10 Tips To Create A Good Illustration Logo Design

It’s not about what you see but what you make others see.

Here are some inspiring tips you can easily follow to create a fantastic illustration logo design!

Created by Sekai of Kangae | https://www.behance.net/gallery/140890015/Sekai-of-Kangae-Branding-v3

An illustration logo design is the intentional use of symbols to make customers feel that the product is related to them. It is symbolic, often containing images of animals or people. How to create a good illustration logo? To create a good design, you have to make a design that can evoke an emotional response in viewers immediately.

However, illustration consists of complex design elements. It usually has some aspects of what the company does, a company's name image, or even a character or mascot used to represent the nature of the business. In addition, it is made from raw sketches manually or references to visualize every element in reality. An illustration emblem can be a picture or a painting. Some people call it a sign because it does not contain any characters.

Created by Sydney Michuda | https://www.behance.net/gallery/137384759/Hayes-Street-Market-Branding

What industry is best suited for an illustration emblem design? It is a powerful statement, and it's definitely more popular in some industries. It's generally suited to businesses with a casual or informal identity. There are also many different styles of illustration, some informal and very cartoonish, others more complex. There are some styles that you can choose to fit your company goals.

A well-illustrated design is a picture of a brand design that depicts a concept or company. It can be a more abstract representation of the company, its products and services, company descriptions, emotions, moods, heritage, thoughts, physical attributes, messages, job features, etc.

Designing it requires creativity and an understanding of your target audience. However, your logo is the first impression of your company. Your business, product, or service comes together into a cohesive brand. It includes everything from graphics to your website. Creating a good emblem is a long process.

Created by Nahuel Bardi | https://www.behance.net/gallery/85012921/ANIMA-Festival

The best designs can make your company instantly recognizable. You need to make the design represent the brand, reflect the business personality and give people a feel. Because it is the first impression of a company or product, so choosing a good illustration is very important. The design must also be flexible enough to translate well into a variety of media, including print, websites, ads, and social media. To give you the big picture of what to do to create a good illustration logo design, here are some tips that you can try.

10 Tips To Create A Good Illustration Logo

Understand The Brief Thoroughly
Identify The Main Message
Start With Plenty Of Sketches
Choose A Sketch That Stands Out The Best
Digitize Your Design
Add Custom Fonts
Add A Suitable Color Palette
Test Your Logo In Different Sizes & Medias
Get Feedback from Clients & Peers
Present Your Logo With Several Mockups

Created by Vladimir Enciso | https://www.behance.net/gallery/114628935/La-Jugosita-Pulpas-de-Fruta

1. Understand The Brief Thoroughly

Before you create your design, you should have a well-written brief about the design you want to make. Without it, you would be wandering around in the dark, trying to guess what the customer wants. Start by asking the following questions, and remember you can never ask for too much!

What kind of your business? Who is your target market?
What is your company's history? Does your business name have a deeper meaning?
What visual trends and types of designs appeal to your customers?
What are your brand values?

Be sure to know what your target market wants. And don't forget that you are a professional; it is your responsibility to create designs that can attract your customer.

Created by Karla Heredia | https://www.behance.net/gallery/136681637/THE-SANDWICH-CLUB

2. Identify The Main Message

Once you have answered the questions above, you can turn them into an illustration logo! Start by making a list of all the keywords relevant to the project. Write down each word that comes to your mind when you think about your business. Don't worry about making something sense or creating something beautiful. You won't show this to anyone!

Created by Studio Born | https://www.behance.net/gallery/136970417/AMAV-SEAFOOD-COCKTAILS

3. Start With Plenty Of Sketches

Now, use your keywords as inspiration and start drawing. Consider your customer's requests, but don't be afraid to go off track and try something different if you feel you have a good idea. At this point, do not think about the "beautiful" drawing. Make a quick sketch, and don't overthink it. Just focus on getting the ideas out of your head into a piece of paper. You should draw as many concepts and ideas as possible.

When you feel like you've run out of ideas, put the paper aside and leave it until tomorrow. You may need to step back and look at your drawing with fresh eyes. You may find errors you haven't seen, get new ideas, or even see new possibilities in concepts you haven't seen before.

Created by Oscar Bastidas | https://www.behance.net/gallery/82572679/SPK

4. Choose A Sketch That Stands Out The Best

Review all of your drawings with a critical eye. Find bugs, then look for ways to improve them, and vote for your favorite parts. Next, choose some drawings that you like the most, and draw them over and over again. Drawing the same thing multiple times seems like a waste of time, but it really helps a lot. Each version will get better, and after that, you can draw the perfect version!

When drawing, save the things you like and fix the things you don't like. Put more effort into each drawing, make it perfect, but do not get lost in the small details.

Created by Carlos Andrés Buitrago | https://www.behance.net/gallery/139437433/Visual-identity-for-Velotrack

5. Digitize Your Design

Once you have chosen what you like best, it's time to submit your concept to Illustrator! Do you want to learn to create a good illustration logo design? Get an e-book of logo design for free! By having it, you will get directions, resources, and occasional promotions which you can choose from at any time.

