LOGO DESIGN BLOG   LOGO DESIGN REVIEW

What’s the secret to a great illustrative logo? There are many different kinds of illustrative styles, some cartoonish, some more abstract, some more detailed. But how do the really great designers do it? What do they know, what secret ancient technique do they use, how did they get so good? Here’s the secret, find what style you enjoy most, or excel at…and then practice, practice, practice until you are the best at what you do! There is no secret to great design, only experience you gain by practicing and doing.

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 Logo Design Podcast 15: Illustrative Logos [14:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4571)

Readers’ Digest recently updated their logo. I’m not too sure what to think of it yet. It just seems like the old logo was so instantly recognizable. Here are a few of the changes that I noticed when I first saw the new logo.

1. Sans serif vs. serif
2. Emphasis on Digest vs. Reader’s
3. Red stylized apostrophe vs. black apostrophe
4. Speech bubble in “D” vs. no speech bubble
5. URL vs. no URL

Call me old fashioned, but I think the old logo was great. We all know that the majority of the readership is my grandma and your grandma. RD is probably trying to attract new, younger readers. Will it work? Did they alienate their current readership? What do you think?

Recently, Auckland City Council was forced to change their newly designed logo due to similarities with Triangle Television’s logo. The decision has already cost more than $37,000 in legal fees and re-branding efforts. One member of the council admitted to having already spent more than $180,000 on the image makeover. This price includes market research, printing templates, stationery, signs and banners.

What is the lesson of this story? Do your research. Even if you think that you are being original in your design, you may be duplicating design which has already been created. You probably didn’t realize you were using a previous idea, but you did. How can you make sure this doesn’t happen? Ask your fellow design community if they have seen something that is similar. Do some research, check and see if you have duplicated an idea. It could save you thousands.