Logo Designing

Adobe Illustrator is good software for logo design. It creates vector art so it is scalable to any size.

As far as learning how to make logos... that is a bit more complicated. A whole lot of thought and ideas go into creating logos. Look up information on Lester Beall's International Paper logo to see just how complicated it can be.

Paul Rand is an old school designer that made a lot of logos that are still in use today. You might start by xhecking out a few books on him.

Thank you so much for replying..

I tried my hand in Adobe illustrator but obviously it is difficult for me to learn in few days.

If you can then please suggest few online books available for reading ..


Thanks again

Don't expect to be handed everything so easily. You're on the internet. Do your own research. While researching, you might learn something.

illustrator is the way to go to make personalized professional logos but if you want to make a logo real fast and easy there is a online flash program called logo maker. or you can get ideas from some logo templates at http://www.templatesbox.com/category/all-logo-templates/index.htm

I recommend you Macromedia Fireworks.

Any other recommendations, especially for free template programs? Are any of them worthwhile?

I'm trying to make a logo that will be used on the website but for print materials, too... it looks like most free logo programs are not high enough resolution to use for print materials.

Bump...

I am really hoping to get a good-looking logo together for my organization, to use for the web but also printed materials. The process has taken way more time than expected. (Someone made a logo that was OK but people wanted different colors -- her term on the board was up, and she said she'd send me the logo to play around with the colors etc. Then she sent me an email saying she was using some obscure program and wouldn't be able to send it to me after all. Then I tried to come up with something, without much success. Then I looked online. Then separately someone else tried drawing a logo and got frustrated. WE NEED A LOGO!)

A great source for vector logos is brandsoftheworld.com. They seemingly have about every conceivable corporate logo on file. There's no tutorial or anything like that, but it's a great source for inspiration and ideas. If you have a vector program like Illustrator, or Corel Draw, you can play around with these images and see what works for you.

I don't have a vector program, wish I did. (I don't think, anyway, I'm not sure what vector means...) I've put together something passable using PowerPoint -- I have to save it as an image using a screen grab though, which is extremely annoying.

I'm going to go check that out though, thanks!

Soz, I have a Wordperfect Office CD that I don't use. Came with my computer, but I uninstalled it and put Microsoft Office on instead (the Wordperfect had conversion issues as did the Powerpoint and I got tired of hours of reformatting when I'd open my documents in word and they were all messed up. But it should have Corel Draw on it. Let me check (can't find it at the moment in the mess my room has become). If it is there, it's yours if you want it. I've no use for it.

You could also use an open source vector program like Inkscape. It doesn't offer as many fancy gadgets as the current CorelDRAW or Illustrator versions, but it's quite a solid program. Roughly comparable to what Macromedia Freehand looked and felt like before Macromedia let it die (which was even before Macromedia joined Adobe).

It uses the open SVG format as its native file format, but you can also save files as EPS or PDF, or export them as PNG bitmaps.

There's a good FAQ thingie available on their website.

Oh wow!

Dag, that would be beyond fabulous if you truly have no need for it. Thanks so much for the offer!!

Old Europe, that looks really promising too. I'll take a look at it, thanks!

Any of you graphics types, could I send you a PM with what I've come up with so far to get feedback on whether it'd be dumb to use it as a logo? (For example there is some fine detailing that I'm worried should be blunted up a bit... we hope to use it for printing on freebies [bags, mugs, etc.], for letterhead, etc., etc.)

(I just have to say that Old Europe RULES!!!)

The old Jasc Paint Shop Pro has a vector option. It was bought out by Corel. They used to have free demo downloads. Not sure if they still do.

I still use the Jasc version since I purchased it and have not had a need to upgrade yet.

Feel free to send me what you're wanting feedback about and I'll see what I can help you with.

Thanks, Butrflynet!

old europe has done an amazing job of tweaking my original design (dude's got an EYE), and right now I'm really happy with the latest version. I've put it to my board to decide what color and stuff like that, then hopefully the whole thing will be finalized.

I downloaded Inkscape but couldn't make it work -- lots of error messages that basically amounted to "Would you update the OS already?!" (I have OS X 10.3.9.)

It's great to know that someone else can help if need be, though, thanks again.

Hey Soz... if you send me a picture of the logo I could trace it in Illustrator for you so you could have vector artwork of it.

Hey thanks!!

You mean I'd be able to mess with it in AppleWorks? (I don't have Illustrator...)

No... it would just give you a high quality logo that you would be able to scale to any size and still have nice sharp edges and resolution.

I found this: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/27526

I've never used it, but it sounds like it could open up an Illustrator EPS file and do some of the basic things Illustrator can do. It might work for you.

Nice to see you btw JP!

I think old europe has taken care of that kind of thing -- he's been working hard on it and doing an absolutely amazing job. (Thanks again old europe!) We're finalizing colors and then he's going to get the logo to me in a couple of formats.

I tried to download a program for this before and it went badly -- I chased various leads (need to do this to get this) and bottom line was my OS is too old. (I'll be installing a newer OS soon, that will hopefully solve a problem or sixteen.)

Anyway, THANKS for the offer... I'm not going to do anything else now I don't think but very nice to have options.