Back when I was studying, I remember a time when the teacher asked us to make our own personal logo; it was my graphic design class and I really hated it. I don't know what to do or what to make, I don't even know how to use Photoshop at that time. In spite of that, I was trying to discover and make myself familiar with it. I learned to love photoshop, and thus my journey in designing started.
Now, before we begin our tutorial, we need to keep a few things in mind when making a logo.
Before you start on a logo creation project for a client, it is better if you gather information of what your client is looking for. It is better if you ask such questions like the name of the product or service, any slogan or tag line, specific colours etc.
Furthermore, if you are trying to make a logo, it should be a mixture of old and new especially if it is a business logo. There is no need to be trendy with a logo; because not all people can relate to it. Second, use colors that are related to the business. You must explore colors carefully before they are used in your logo. And last, don't steal ideas form other business logos.
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To start with, we will be using Photoshop since it has a wider audience than illustrator.
First, set up your Documents in Photoshop.
- Open your Photoshop, then go to file and click new.
- Specify the name of the file and the size - the height and width.
- Secondly, if you have the company name then you can experiment with the font selection. Remember, the readability of the logo is important. The logo must be effective; it should stick in your head.
- Select the Text tool at the left menu.
- Type the company name in the document space; the document background should be blank or a white background.
- You can adjust the setting on the Text Properties, located at the top.
- You can even go to the Character window - where you can adjust the distance or thickness of the text font.
Experiment, until you come up with something that you think will work.
The Logos' font should be simple. Now, adding the symbol. Some logos work well with text only but most of the time a significant symbol is needed which will make the logo stand out.
You need to figure out a symbol which you think will represent the company. When making a symbol or logo design using the Pen tool is very important if you want to create shapes and still maintain a vector format.
It is better if you make an original drawing on your logo, but if you don't have the skill then you can copy the picture or vector tracing.
If you have the picture to trace, open it up in Photoshop.
- Select the image (Ctrl + A) then Copy (Ctrl + C)
- Go back to your logo and then paste (Ctrl + V)
- After you have pasted the image, go to the left menu and then select the Rectangular Marquee Tool - use it on the part of the picture that you won't need, and then hit the delete key.
- Click the magnifying glass to zoom the image in closer, and then select the Pen tool. Before you start tracing make sure that the foreground color is the same. Then at the layer window which is located at the right side, select the circular icon and click on Create New Layer.
- Next, at the layer window make the Opacity of the new layer 0%, because it is more convenient tracing without the color hiding the image.
You can use separate layers for every color that you are going to use so that it would be easier to fix things if you made mistake. You can just delete the layer then redo it.
After you finish the drawing, select the first to last vector layer you uses. Just hold down the Shift key to select them all. Click the circular icon at the window layer then select New Group from Layers, so that you can easily move around the image.
Now, you can move the text and image to what ever position you think best. Furthermore, you can use effects on the logo using gradient overlay.
If you are a first timer, it is okay if the logo does not come out that great on the first try. All you need to do is experiment, explore, practice and be creative. Just play with the tools to be become familiar with Adobe Photoshop just like I did.
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