Designing Logo

[jenelcc]

I would like to design a logo that could function as a way to visually unify all of my stuff (website, business card, avatars, etc.). Anybody have any good advice, resources, or previous threads that might help with this?

Thanks!

[jnfr]

Do you have any graphic design experience? If not, you're going to need to find an artist to work with, and that person will expect to be paid. You can give it a shot yourself, but designing a good logo is harder than you might think.

[jenelcc]

I actually do have some experience with graphic design, thanks to a brief flirtation with a journalism career and a long time papercrafts hobby. So the "how" is not as much a problem for me as the "what". Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I can create a masterpiece, but I could probably manage the technical aspect of it.

In a perfect world I would call up a brilliant ad agency and have one custom designed, unfortunately hiring a professional is not even remotely an option in my current budget.

[RMG]

Hey there,
Well, I don't know how much experience you have, but I'm willing to work with you on this (and no, I won't expect payment). If you still want to do the job yourself, that's understandable too, but in order to give you any kind of input, I think we'd need a bit more details. What are you leaning toward, for example? Any favorite colors, geometric shapes?

[jenelcc]

Hey there,
Well, I don't know how much experience you have, but I'm willing to work with you on this (and no, I won't expect payment). If you still want to do the job yourself, that's understandable too, but in order to give you any kind of input, I think we'd need a bit more details. What are you leaning toward, for example? Any favorite colors, geometric shapes?

That's a really great offer, but I would like to tackle this myself. Graphic design is actually something I really enjoy, and I was just wondering if there were any good DIY resources that had a literary bent, but maybe it's too specific of a project for that. I'm thinking along the lines of a strong simple graphic, probably square, and probably deep toned (dark red, royal blue etc.), with white and black.

I write both urban and "girl with sword" fantasy so I'd like it to reflect that somehow. Maybe some kind of monogram.

Anyway, I thought it was worth asking to see if anyone had done this themselves, and if not I'll just take a stab at it myself.

Thanks again!

[RMG]

You're welcome about the offer, I'm a big believer in helping when you can. I do understand about wanting to do this yourself. :)
So, if you're good with Illustrator, you could maybe design a three dimensional square (why not a blue one for example) and have a stylized sword pierce through it? Imagine one face of the cube (since that's what a three dimensional square is :)) facing us. We'd only see the point of the blade, and the hilt of the sword on the other side.

Hard to describe, and probably not right for you, but it's an image to wonder about. You'll probably find something better, and I bet this isn't the kind of help you wanted anyway.

On the technical side, I always start my logo designs with a picture, then I trace it in Illustrator, and polish the final version with photoshop.

Feel free to ask anything, I'll help you to the best of my abilities.
Cheers, and hope you show us what you end up with.

[jenelcc]

Once I figure it out it will probably be my avatar. Thanks again for the help.

[deana]

A few years ago, I stumbled on this website which actually helped me create some simply art stuff myself for my blog and my website. I always liked the idea. It might not be very "professional" when I do it, but with someone with a great eye, it would be very useful

Create a clip art logo (http://www.ideabook.com/tutorials/logo_design/create_a_clip_art_logo.html)

[Elessar]

Don't know if this helps or not, but something I like doing as it seems to add more 'punch' to the image, is taking a picture, either of myself or family member in a poise (in this case, a girl with a sword), and then cutting out the image and positioning it over a background image or scene. You can even play with the graphics to make the image of the person stand out and give you that 3D look, especially if you have a newer version of Photoshop (which rocks by the way).

[BigBooksNY]

Not sure if its been mentioned before but have you tried fiverr.com?


I would like to design a logo that could function as a way to visually unify all of my stuff (website, business card, avatars, etc.). Anybody have any good advice, resources, or previous threads that might help with this?

Thanks!

[Feathers]

Hmm. I don't think there is any such resource for the kind of thing you're asking. If you have the technical skills, then it sounds like you're just struggling with how to actually go about coming up with a logo.

What may help is if you broke it down--try googling "logo design concepts" or something to give you ideas about how to embody your logo concept.

Look at published authors who have websites designed to fit the color scheme of their book; see how they pulled in the book colors, concepts, and images, and see how that effected their website banner.

Also look at authors who have a lot of promotional swag--Beth Revis (author of "Across the universe") comes to mind--and analyze what visual elements they used to pull it all together with a common theme. (Revis is a good example because her novel focuses on a spaceship, and her cover art team actually designed a logo for the spaceship itself, which she was then able to book on things like T shirts and water bottles, etc.) Figure out how people use logos.

And finally, I'd really suggest looking at images and concepts associated with your genre. Look at authors published in that genre and what colors are on the covers of their books, what images are used. You have fantasy and urban fantasy. So what images really identify each genre? Do they overlap anywhere? Break it down into as many small pieces as possible.

Anyway, I know I basically suggested a lot of research for you, but I hope that at least got the mental process going and gave you some ideas! :)

Best,
-Mandy