I have these sketches that you see in the image, but I am not good at making it as simple and basic as possible, I would also like it to look more serious since it is a law firm, any suggestions?
Youâre trying to combine too many ideas. No one can successfully create a viable Frankenstein logo from miscellaneous clichĂ©s and have it spring to life. Pick one concept, then work with it.
Like attorneys, professional designers attend school for many years to learn the basics of how to do these things. After that comes many years of professional practice. I wouldnât dabble in the legalities of intellectual property â especially if it were a critical component of my business. I would hire an attorney who specializes in it. You might consider doing the same for your logo and related visual branding.
I completely agree with Just-B and moreover, Iâd add that the ideas you are trying to shoehorn together are less ideas and more clichĂ©s. You are approaching the job from completely the wrong angle â as most home-made, kitchen table logos do.
Even if you could get that to work visually, what would it say about your business? Clichéd, hackneyed, obvious and unoriginal? Not a great opening gambit for potential customers.
Itâs all about horses for courses. Stick to what youâre good at and use it to earn the money to pay for someone who knows what they are doing. Furthermore, donât be tempted to go to one of these ÂŁ50 logo designers, or competition sites. Do your homework, build a relationship with someone you trust and are prepared to divulge details of your company to, in order to build a solid brand (not just a logo) for your company. Youâll get what you pay for.
The right designer will, from the outset, begin by asking you a whole load of questions to determine your goals, aspirations, market, practices, etc, etc, in order to communicate what your business is to exactly the people you want to be talking to and, most importantly, in the right tone of voice.
Donât assume, branding is some high-brow, high ticket price blue-chip corporate thing. It is just as important â if not more so â for small businesses as it is for large ones. It is not going to be ÂŁ50. If it is, it wonât work for you. Expect to start in the lower four figures for a very small business, depending on your needs. This may seem a more than you may want to pay, but how much did you pay last time you had the plumbers in? It all depends on how much you value your business and its credibility. A good designer should be able to accommodate a reasonable budget, but cheap almost always comes with a high price tag.
A solid, effective brand is more than capable of increasing your income and raising your standing. These days a brand can be between 15 and 20 per cent of a companyâs worth â far more for certain brand-led businesses.
A few years ago now, I had a client approach me who ran a small kidsâ pre-school class. She wanted to expand, but was savvy enough to know, that her kitchen table scribble she used as her logo just wouldnât cut it if she wanted to play with the big kids. I have been working with her for a number of years now and she has probably 60+ classes across the country. She is not high budget, by any means, but I understand her business and her target demographic, etc, so when she needs something doing I understand what it is she needs to say and who to. That pays her dividends in the long run.
I imagine, this must be similar for you, in that, once you understand your clientsâ needs, going forward, youâll work faster and more effectively because youâve already done the groundwork.
Hope this helps.
While itâs endering of you to have a crack and give it a go at putting together a visual identity for your business, I think youâre starting to realize that while design looks simple and straight forward, itâs not as easy as it looks.
If the stakes werenât so high and this were just a personal project or side hobbie for fun, Iâd probably give you some feedback, but if this is important to you, I think youâd be wise getting a local designer to pull it together for you.
Hello, thank you for your comments, in reality I had already hired a designer who created a logo for me with the specifications that I required at that time, basically I asked him that instead of being serious the logo was friendly to the clients, he added an image of the logo that I believe (I asked him to bring the image of a light bulb and a vault to imply that we protect his ideas, so the light bulb is covered with metal).
Now I am designing as a hobby since I really like illustrator, I am watching a lot of videos and doing some readings and I decided to practice with my logo, now I would like something more serious and simple.
I would really appreciate some advice to help me simplify it, I really like something between the Starbucks logo and the FedEx logo, but I donât know how to simplify it, the advice they gave me helps me that there are several concepts, so I will remove some.
thank you!
I see a light bulb, after itâs plugged in and turned on, cannot emit light through the armour, therefore rendering it useless.
The symbolism is lost on me.
Hello, I was reading and watching videos on how to make it simpler, I will appreciate your observations.
The type is OK â though the kerning is poor â and it does look like you have just copied it from another logo.
