A logo is much more than just a graphic. These seemingly simple marks carry a lot of weight—so how do you go about crafting one that’s top-notch? If you research rules for designing a great logo, chances are you’ll come across points like these:

• A logo should be memorable.
• Logos should evoke an emotional response.
• They must reproduce well in various scales.
• Keep colors to a minimum.
• Make it eye-catching.

These logo “laws” certainly have merit. But like most rules, they’re often broken—with successful results. With every design endeavor comes a battery of project-specific considerations—such as how to effectively position brand identity and how to zero in on a message. While it’s good to keep these guidelines in mind, it’s also helpful to study existing logos for ideas and inspiration. A growing pastime for designers is poring over the latest annuals for winning designs and the latest trends.

One resource can help curb your appetite for more: Really Good Logos Explained: Top Design Professionals Critique 500 Logos and Explain What Makes Them Work features over 250 pages of savvy symbols. This book doesn’t merely present a rash of real-world logos and run, however. Featured marks are accompanied by commentary from a quartet of notable designers—Margo Chase (Chase Design Group, www.chasedesigngroup.com, Los Angeles), Rian Hughes (Device, www.devicefonts.co.uk, London), Ron Miriello (Miriello Grafico, www.miriellografico.com, San Diego) and Alex White (The Alexander W. White Consultancy, www.alexanderwhite.com, Westport, Conn.,)—who dig into each example, scrutinizing every element and venturing opinions on what works and what might be improved.

GRAB A GOOD IDEA AND GO FOR IT
Good design is a two-step procedure: first the idea, then the execution. Hughes says of the creative process: “If you get stuck at stage one, you’re not creative and no amount of reading ‘how to be creative’ books is going to fix that. If you get stuck at stage two, logically looking closely at your idea for stage one will answer most of your questions—and a dose of craft skill will carry you to the finish line.”

ENSURE GOOD RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ELEMENTS
Elements must relate to one another harmoniously in order to create a cohesive mark, and finding a way to balance similarities and contrasts is key. One particular consideration is the relationship between positive and negative space.

H&R Block Partner Series
“Conceptually, this is a very nice mark, suggesting communication and agreement; although the weight and style of type used for PARTNERS SERIES could relate better to the digital feeling of the speech bubbles,” explains Margo Chase, Chase Design Group.

Voiceover Artist & The Lab series
Rian Hughes of font company Device gives a nod to these logos: “Both have strong concepts and are elegantly executed with no extraneous fuss.”

FedEx
“I love the FedEx logo. The arrow in the negative space is a great visual test. Lots of people don’t notice it,” says Chase.

St. David’s Academy
Ron Miriello of Miriello Grafico observes: “The negative and positive space flips back and forth, and this can be seen as a series of circles or Ds. Juxtaposition is a great use of negative space. … This conveys that the academy will challenge you, causing you to seek out answers yourself.”

USE FLATTERING FONTS (OR MAKE YOUR OWN)
Chase is passionate about fonts. She urges designers to take time to find a typeface that works best for each project, even if it means redrawing an existing font or creating one from scratch. “There are millions of fonts available to every designer,” she says. “Some are wonderful, but most are not. Learn to tell the difference.”

LOOK OUT FOR LETTERSPACING
Your client may not notice extra elbow room between a pair of letters, but a trained eye will definitely catch this discrepancy. Careless letterspacing can also cause comprehension problems—or even embarrassment. (A classic example of this is one business’ sign with virtually no letterspacing: KidsExchange.)

The Press Coffee
“This is a great use of wonky, computer-traced script. The big, fat beans and eccentric squiggles actually work pretty well here to communicate a sense of casual play. The ss in press and ff and ee in coffee should be more different from each other so the logo feels less like a typeface and more like coffee spilled on the table,” says Chase.

Pepperland
Miriello praises Pepperland’s logo: “An energetic and playful type solution. The enlarging of the third P is a pleasant surprise and adds to the well-crafted typography.”

Gothmann Optik
“The unicase type—mixed upper- and lowercase—ensures there are no ascenders to break up the rectangular layout. … The word spacing is greater than the leading; increasing the point size of the tagline would allow the space to be closed up and the baseline to align with the bottom of the g,” says Hughes.

BE ORIGINAL—OR PUT A TWIST ON CLICHÉS
“Clichés sometimes lead somewhere more interesting so by all means explore them,” says Hughes, but Alex White adds a note of caution: “Most ideas have been used so much, they can’t be memorably used again except for subtle little iterations.” The bottom line: Tread lightly on clichéd ideas and tap into your creative juices fully when working with one.

