12 Easy Steps to Create A Logo in Illustrator
Logos in the contemporary world are excessively important for businesses. As a matter of fact, none may survive if their logos are taken away from them. From branding them to being represented on each product, logos work as the modern marketing tools that set apart one business from the other.
No customers want a brand with whose logo they cannot relate; nor any client wants a logo designer who fails to deliver a unique logo design. In any case, as a learning designer or a business owner, you are left with no choice but to go to a custom logo design company that charges exorbitantly for every single logo design.
What if I tell you, rather than spending hundreds of dollars for a logo, you can design the logo yourself in 12 easy steps? That too without even spending a nickel!
Although, the arcana of graphic designing is complex, designing a logo in illustrator is equally easy. Don’t believe me? Open the illustrator and try for yourself.
In this guide, I will go through the step by step process of designing a random logo, which will showcase the use of various tools and options available in the illustrator, and will aid you in designing a unique logo design for your brand/client.
Let`s get to it then!
Step 1. Set the Foundations
Nothing can be built without a foundation, the same goes for logos. For the first step, open the illustrator, and on the top left corner of the screen, click on “Create New.”
With the following window opened, select “print” from the middle bar, as shown above. The reason for selecting “print” is because this section allows for setting up high-resolution printable images. Generally, this is the first step followed by professional logo designers as well.
Once print is selected, navigate just under the blank document preset section and click on “letter.”
With the following window opened, go to the (red) highlighted section and set orientation to vertical, if not set by default. Furthermore, scale the raster effects to 300 ppi (High), and assure that the color mode is CYMK.
With all the precedents in place, click on “create” on the bottom right side of the screen. You are ready to start working on the logo now!
Step 2. Set The Workspace
The drop-down menu provides a number of options to get the process started. However, choose the “printing” workspace for this exercise you will.
Tip: on the left-hand side, main toolbar has the tools that you can use for designing.
Tip: On the right side, layers panel can be seen. It is a vital tool for creating a logo, and will be used in the steps below.
Step 3. Setting Up the Shape
Navigate to the toolbar on the left, and on the shape tool menu, select “eclipse.”
With the right tool selected, move towards the plain white screen in the middle, hold the “shift” key on your keyboard, and click and hold your left mouse key to draw the shape.
Pro Tip: Shift, in this case, allows to draw a shape symmetrical from every side — yet again, a professional practice followed the best logo designers working for the top logo design companies of the world.
Extend the mouse on the screen so that it reaches at least 7x7 inches, as demonstrated in the box highlighted in the red. Though, there is no necessity that your circle too is of the same dimensions. But imbibe this concept — a larger shape is always easier to work on relative to a smaller one.
Step 4. Fill the Circle
Use the selection tool at the top of the main toolbar to select any unfilled part on your circle. Go to the swatches panel at the right of the screen, and select red to fill it up.
Step 5. Create a New Layer
Though working on the same layer is possible, professional logo designers prefer working on different aspects of the logo on different layers.
To open a new layer, select the new layer button at the right side of the screen.
Once selected, a second layer — layer 2 — will appear on the selection pane.
Now since we are going to work on the 2nd layer of the logo, the 2nd layer needs to be selected. Any change that will be made in this layer, will not affect the first one.
In order to work on the 2nd layer, first lock the 1st one. To lock it up, go to the layers panel and select the empty box. This will make the content in the 1st layer un-editable, until unlocked in the same manner.
Step 6. Using the Pen Tool
Once layer 1 is locked and the 2nd one is selected, navigate again to the swatches panel and assure that the outline is set to white and the fill is set to empty.
Step 7. Time for Your First Stroke
Pro Tip: unlike eclipse tool, pen tool doesn’t function in the old “hold and drag” manner. Click at the starting point and the ending point, to make a line. It`s this simple with a pen.
Once the line is made, deselect it by pressing “v” on the keyboard or do it through the selection tool.
Pro Tip: Getting acquainted with keyboard shortcuts can drastically improve ability create logo designs faster. Go through various “shortcut” tutorials to transmute from a novice to a professional logo designer.
Step 8. Increase the Stroke Width
Select the entire line just created and increase its width using the stroke panel (this can be done through keyboard shortcut too). Increase the size to 4 so that the central line becomes more visible.
Step 9. Add Further Lines
As done in step 6, use the pen tool to create further lines perpendicular to the line running through the center.
Step 10. Add a Circle
As done before, create a circle as shown in the image above. However, this time, keep it smaller in size and fill it with white.
Step 11. Adding More Shapes…
As demonstrated in the image, add two extra rectangles and another circle to add to the logo`s elements. Do this using the pen tool and the eclipse tool respectively.
Step 12. Adding Colors
Using the swatches panel and the selection tool, select various parts of the logo to give it different colors.
Pro Tip: If a custom logo design aces the black and white combination, there is a great chance that it will look brilliant once the colors are added. For this reason, majority of the logo designers tend to add colors to their logo designs at the end.
Let Your Imagination Run Wild!
Obviously, you would not be going for the very logo design created above. If you are, then the work’s been done for you.
However, if not, then there are a bunch of other logo types that can easily be made. For instance, go for a typographic logo like the one used for Zero Lifestyle.
The logo is undoubtedly professional in its bearing. And the bright side is that it can be designed in a similar fashion by following the steps mentioned in the tutorial above.
Nevertheless, with these guidelines by your side, I am certain that if you have a knack for creativity, your imagination and a bit of practice will lead you towards creating compelling logos that work for your vocation as well as your avocation. Need any further help? Hit me up!
