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These sketches simplified and developed using 2D Design.

The "e" still needs to made clearer....

Colours?  Maybe green for the forest

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Develop pencil sketches.

Create the "e" from silhouette of trees.

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Simplify iconography -
Trees = "forest"
Plane = "aero"

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glasses

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People ALWAYS pronounce my surname incorrectly (unsurprising really, I guess!), so one of the Powerpoints I show any of my new classes describes (with pictures) the correct pronunciation.

(FOREST - EE - AERO) !

I thought it might be nice to simplify these images to create a logo.

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...develops into using the platter as the "O" and the gap in the "S".  Revisits using the set-square also.

Reads the wrong way round though.

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Incorporate Turntable iconography?

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The "Two Ronnies" logo

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Using my glasses as an icon... Think "Two Ronnies"

The letter "S" highlighted within the frames and pencil as the "i".

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I developed the idea of drawing equipment to create the D T letters and put them in context on a drawing board.  Still too overly-complex to be a clear logo, but has some 'legs' to be developed further.

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Further Development in a pencil/ink sketch with a boundary box to emphasise the shape.

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Sports

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Developed, this idea still doesn't have the desired impact due to the curves in the letters not really defining the boundary cube.

Maybe I could investigate the spaces between letters as negative space and represent the theme in them?

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Using negative space.

This design fails because the 2-point perspective needs different shadow for the sides AND the top. Might try with vanishing points in the centre of the design. I like the idea of the sphere representing the 'O' and the stalk of the 'F' and the 'I' being the same thing.

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I like the idea of using the set-square , but this design still lacks some relevance to me. Could be developed though (try not to over-complicate though).

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Architect

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Italian /English

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Music

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Design

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Teacher

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BMW logo evolution

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BMW chose the Bavarian national colours as a symbol, but arranged the letters exactly like Rapp. So you can see very clearly how the BMW logo was developed.

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Universal design that works in B&W or colour OR a design that needs two versions (one for colour, one for B&W)?????

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NOTE:Make sure it's a Vectorised design)

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NOTE:Make sure it's a Vectorised design)

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....or learn something (else!) new? (CorelDraw)

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Corel Graphics, Digital Media & Productivity Software

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The official website for Corel Software. Get product information, download free trial software, learn about special offers and access tutorial resources.

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Use existing skills (2D Design).....

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Graphic Design, Technical Drawing & CAD/CAM - 2D Design V2

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Sketch with the '53/Paper' app?

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FiftyThree | Essential Tools for Future Creators

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FiftyThree builds tools for creativity. They are the makers of Paper, the immersive sketching app for getting ideas down and Paste, the fastest way for teams to share and gather around their ideas.

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The Art of Negative Space..... I love this!  (Try to incorporate this!)

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The Art of Negative Space..... I love this!  (Try to incorporate this!)

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Negative space is, quite simply, the space that surrounds an object in a image. Just as important as that object itself, negative space helps to define the boundaries of positive space and brings balance to a composition.

More and more these days, the creative world is seeing an emergence of artists creating positive spaces and shapes that, in turn, cleverly carve out shapes in negative space. And the results can be stunning. Here, we've found some brilliant examples - enjoy!

The Design from Finland mark was introduced in 2011 to provide consumers in Finland and elsewhere with evidence of Finnish design excellence, and its logo is a prime example. Designed by Rasmus Snabb from Werklig in Helsinki, it packs a glorious little piece of clever negative space into a mostly typographic treatment, turning the F and I of 'Finland' into a Finnish flag.

Negative space doesn't have to be static, you know. Nike wanted to draw attention to the ultralight support and maximum comfort provided by its Air Max 2017 trainers, and so ManvsMachine delivered a campaign that portrayed this through a series of visual metaphors inspired by scenarios encountered on an everyday run. Rather than use an actual Air Max, it instead employs a trainer-shaped piece of negative space to suggest air. Clever.

This personal project saw Michael De Pippo putting his photography, Photoshop and cookie eating skills to test. The Canadian graphic designer used negative space to hide a hungry monster in each of these half-eaten cookies - he cooked up created six different biscuit flavours, and sold them as a limited-edition giclée print.

NBC first used a peacock in its logo in 1956. The design subsequently went through a number of changes, experimenting with a snake logo and variations on the letter N, until 1986, when the broadcaster introduced the best-known version with the peacock's body displayed as negative space. There have been stylised variants since then, but the peacock remains in place.

