Logo Design: What Makes A Good Logo?

Generally, this is a difficult question to answer. We all know a good logo design when we see one, but it can be tough to put your finger on exactly what makes it a good logo. I tend to look at colour, concept and execution (with the last two being the most critical) as being the factors that contribute to good logo designs. For me personally, i think you absolutely need the last two (execution and concept) to be strong in order for a design to be considered a ‘good logo’. Excellent execution needs a good concept, and vice versa.

A lot of logos will primarily and initially be driven by concept; so a housing company logo will usually start with a house or building somewhere in the logo, and will be built from there. For corporate logo designs, it’s generally argued that the logo should be graphically simple and iconic; containing all company elements in one icon (name and what the company does). Typography for these sorts of logos should be subtle and shouldn’t distract the viewer from the overall concept. The icons should be capable of standing on their own, without the text.

Execution generally refers to how well a logo matches concept, iconography and typography, as well as how well rendered the final version is. So you could argue poor execution refers to a lack of concept and poor rendering (good examples of concept-less logos are the off-the-shelf variety containing just meaningless squiggles or lines). If you’re including a low resolution image in your logo, it’s likely that the entire logo will be tainted by the low resolution and will end up being considered as a poor piece of execution. Even if you have a solid concept, it’s likely that it will be let-down by use of low res images and poor rendering. Logos like this one look especially poor when utilised within a web design, as the low resolution rendering will be made even more apparent.

Have a look online at some brand logos and see if you can assess the concept and execution; chances are if it’s a good logo at least one of those factors will be original and unique, and the best logos you find should have achieved a high degree of both concept and execution.

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