Everyone has heard the saying “Less is more”. What makes a good logo? What makes a good logo great? There are some underlying similarities that can take a logo from good, to absolutely great, and they are often subtle tweaks or changes. One common element that all great logos have, if they were stripped of all color, the mark still works in basic black and white. Less is indeed more, in particular when it comes to great logo design.

To the right, are some of the worlds most recognizable logos, in simple black and white. Notice, everyone of them, just as identifiable in black and white, as they are in color. By designing a logo that looks good in black and white you are able to achieve several important goals toward a successfully designed logo. First and foremost, it helps keep things simple, and as mentioned before, with logo design less is ALWAYS more. Simple also ensures the logo can be scaled down to 1/2 an inch, or blown up to 10ft without falling apart. Color can easily become a ‘crutch’ when creating a logo. Designing a logo in black and white also ensure that the logo will be flexible. A properly designed logo will be useable by your clients in any medium. More than likely, a client will want to have their logo on their payroll checks, company letterhead, business cards, envelopes, clothing, websites, signage, and on and on. Unless the client is a print/ embroidery/ sign company the cost of reproducing the logo in color will go out of site and out of budget very fast.

So, now you have your nice, clean and simple logo looking sharp in black and white. Your ready to add color. To the right, is the same group of logos from above, but now in their glorious full color. Take a moment to look them over, notice anything in particular they all have in common? Despite some amazing advances in printing technology, basically making full color reproduction affordable to just about all but the smallest of budgets, each of these logos use only one or two colors at the very most. Remember, less is always more in logo design. Color evokes a psychological and emotional response from a viewer. The fewer colors a logo has, the more likely the intended psychological or emotional response will have to succeed.

You may be wondering, and the answer is No, this is by no stretch the only things to consider when trying to design a logo. They are certainly a great place to start, a solid foundation even, but like any good or great house, the foundation is just that, a foundation. Don’t get to fancy, or crazy laying down a proper foundation. Remember, in logo design, less is ALWAYS more.

The following are some great resources for logo design discussion and inspiration:

Brand New – Opinions and discussion on corporate brands
Famous Logos – Comprehensive articles about famous logos design and history
Brands of the World – Comprehensive library of brand logos in vector format

by: j
filed under: branding, design | No Comments »

After an incredibly busy winter, it turns out the photo I took of the Alamo on my vacation was selected to be included in the Tenth Edition of the Schmap: A Taste of San Antonio Guide.

So, small moment of pride with a thanks to Claire Evans and the folks at Schmap Guides.

Check it out on Schmap
See it on my flickr stream

by: j
filed under: lifestream, photography | 2 Comments »

Well, as they say, “All good things must come to an end”. Tomorrow is my return to the land of the working stiffs. I have had a great week of vacation visiting friends, family, and places that I have not seen in some cases for well over 10-12 years.

During my visit back to San Antonio, I made it a point to go and do all of San Antonio’s Mission trail. Having lived in SA for nearly 20years, I managed to accomplish in one 8 hour day, what I was unable, or unwilling to do in those prior 20 years. A handful of photos of my trip to the missions is now posted on my flickr page.

Well, not looking to spend my last day of vacation in front of the computer any more than absolutely necessary, I hope this little nugget to be the first of many more to come in an continually updated blog.

by: j
filed under: lifestream, photography | No Comments »

My last post was at the end of May. It has been a busy summer to say the least.

Needless to say, the site is finally in what I would consider a solid starting place. There are still a few nooks and crannies that need some tlc, but for the most part, there is a site that I do not mind sending people to.

I can assure you going, forward, the site, in particular the blog will not sit and collect dust. During this development phase for the site, I have been collecting and roughing out several blog post ideas and outlines that I intend to crank out in the coming weeks. I have enough roughed out to have a post a week for the next 8-9 weeks. These will include but are not limited to my views on Internet Explorer 6 and it’s continued support by many web designers and developers, and my take on why companies like youTube and google are going forward without supporting it. I’ve also got planned a follow up to my friend Aaron’s post that chronicles the brands we encounter on a daily basis, really overwhelming when you see it in a post.

Well, that’s it for the time being. I will be back in the coming weeks, but feel free to follow me on any of the readily available social media outlets.

by: j
filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

I thought about several ways to kick this thing off. This site, in one form or another, has been ‘in-development’ for quite some time, with bits and pieces of progress over the past few years. I tweeted a few days back something along the lines, “thinking of puting my money where my mouth is when it comes to my personal site…. agile development, it’s the way to go, so why won’t I?” SO, here goes. Agile Development of my personal little corner of the web.

What you see is the beginning of my site in the Agile development process. For those of you, that perhaps are unfamiliar with agile design, there is a great article on A list apart by Cennydd Bowles,  “Getting Real About Agile Design”.  The list of things I ‘intend’ to implement continually grows, and grows pushing the launch of the site further and further away, and that is precisely why agile design/ development is the way to go. Within a few days I will post my ‘checklist’ of items to be implemented over time. This ‘checklist’ is by no means a bible, or carved in stone, just a vague roadmap for me to target certain parts of the site with either functionality or content.

(more…)

by: j
filed under: development | 1 Comment »