Designing Logos - May 7th, 2008

In todays web 2.0 environment we are seeing thousands of fancy logos pop up on the web on a daily basis but what does it take to make a truly memorable logo. If we delve into the world of logos a little deeper we should consider that a logo is a symbol or a message that summarises your company and its values. You have to think whether your logo truly does this. For me there are few truly memorable logos in todays over crowded market place. Apple is probably the one that stands out for me. Apple’s logo uses no text and uses the simple shape of an apple yet most people recognise it and the message behind it is very clear - our products are appealing. Another good example is Google. The logo itself is rather unispiring yet it is simple enough to be recognised around the world.

So lets have a look at some of the basic ideas behind logo design. Firstly you need to consider the message that you are trying to promote. This is one of the core concepts of logo design. Once you have your concept you should look around for inspiration. Maybe take a look at your competition and other logo websites. Although its good to look at others designs its important not to be sucked in by them and start copying them. Many fall into this trap in the web 2.0 era. Your logo will not be well recognised if it looks like many others. Once you have your idea you should move onto the creation stage.

At the creation stage many people will chose to draw there logo ideas on paper first. Then once a basic idea has been chosen then you can start to perfect it by transforming it into a digital image. Remember that you will need other peoples input on your ideas. Get several people (stakeholders) to look over the ideas before digitalisation. you can then start looking at colour schemes and shaping your logo. Limiting your logo to a few colours can be extremely effective. Colours are also important as they can potray a lot in a persons mind. Yellow with black stripes for example could portray danger in a persons mind. Once you have your final logo design carryout some testing to see what people think. Does it stand out from the crowd? Is it different?

Some good sources of inspiration are www.logolounge.com and logopond.com

Mark
Web Designer

Posted in Web Design | No Comments »

Css Font-Face - Src: url - May 2nd, 2008

That’s right it is now an option in CSS that you don’t have to rely on your standard fonts that come pre installed. For a long time this has been a big drawback for web designers. If you wanted to use a fancy font or break from the norm and not use a standard font then you have always had to place your text in an image.

Well from now on you won’t! As long as all your end users use Safari! So this doesn’t make a massive story because you are still limited but its progress, and it’s in the right direction.

You can now use any font you like by specifying the source of the font in your Css file. If you use a non standard font then you can upload the font file to your server and in your CSS file specify its path just like you would with an image.

First you need to define the font:

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@font-face {
 
font-family: spacial font;
 
src: url(’special.otf’);
 
}

You need to repeat this for any bold or other versions of the font you will use. Then you can use the font in your normal css statement:

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p {
 
font-family: Special,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;
 
}

Gary
Web Designer

Posted in CSS | No Comments »

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