Each month, Yorokobu magazine asks an artist or designer to create a series of original numerical characters for its Numerografía section, and this was what Forma and Co came up with. The Barcelona-based team used eye-popping primary colours and a clever use of negative space that creates a 3D effect.

Briefed to design a distinctive logo for an adult-targeted alcohol and gourmet ice cream startup, renowned branding firm Johnson Banks utilised negative space to tell potential customers exactly what Mister Cooper was selling. The eye-catching identity system was rolled out across packaging, uniforms and merchandise.

It's easy to become desensitised to sad news, but this video for the World Food Programme powerfully drives home the plight of refugees. Designed by negative space master Noma Bar and animated by Ale Accini, the 30-second video called 'Symbols' uses stunning visual shorthand to help stop hunger and start peace. And it's emotively narrated by Liam Neeson.

Romania-based artist Bodea Daniel - aka Kretank - is a pro when it comes to negative space. Much of his work features the style, and he specialises in animal-based designs. Take a look at his logo portfolio and see if you can spot all the hidden messages!

Tang Yau Hoong is an artist, illustrator, graphic designer living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. With a passion for creative thinking, he creates art that is conceptual, surreal and fun in a simplistic and unique way. A whole section of his website is dedicated to the art of negative space.

Illustrator Olly Moss is known for his super-smart use of negative space. When he was tasked with designing covers for the first ever worldwide digital release of the Harry Potter series, he didn't disappoint. They may look straightforward, but each one has a hidden message - take a look at the full set on his site.
Next page: 8 more mind-bending negative space designs

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Negative space is, quite simply, the space that surrounds an object in a image. Just as important as that object itself, negative space helps to define the boundaries of positive space and brings balance to a composition.

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Great imagery evokes the nature of the company name

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Great imagery evokes the nature of the company name

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Name & nature of business effectively demonstrated

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Name & nature of business effectively demonstrated

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explained: top design professionals critique over 500 logos and explain what makes them work

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architecture & photography / graphic arts

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Really Good Logos, Explained: Top Design Professionals Critique Over 500 Logos and Explain What Makes Them Work

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Buy Really Good Logos, Explained: Top Design Professionals Critique Over 500 Logos and Explain What Makes Them Work by Margo Chase, Rian Hughes, Ron Mirello, Alex White (ISBN: 9781592534272) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

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"Wood" and "house" clearly and effectively interpreted

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"Wood" and "house" clearly and effectively interpreted

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2-colours max

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With the power of the Web, and more eyes watching than ever, it's important for a business to communicate its unique message clearly. The easiest way to recognize a company and distinguish it from others is by its logo. Below, we go through 10 common logo design mistakes that you should avoid if you want to create a successful and professional logo using an online logo maker.

Avoid websites that promote ridiculously cheap logo packages. You get what you pay for.

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A professional business should look professional. New business owners often invest a lot of time and money in property and equipment, but do not often match it by investing suitably in their logo.

Here are the most common reasons why many logos look amateurish:

The business owner wanted to save money by designing the logo quickly themselves.

A friend or relative who claims to know a little about graphic design does it as a favor.

The wrong people are commissioned. (Local printers are not likely proficient in logo design.)

The business outsourced the job via one of several design competition websites, which are mostly populated by amateur designers.

The job was given to an online company that offers really cheap logos.

All of the above can result in disastrous outcomes. If your logo looks amateurish, then so will your business. A business should know where to look when it wants a new logo. David Airey offers great insight on how to choose the right logo designer for your requirements.

Here are the advantages of hiring an established and professional logo designer:

Your logo will be unique and memorable.

You won't run into any problems down the line with reproducing it.

Your logo will have a longer lifespan and won't need to be redesigned in a couple of years.

Your logo will look professional.

2. Relies On Trends

Trends (whether swooshes, glows or bevels) come and go and ultimately turn into cliches. A well-designed logo should be timeless, and this can be achieved by ignoring the latest design tricks and gimmicks. The biggest cliche in logo design is the dreaded "corporate swoosh," which is the ultimate way to play it safe. As a logo designer, your job is to create a unique identity for your client, so completely ignoring logo design trends is best.

Logo Online Pros has a great section on its website in which it updates current logo design trends every year. Being aware as a designer of the latest crazes is important, mainly so that you can avoid them at all costs.