MAKE MONOGRAMS (OR TYPE-ONLY MARKS) STAND OUT
Letter-focused logos can be difficult to design, but they can be pulled off effectively. What’s the trick to making stand-alone text work? “Design uses three elements: image, type and space,” explains White. “If you remove an image, you can still make a terrific mark of letterforms and space.”

Grand Center
“Crossword puzzle solutions—using letters or words for double duty—are usually stale and unimaginative. This one works because it reveals additional meaning,” notes Alex White of the Alexander W. White Consultancy.

Bike & Walk Marlborough
Miriello is impressed with the originality of this mark: “The bike-links-turned-feet concept has legs. The eye wants to linger on the links-turned-feet illustration. … The sign of a good concept is that it’s hard to kill, and this one survives the day.”

Byant & Duffey Optometrists
“What a great way to use the perfect gift of letters. The square shapes give [the logo] a slightly trendy feeling while still reminding us of reading glasses and old-time spectacles,” says Chase.

Nude
Hughes says, “A nude color scheme is the finishing touch to this elegantly designed logo. The letters are spelled out using one shape in each of its possible 90-degree rotations. The repetition of the word nude doubles as the crossbar on the E and guarantees no one can misread it.”

ENCOURAGE IMAGE-ONLY LOGOS TO SHINE
Some symbols feature an image as a stand-alone logo, with no text to identify the brand. This is a move that should be made with care, and it’s often only a sensible strategy when a brand is very wellknown (think Nike swoosh). However, depending on the application, any logo may appear sans type at times, so care should be taken to ensure the image portion communicates the intended message clearly.

INCLUDE ELEMENTS OF SURPRISE
A logo that sneaks in an unexpected idea is the mark of a thoughtful designer. On finding inspiration for such elements, Hughes says, “Simply by considering a logo and its purpose, interesting concepts and interrelations should immediately come to mind.”

Modest Mouse
Chase notes, “The balance of tension and humor here is great. It’s well-drawn, too. It makes me nervous wondering which will win—the balloon or the anchor?”

Barefoot Baroque
“A nice twist on a musical note that ties into the client’s name. This logo has thorough execution, and the varying line weights give a great sense of a footprint,” Miriello says.

Ryan Thomas Hair Studio
“The shape of scissors is immediately apparent, but a longer look reveals two strands of hair. This is a very effective mark, requiring the viewer to take a closer look,” Miriello says approvingly.

Reality Digital
“The monitor serving double duty as a speech bubble distinguishes this mark. Symbolism adds depth of meaning to a mark; compare this to some marks that are mere illustrations of a simple idea,” adds White.

KEEP IT SIMPLE
“There’s no use in decorating a bad idea,” Chase says. “But if decoration serves the concept, it can be wonderful. The trick is to use just enough detail to get the feeling across and not so much that the message gets lost in the mess.” Hughes says, “Simplicity clarifies a good idea—but texture and detail will of course be entirely appropriate in other cases.”

USE TOOLS AND EFFECTS RESPONSIBLY
On the subject of distorting fonts and using filters and other tools to liven up a logo, all four authors warn to use effects with care, and never use them in place of a good idea. Chase quips, only half-jokingly, “If you are thinking of using a computer trick, go lie down until the feeling goes away.” White adds, “Visual tricks that bring attention to themselves or do not explain or promote the client’s business should be avoided, but visual tricks that further the message are to be searched for and applied.”

FROM START TO FINISH
Above all else, great design starts with a great idea. Each concept must then be dressed until it’s appropriate to use in the context for which it is intended. “A logo is an entry point [to a business or product],” Miriello concludes. “It’s what’s done with it that matters.”

Mosquito
“This logo simply explains what the company does,” says Miriello. “The company’s customers would quickly recognize it and appreciate the clean logo, as opposed to the usually cumbersome logos most printers have.” By designers at Pocket Hercules

Planet 21 Salon
“For such a simple design, there are lots of nice references here. The thin serif type and the cropped 21 have a wonderful contrast in weight and style. The deft cropping of the numbers by the arc could suggest dawn—or perhaps curly locks needing to be trimmed,” says Chase.

Iams
“Being ‘off-register’ makes this mark. Anything that we think is ‘normal’ is an opportunity to be turned inside out for a distinctive logo,” says White.

Stone Network
“A nice use of type aging helps give this logo and the company it represents heritage,” notes Miriello.

About the author
Cassie Hart is a freelance writer specializing in marketing and promotion for businesses and organizations. Shes written for The Music Trades and the McGraw-Hill Companies. Cassie is an avid jazz fan, performs on saxophone, and is a contributor to All AboutJazz.com.