The icon is pretty terrible, Iâm afraid. Still clichĂ©-laden and now the entire shield shape of the logo itself is a bit of a clichĂ©. Nothing about it is harmonious or elegant.
I refer back to the first three comments on this thread. You canât learn how to design from YouTube. As has been pointed out already, it is the same as expecting to be able to learn the law the same way. There are far too many nuances.
Sorry to be so scathing, but it is my un- sugar-coated, honest opinion â for what it is worth.
thanks for the sincerity,
I hope you donât take me the wrong way, at no point am I disparaging the profession. I am a trademark and patent lawyer, since I was young I took computer and design courses, eventually I focused on my law career, I like design but I donât know how to exploit my creativity, in my office when providing the trademark registration service, all I have been involved in brand design for a while.
(excuse the writing, my language is Spanish)
Here I have another idea;
You might want to start with a Business plan.
And maybe decide what your company name is going to be first.
Simplifying is the right way to go, but simplifying a cliché is still a cliché.
The font combination doesnât work particularly well.
Donât stretch type. Ever. If you want an extended font, use an extended font, rather than stretching one. You destroy all the relative line weights.
Thank you very much, Iâm looking for exactly those opinions, do you have any ideas so that itâs not clichĂ©?
Because of the work area, which is not very common, I want the logo to imply that it is an intellectual property office, the ideas I have are these: (but I think they are clichés)
For patents:
a gear,
a focus
a brain
For the legal area:
the scales of justice
any Roman pillar or Roman structure
shield
safe (as we protect customer creations)
Think less in terms of objects and more about abstract concepts and the shapes, colors, qualities, and emotions that are suggestive of those concepts without actually depicting them. Reduce that down to a simple icon.
For example, you mentioned the FedEx logo. Between the E and the x, thereâs a subtle negative space arrow that suggests movement from here to there.
If you had designed the FedEx logo using the design logic you have demonstrated so far, you might have drawn a delivery truck, a delivery person, and a package. Then you would be trying to figure out how to simplify them.
A patent might be thought of as a type of protection for a novel idea. What is an idea? How do you draw it? What suggests an idea? What abstract symbol has the qualities of an insight or a thought brought to life? If you answered that by saying âa brain,â youâre still thinking in terms of clichĂ©s and depiction of objects.
Also, your logo needs to convey to the viewer that your firm is stable, competent, and honest. You canât have a logo that looks like a cartoon, as the armored light bulb was. It needs to fit within the parameters of what would inspire confidence in a law firm while also showing a spark of originality that other attorneys seem to lack by comparison. A spark. Hmmm, thereâs an idea.
Thank you very much, you have given me a path to follow, I was not sure how to get out of the cliché, I really appreciate it!
My task is to look for abstract concepts, shapes, colors, qualities and emotions and not in objects.
Again thank you very much!
I think if you are trying to create a simple logo then reducing the amounts of elements might help. Identify the key elements of your logo. What symbols, shapes, or text are absolutely necessary to convey your brand message? For example you could create a simple logo with just a brain and a lightbulb? For me, I would prioritise the most essential elements and eliminate any unnecessary details.
Any graphic designer can make their own personal logo using a brain and a lightbulb. Most, however would resist the urge to add a computer and keyboard to the equation.
/sarc
I agree with the previous comments that you may be trying to incorporate too much meaning into one logo. If youâre set on having your own logo, I think it should be something that sets you apart from others. A lightbulb with a brain inside is not particularly unique, in my opinion. Iâve seen many similar ideas. So, are you sure that this logo doesnât touch upon the intellectual property of others? Perhaps thereâs something in your ideas that distinguishes you from others. You could take that as your âsignatureâ â a logo that truly associates with you. On the other hand, if you donât want to overthink it, keep in mind that popular logos like Nikeâs may not have a lot of deep meaning behind them, but theyâve gained popularity, recognition, and meaning through the fans and the brand itself. So, either make it truly yours with a unique touch, or keep it simple.
Itâs highly doubtful that a singular âintellectual property officeâ will gain the brand recognition of Nike. And itâs kinda weird that an IP office doesnât get the significance of having a unique logo rather than something everyone else has thought up (and mostly rejected.)
Get rid of unnecessary details in the logo design. Though I do think these are combining too many ideas into one symbolâŠSorry.
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