes to making logos, every graphic designer has a different process. From free handing a design and tracing it in Adobe Illustrator, to creating inspo boards and pulling elements from other designs, there’s a different method for everyone. I have tried many different methods of creating a logo, but the one I found that works best for me follows these steps.
Firstly, figuring out what your client’s business is will help you get a start. When you know what it is they do, you will be able to do things to make your logo design process easier. Once I have an idea of what they do, I will create a word map to get ideas together of what elements I can incorporate into the logo. Word maps are great because they lead you to discover elements that you may never have thought of. When starting a word map, you want the main word to be the most obvious thing the company does. For example, a recent logo I used this technique for was a logging company. I started my word map with the word “Tree” which would be the most obvious thing. Then I began to branch off that (no pun intended) with words like leaves, saws, rakes, logs, etc.
After I have an idea of elements I can incorporate into the logo, I begin gathering inspiration for designs. I will create an inspo board of elements that I like from various logos or a style I am trying to go for. Mostly, this takes place on pinterest for me. But, you can Google what you are looking for and gather inspiration that way. To do this you would search things like “modern logging logo” or “vintage logos with trees” and discover styles that way.
Ensuing gathering your inspiration, it is time to start combining elements. When I am starting from scratch drawing a logo, I will create as many doodles on paper as I can to get ideas out. These are nowhere near the finished product, so I try not to spend more than 15 minutes on this part. After doodling for a while, I start to see what elements I want to use in the final product and what other ones I can get rid of. Once finished, I go ahead and begin the process of finalizing the logo in Illustrator.
When opening up Illustrator, I create a 12in. x 12in. artboard. The reason I do this size is because oftentimes with logos, customers may want custom apparel. Over the years, I’ve found those artboard dimensions to be the best size for showing customer mockups. I then find fonts that match the style that I’m going for in the logo. When going for a modern look, typically the most popular fonts I use are going to be Sans Serif fonts. When going for either a luxury or vintage look, I will lean more towards Serif fonts. To demonstrate this, I will talk about a logo I made for a contracting company. Pictured below, you can see the “doodle” stage of my process.
From these extremely low quality sketches, I had a direction to go with in Illustrator. I found the font styles I thought would work best, and began formatting it all together. As I bring elements together in Illustrator, I narrow down what I think looks best and what doesn’t. Sometimes, you may not know what else to do or add, which isn’t a bad thing. (If you get stuck, always try to get the input of others. Even if it means sending a version to your customer that you may not love as the artist, do that and just mention “This is by no means a final version, but I wanted to get your opinion on what we have so far”. They may give you something that allows you to wrap up a final version in no time). I like to give customers at least 3-4 options to choose from, and we make small refinements from there.
Finally, when the logo is finished, it comes time to send the right files to the customer. When sending logos to a customer, you have to think of the kinds they are going to use day to day. I tend to try and condense a logo into the categories: the stacked logo, a banner logo, and then the icon logo. From those three, I make folders for each of them, then export them as the following files: .ai, .eps, .svg, PDF, JPEG, and a PNG. Having a lot of files like that can take a while to export though. This tutorial to make shortcuts when saving the files really helps speed up the process.
Now, the process is all finished! All revisions are done, the final file is sent to the client, and you have a design that you are (hopefully) happy with creating.