3. Uses Raster Images

Standard practice when designing a logo is to use vector graphics software, such as Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw. A vector graphic is made up of mathematically precise points, which ensures visual consistency across multiple sizes. The alternative, of course, is use to raster graphics software, such as Adobe Photoshop. A raster graphic - or bitmap, as it's commonly called - consists of pixels.

Using raster images for logos is not advisable because it can cause problems with reproduction. While Photoshop is capable of creating very large logos, you never know for sure how large you will have to reproduce your logo at some point. If you zoom in enough on a raster graphic, it will appear pixelated, making it unusable. Maintaining visual consistency by making sure the logo looks the same in all sizes is essential.

The main advantages of vector graphics for logo design are:

The logo can be scaled to any size without losing quality.

Editing the logo later on is much easier.

It can be adapted to other media more easily than a raster image.

4. Contains Stock Art

This mistake is often made by business owners who design their own logo or by amateur designers who are not clued in to the laws on copyright. Downloading stock vector imagery from websites such as VectorStock is not a crime, but it could possibly get you in trouble if you incorporate it in a logo.

A logo should be unique and original, and the licensing agreement should be exclusive to the client: using stock art breaks both of these rules. Chances are, if you are using a stock vector image, it is also being used by someone somewhere else in the world, so yours is no longer unique. You can pretty easily spot stock vectors in logos because they are usually familiar shapes, such as globes and silhouettes.

5. Designing For Yourself Rather Than The Client

You can often spot this logo design sin a mile away; the cause is usually a designer's enormous ego. If you have found a cool new font that you can't wait to use in a design, well... don't. Ask yourself if that font is truly appropriate for the business you're designing for? For example, a great modern typographic font that you just love is not likely suited to a serious business such as a lawyer's office.

Some designers also make the mistake of including a "trademark" in their work. While you should be proud of your work, imposing your personality onto a logo is wrong. Stay focused on the client's requirements by sticking to the brief.

6. Overly Complex

What better analogy for thumbnail images than fingerprints? You'll notice the intricacies of your fingerprints only when looking at them really close up. As soon as you move away, those details are lost. The same holds true for highly detailed logo designs.

When printed in small sizes, a complex design will lose detail and in some cases will look like a smudge or, worse, a mistake. The more detail a logo has, the more information the viewer has to process. A logo should be memorable, and one of the best ways to make it memorable is to keep things simple. Look at the corporate identities of Nike, McDonald's and Apple. Each company has a very simple icon that can easily be reproduced at any size.

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Table of Contents →

7. Relies On Color For Its Effect

This is a very common mistake. Some designers cannot wait to add color to a design, and some rely on it completely. Choosing color should be your last decision, so starting your work in black and white is best.

Every business owner will need to display their logo in only one color at one time or another, so the designer should test to see whether this would affect the logo's identity. If you use color to help distinguish certain elements in the design, then the logo will look completely different in one tone.

8. Poor Choice Of Font

When it comes to executing a logo, choosing the right font is the most important decision a designer can make. More often than not, a logo fails because of a poor font choice (our example shows the infamous Comic Sans).

Finding the perfect font for your design is all about matching the font to the style of the icon. But this can be tricky. If the match is too close, the icon and font will compete with each other for attention; if the complete opposite, then the viewer won't know where to focus. The key is finding the right balance, somewhere in the middle. Every typeface has a personality. If the font you have chosen does not reflect the icon's characteristics, then the whole message of the brand will misfire.

Bad fonts are often chosen simply because the decision isn't taken seriously enough. Some designers simply throw in type as an afterthought. Professional font foundries, such as MyFonts and FontFont, offer much better typeface options than those over-used websites that offer free downloads.

9. Has Too Many Fonts

Using too many fonts is like trying to show someone a whole photo album at once. Each typeface is different, and the viewer needs time to recognize it. Seeing too many at once causes confusion.

Using a maximum of two fonts of different weights is standard practice. Restricting the number of fonts to this number greatly improves the legibility of a logo design and improves brand recognition.

10. Copies Others

This is the biggest logo design mistake of all and, unfortunately, is becoming more and more common. As mentioned, the purpose of a logo is to represent a business. If it looks the same as someone else's, it has failed in that regard. Copying others does no one any favors, neither the client nor the designer.

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With the power of the Web, and more eyes watching than ever, it's important for a business to communicate its unique message clearly. The easiest way to recognize a company and distinguish it from others is by its logo.