Creating logo in Illustrator

[petruskaaa80]

Hello

I am after some advice on how to create a logo in Illustrator.  I am pretty new to this program so will be starting pretty much from the scratch.  Although the logo will be for my TAFE assessment, it needs to meet the standard criteria for logo creation so the logo can be used on business cards, letterheads, websites and for print purposes such as on t-shirts etc. 

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 but how do I go about combining these elements together?  Hand drawing, tracing and then inserting digital elements?  Are there any basic tutorials for beginners on how to create logos that would help me to get started? 

Thank you! 

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

So you have to design a logo for class, but nobody taught you anything about it?

Try these tips as a start: How to Design a Logo: 50 Tutorials and Pro Tips ~ Creative Market Blog

But maybe you want to take some more extensive classes? LinkedIn Learning has this, but it's not free.

[JETalmage]

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

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

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.

[Monika Gause]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Jeff+Witchel%2C+ACI  schrieb

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.

If the colleges would offer the training then they would have to pay the trainers, which might interfere with their desire to earn money?

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

I'm referring to teaching the basics of the application, which the professors (on staff) should be able to handle with no problem.

[barbara_a]

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.

[jdanek]

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.

[KShinabery212]

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!

[petruskaaa80]

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. 

[JETalmage]

This is the way the course works - you are meant to self learn the basics about the program and then complete the assessment.

The way you self-learn the basics about the program is reading its documentation, and working through the operations it describes in the process.

I was just asking for some general direction as to where to start…

I just gave you general direction as to where to start. You haven't been much more specific than that. That's my point.

…wanting to save myself hours …

Volunteers here want to save themselves hours, too.

Have you read the documentation? Did you search the forum for applicable thread topics? Every suggestion posted in this thread so far is a repeat of responses I've seen in this forum for decades.

Don't take offense; none is intended. But yes; adult students are expected to be able to do their own research. But that doesn't mean just going to a user forum and creating a very broad-based thread effectively asking volunteers to write a how-to book just for you, from start-to-finish, on such a broadly-stated topic as how to combine hand drawing, tracing, and "inserting digital elements" (whatever that means).

Again:

1. At least peruse the program's documentation. There, you will encounter explanations of the tools and commands for such things as drawing vector-based paths, importing raster images, and creating text (thereby doing exactly what you have asked how to do: combining those objects on the Artboard). There will be a description of the Layers palette, including using its so-called "Template" feature to lock or fade an imported sketch to facilitate tracing over a scan.
2. Start your project.
3. If you encounter a particular problem, search for it in the documentation.
4. If you can't find what you need to know in the documentation, search for related topics in this forum.
5. If you still find nothing, post a specific question in this forum in its own thread. Use screenshots to show what you have so far and explain what exactly you are struggling with.

Please narrow the scope of your questions.

JET

[SJRiegel]

petruskaaa80  wrote

This is the way the course works - you are meant to self learn the basics about the program and then complete the assessment. 

And in this way, your school is failing you and your fellow students. The problem with self-teaching a program is that you don't know what exactly you need to learn, so you wind up missing out on a lot of basic information.

This is why we wind up with new hires who don't understand the difference between spot color and process color, or how each should be set up. People with graphic design degrees who don't understand how to use basic typographic tools, so they do things like indent paragraphs by using a return and a tab at the end or each line, or can't figure out how to get rid of "that extra space after the return", because they have not been taught about Space Between Paragraphs settings.  

This is nothing against you, but against a teaching model that basically sends you to build a house without first teaching you how to read a blueprint.

[lambiloon]

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

[Srishti Bali]

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