Hello! I am a beginner graphic designer with no experience, no professional programs, but with a desire to do something. As I said earlier - at the moment I do not have any professional programs for creating, all I have is my head and Canva, and that is the free version. Oh yeah, I forgot to say. Of all the types of graphic design, I specifically do logos.
Recently I decided to test myself, so to speak, so I asked Chat GPT to come up with some fictitious company and for me to make a logo for it. He came up with this: Company: NORDIC GEAR
NORDIC GEAR is a brand of premium travel clothing and equipment for extreme conditions. The company produces jackets, thermal underwear, backpacks and tents for cold climates. Their products are aimed at travelers, climbers and explorers who care about quality, durability and style.
I made a logo, he gave it a rating, said it was crap… Okay, just kidding. In short, he told me a bunch of nice things, but I became interested in what real people thought about this, and the Google search bar brought me here. Now it’s your turn to evaluate my “creation”.
Hey Rizart, welcome to the world of graphic design! It’s great that you’re interested in logos, but I’ll be real with you logo design is one of the hardest niches to crack. It’s way more than just slapping a shape and text together in Canva.
A good logo has to be scalable, memorable, and instantly convey a brand’s personality. That takes a deep understanding of typography, composition, colour theory, branding strategy, and industry trends. That’s why professional logo designers usually go through formal training and gain real-world experience as interns or junior designers before going solo.
Using Canva is fine (actually, no, it’s not), but it’s extremely limiting because it doesn’t give you full creative control. If you’re serious about logo design, you need to learn industry-standard tools like Adobe Illustrator, understand vector graphics, and practice custom typography and icon creation.
My advice? Ditch Canva. Start with pencil and paper, sketch first, refine later. Research is everything. Study successful logos, break them down, and figure out why they work. Post sketches here first, not just polished-but-flawed digital versions.
When something stands out, then bring it to the computer. Also, learn the technical side, Pantone colours, proper black values, scalability, and how a logo works in real-world applications. These things separate designers from amateurs.
As for your Nordic Gear logo, I’ve got no critique. Plenty of other Nordic Gear logos out there, and honestly, most aren’t much better than what you’ve done, but they are better. That’s where research and refinement come in.
If you’re serious about this, get a formal education and try to work in a design studio as an intern or junior designer. That’s where you’ll learn the nuances that turn decent logos into great ones.
I’m not saying you can’t do it - I myself started in MS Paint and made my first logo there, but I was 14 and the year was 1994 and the internet wasn’t invented and I wasn’t even aware logo creation was a career choice, let alone have access to free vector software, or scores of information to Google.
It wasn’t until 7 years later I got a break in design studio, after working for 2.5 years in a screen printing setting ((by fluke)) - took a 6 month DTP course, then got a job offer that sent me to college and worked and only after 4 years of training was I let loose on clients by myself.
It’s a long journey.
You can do it, but be prepared to put in the work and not just popping open Canva and dishing out whatever comes to mind and think it looks pretty.
Think about the logo.
Research
Sketch thumbnails
Refine the best
Pick 5 of the best
Create them on screen
Pick 3 of the best and ditch 2
Post these - this is logo design.
Not what you posted.
Hey @RIZART, I concur with Smurf2 - formal education is important in order to understand the nuances of what goes into the logo design process so that you can create logos on a professional level. Studying the fundamentals and foundations of graphic design and knowing the basics of design software are both important for logo design.
The best option is to get a university/college design degree or attend a reputable certificate program. Though, if you can’t afford this step right now, I suggest checking out free mini courses to start learning the basic fundamentals and foundations of design. I recommend Baseline, but you could also look at the following courses from Alison:
- Graphic Design - Visual and Graphic Design
- Graphic Design
- Introduction to Graphic Design
- Essential Typography Principles for Graphic Designers
- Fundamentals of Logo Design
- Diploma in the Essentials of Professional Logo Design
- Tricks and Techniques of Logo Design
In addition, I recommend checking out these designers focused on logo design for further learning:
- James Barnard: Website | Instagram | Youtube
- Will Paterson: Website | Course Website | Instagram | Youtube
- Thomas Cargill (Satori Graphics): Website | Instagram | Youtube
- James Martin (madebyjames): Website | Instagram | Youtube
Of course, learning the Adobe software is essential to creating professional logos and I recommend Dan Scott’s Bring Your Own Laptop courses, which you can find on Skillshare, Udemy, and his website. Although his courses are not free, he does provide free snippets from his master courses on his Youtube channel.
I can see your passion for design and it’s great that you’re learning by doing, so don’t stop, but do take some time to learn the fundamentals so you have a strong foundation on which to practice and grow your skills.
Hope this info. helps!
I completely agree! If you take graphic design seriously, dedicating hundreds or even thousands of hours studying, observing the work of others, reading theory (because graphic design is applied art, meaning it has principles and rules, it’s not just visual), then you will acquire what I call the ‘graphic designer’s eye’. You will instantly spot mistakes in alignments, distances, color combinations, white spaces, and you’ll filter every image through the lens of design. That’s when inspiration starts to build. You’ll see something interesting, anything, any visual stimulus, and immediately you’ll say to yourself, ‘this could be a really great poster/logo/brand asset’. Truly, graphic design changes the way you see things. I catch myself walking through cities I visit and mainly observing logos, brands, catalogs, posters,advertisements.
And finally, something very important: Illustrator, Photoshop, or even Canva are just tools. Even if you master them, it doesn’t mean you are a graphic designer.
If I learn all types of kitchenware, does that mean I’ve become a chef? No.