Creating logo in Illustrator

Hi Petra,

Here is a small video tutorial: How to Design a Logo in Illustrator - YouTube which might help you, however, if you are new to Illustrator you might need to learn some basic functions of Illustrator. You may refer to Illustrator Help | Illustrator User Guide for this.

Regards,
Srishti

Hi there,

All depends on style 1st there are many styles in logo design 1st you have to pick it then you found the right direction for your work.

Thank you

Thank you for your time to respond to my question. 

I was just asking for some general direction as to where to start, wanting to save myself hours of research looking for the right source, I didn't ask for an opinion whether you think I am able to complete the assessment or not.  This in fact is the last subject I have to complete to finish my course and believe it or not, so far I have passed every subject, even thought it involved using some of the Adobe programs I wasn't familiar with.  This is the way the course works - you are meant to self learn the basics about the program and then complete the assessment.  It's not designed for people who are professional with the program. 

There are several rules when creating a logo.

1.) Do not use text that does not look good when it is small, so be careful including text in zour design.

2.) Make sure your design also works in both black, white and/or greyscale.

There are several other rules that professional paid logo designers follow.

Another good source is the Los Logos book series.  It has been around years now. There you will find several logos!  Most big book stores carry this book.

Logo design does not happen overnight.  You may create 10 logos before coming up with the winning design!  Do not get frustrated.  When you get it down to three or four ideas.  Then ask people.  Do not just ask friends and family, but people who you have not met.  Friends and family usually tend to tell you something looks great, even if it does not!

Google is your friend.  There are all kinds of sites out there that will help you learn the rules of amazing logo design.  Look up logo design tutorials for Adobe Illustrator on YouTube!

Also look for design or art meetups/groups in your area.  There you can meet other artistic people and share ideas.  Behance and Dribbble both have art meetups that would be helpful to you!

Take a look at the "Adobe" logo in the banner of the forum.  Simple.  Logotypes should be easily recognizable and, above all, memorable.  Complex "illustrations" really do not apply.  Give yourself a break and come up with some simple ideas as sketches.  Choose 3 top choices and "comp" those up nicely to present to whoever.  In the real world, this would be the initial approval stage of logo development.  Very seldom would I present final artwork in the first stage of any logo development.  You then would proceed with either a winner or enter round two where you would present a modified version for approval.  When you decide you've created a "comp" sketch that has been approved, then it is on to the computer.  Follow Barbara's advice now.  Keep in mind that the more complex the artwork, the longer it will take to produce.  As suggested in your course outline, start with Black and White.  Final artwork should be based on 2-3 spot colors.  A third version appropriately named will consist of CMYK.  A fourth version will be converted to web color.  In the final version, keep the artboard to a size of around 3"h x 5"w.  As discussed, you are nowhere near ready for such an assignment.  You should have taken a prerequisite in Illustrator and Photoshop.

Briefly, if someone is starting by hand drawing a logo, as you plan to do, the next step is usually scanning the logo and placing it into Illustrator to use as a template. In the Layers panel, you can double click on the layer and make it a template layer. Then you're ready to trace the logo. Knowledge of how to use Illustrator, including proficiency with the Pen tool, is important.

I do not know why many college design programs just expect all art students to know how to use every Adobe application with no training whatsoever.

I will hand draw some elements of the logo which I am hoping to combine with font and other digital features.  It might be a trivial question...

It's not a trivial question; it's an impractically broad question that applies to any kind of illustration work in a program like Illustrator, not just graphics used for a logo. You're basically just asking how to use the program for illustration work.

Procedures for "combining...hand drawing, tracing and...digital elements" are the same for any kind of vector-based illustration, are in principle the same in all mainstream general-purpose vector-based drawing programs, and are covered in the documentation.

I'm not being flippant. It's just not practical to explain such broad-based topics in a single thread of a user forum. Start your project and post a more specific question when you run into a specific problem and can't find an answer in the provided documentation or by means of a forum search. (Countless threads exist pertaining to the general topics you have mentioned.)

JET