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How I Created Ockham Design

Logo and Branding

Duration: 3 hours

I need to stress this: web designers are not logo designers.

Web designers come from two places. Either they started with coding HTML and learned how to use Photoshop to design. Or they started in graphic design and learned to code.

If your web designer designs your logo, make sure they have a design background. Would you really want a coder to design your newspaper ad? Why would you have them design your logo?

I usually hire out for logo work which is expensive. For this site, I wanted to do everything myself.

With anything, if you aren't good at it and need to do it yourself, the best thing to do is keep it simple.

I chose to use logotype which are logos made out of letters. There are a few rules for good logo design. The easiest ones to follow are:

• Logos must look good without color.
• Logos must be scalable, i.e. readable at smaller sizes.

What I did to design my logo

First, I reread this article called How to design a logo of letters.

Then I did a Google search on "what makes a good logo" and ran across this article, What makes a good logo design?

I also did a search on "worst logo ever" and there's just one major no-no: don't make it look like a phallic symbol by accident.

For my logo, I wanted to convey my two ideals: simplicity and transparency. I opened up Photoshop and loaded my old log which was just the words OCKHAM DESIGN in Gotham font. I've used Gotham for along time and originally chose it because I wanted a very symmetrical font.

My old logo was just a combination of Gotham Book and Gotham Bold. This time I wanted to add a logotype.

For the logotype, I typed O and D, the letters of my site in separate layers and tried font combinations. I kept the O in Gotham and as the bottom layer. I wanted it to be solid and simple. The D for design, I wanted a script type but not a font that was too curvy and flowy.

I decided on Gessele. I played around with the relative font size between the letters until it felt right. I added the transparency to the D (and yes, I know transparency is trendy right now), but it conveyed what I wanted.

The letters at this point were all in black in white. I wanted to add color and decided on a simple black, gray, red combo. I added the tagline later, but the logo is meant to stand without the tagline.

Branding

Again, I'm a web designer not a marketing guru. Though I've read enough about marketing and branding to make bigger mistakes.

The American Marketing Association defines brand as "a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers".

My brand revolves around one idea:   Keep it simple.

I use the word simple when I talk about my site. I differentiate the word simple from simplistic so clients know that simple doesn't mean without effort. My branding comes through mostly in how I present my company to others.

I knew this was how I wanted to define my LLC over 8 years ago and chose the name Ockham Design to reflect that brand.

Next: Design Phase