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When designing a logo, it is most important to develop a meaningful concept. by Andy Attiliis

To this end, the initial designs should be done in black and white­ far in advance of even thinking about color. Despite the cosmetic advantage of presenting and possibly approving a color comp early in the process, it is not recommended. Rather than blur priorities, the wiser path is to develop a design's shape and lines before color is even considered. Since the goal of a logo is to make the entity it symbolizes memorable, its own concept and configuration must also be designed well enough to remember.
         Further, extravagant multi-colored logos can actually be poor investments because they are so difficult to recall. On average, it takes 30 to 40 impressions before a target audience can even begin to retain the identity of a simple well designed logo. For an extremely complex logo, the number will be much higher.
         Then, there's the rule of thumb that a logo must work as one color. The time always comes when inexpensive one-color printing is all that's available, because for many purposes it's all that is needed. While digital prepress accomplishes gray tints more easily than ever, separation of objects that touch must still be carefully considered to achieve a good one-color solution.

Andy Attiliis has served as art director for three advertising agencies. Since becoming an independent professional in 1981, he has been hired by nearly every type of business organization. With focused concentration on improving the continuity of a message’s concept and quality, he has often performed multiple creative functions on a single project. His additional experience as a creative director, designer, illustrator and writer have made him an extremely efficient single source art director/creative provider. The kinds of communications for which he has provided art direction range from ads to newsletters, brandings to Web sites.

Copyright 2001 Andy Attiliis. All rights reserved.