My New Logo! -Creating a Photography Logo

I have learned a lot about design and yet i’m still not very good at it. Design is one of those things that you are either good at or you are not. But don’t despair if you do not have the symmetry gene, if you keep things simple you can still create a respectable brand on your own. I’m going to walk through the process for my logo to provide a little insight in how to create a basic photography logo.

 

1st step. Keep things simple and don’t use silly fonts.

A photography logo needs to be clean and simple just like a good photograph. Since you are often placing a logo on a photograph you do not want one that distracts from the image.

Silly fonts don’t work. You are not going to impress someone with a “fancy font”. When I first attempted to make logos for myself, I tried to hard to make a Logo that would wow you. This would lead me to over-design with swoops and lines and shadows and whatever else I could throw in there.   It always looked like crap. Save the fancy stuff for a pro or for after you have a simple logo foundation that you want to enhance.

 This is my first attempt at a clean simple logo for my old site. Notice its a bold solid font without much in the way of tacky decoration. This was an ok start but is missing any design elements that might make it stand out as a quality proffesionally designed logo.

Step 2 Add some interest

You can’t just have plain text because that leaves the logo looking no different than copy text. You need to add a little bit of variety and interest. The key is not to overdo it. On my first attempt I decided to change the weight and stagger the text to add some interest. I think this brought me closer to having a good logo.

Keep in mind the logo needs to stand out yet not be distracting from the photos.

Some examples of ways to add interest

• Play around  spacing
• Alternate colors for impact
• alternate sizes for impact and interest
• add graphic element

 

Step 3 shapes

You can add a simple decorative shape to further set your logo apart visually. What is important here is that you choose a shape that complements and fits with the logo. The shape should be simple and not distracting and show up well on top of a photo. I chose not to add a shape but here is an example of one that keeps it simple. This is also a more decorative font that is simple enough to work.

 

 

Step 4 Revisions and variations

The last step is to come up with alternate variations to see if you hit on something better. Then choose your favorite and create variations that fit in various contexts. Its good to have a wide logo, a square logo, and even a simple type or text icon logo.

 

 

Examples

http://inspiredm.com/50-inspirational-photography-logos/

Here is one of my original photos with a logo watermark. Notice how I used a ugly swirly font and how it doesn’t really add to the photo. The logo definatelydistracts. Definitely not as  professional as my new one!