Depending on the aesthetic you want to achieve, there are a few different ways to create an illustration design logo by using Illustrator: tracing directly in Illustrator after drawing manually on paper or in Photoshop or drawing with the Pen tool in Illustrator. Neither of these techniques is better than the other, but one of them will work better for your current project.

Created by Maria Suarez Inclan | https://www.behance.net/gallery/98376117/The-Duke-of-Hamilton

The first option is live tracking. This is one of the easier techniques you can try. Draw it first by your hand, then trace it in Illustrator. Open your drawing app ( for example, Photoshop) or prepare your ink and pan. Draw your design as accurately as possible. Use dark colors such as black to make tracing as clean as possible. Remember, this is not a graphic anymore, but it is an original design!

Using this technique will give your design a handmade feel. Your design would look a bit uneven and organic. Review your keyword list to determine if this theme is right for your project!

When you're satisfied with your image, open the Illustrator application and create a new CMYK document. Import the images by clicking File > Place. Next, select the image and click Image Trace at the top of the screen. Open the Image Trace Panel. Select the option you like the most from the drop-down menu. The Silhouette option usually keeps track of the best logo diagrams, but try other options too!

Created by Monga Design | https://www.behance.net/gallery/115907073/Baked-Baam-Visual-Identity

The second option is drawing. Create a new CMYK document and import your images by clicking File > Place. In the Layers panel, rename the layer that contains your diagram. Use an opacity slider to reduce the image opacity and lock the layer. After that, create a new layer on top. Pick your Pen Tool and start tracing your drawing.

The Pen Tool works a little differently than a regular pen. Instead of drawing, you will be drawing the anchor points with handles that follow the direction of the path. If you are not familiar with the Pen tool, you may not know where to place the anchor points. If you are also tracing the letters, try to keep all the handles vertical or horizontal by holding down the Shift key while drawing the points. This will give you more control over the look in case you need to modify it later.

Created by WNDR STD™ | https://www.behance.net/gallery/143863771/BANDIDO-CEREAL-BAR

6. Add Custom Fonts

Now you have your illustration design just the way you want it; it's time to add your own if you have one. There is no proper place to put your tagline, but perhaps the simplest is to add it below your emblem in a clean font that matches the style. Start by creating a line or shape that makes room for the emblem. Next, click on the Type on a Path tool and click on the line itself. Then start writing! Center the text and scale it to fit the way you want it.

When choosing a font, find one that fits and complements your illustration, and make sure they don't compete with each other. Your image should feel harmonious. Stay open to experimenting with serif, script fonts, or sans serif, as well as the latest font trends.

Created by Rahib Dämirqaya | https://www.behance.net/gallery/106484981/Bill-Hanson-Wisconsin-Master-Cheesemaker

If your illustration design project is a text tag, this type of design should contain only the brand name; then, you should express the values and aesthetics of the brand using typography only. In this case, be careful in your choice of font because the letter itself will carry a lot of meaning and character. Pay attention and play with spacing, contrast, and weight.

Combine several letter shapes, add subtle meaning to some letters, or put them in a container or some kind of separator. Change letters by removing or adding them or even creating your own new character set. When working with word tags, look for highly expressive letterforms with an aesthetic that is closely related to what the brand does.

Created by Karina Li | https://www.behance.net/gallery/124233563/KROK-Animated-film-festival-Identity

7. Add A Suitable Color Palette

When you start to add colors to your design, be sure the colors you are using are appropriate for the brand. It is one of the tips to create a good illustration logo design. Start by learning a little bit about colors, color trends, and color theory, then choose color combinations that complement each other. A good design color should stand out, but it doesn't have to be oversaturated. You can get a beautiful contrast only by using pastels.

So what steps should you take in adding color to your design? First, select the element that requires color. Next, click on the Shape Builder tool and hover over the area that needs color. If it's a closed path that can turn into a shape, you'll see the light gray fill color.

Created by Kato Design Studio | https://www.behance.net/gallery/142601851/Kato-Brand-Revamp

Once you've created each shape, you can start playing with colors! Start by grouping all the items that will have the same color. It will make it easier to change the colors of your design later. Then, select every element you want to change, click "Recolor Artwork function" on the toolbar then start adjusting the color appropriate to your want.

A combination of pastel colors that is soft and interesting is lavender and mint. But also remember to suit the choice of color with your kind of business. Don't make a mistake by choosing inappropriate colors.

Created by Tony Balderama | https://www.behance.net/gallery/100140025/AlAgua-Dogs-Pets-Spa

8. Test Your Logo In Different Sizes & Medias

Having a good logo design alone is not enough. You also need the correct files to use the logo on a variety of media. So make sure to send every file he might need to your clients. Typically, this includes both the landscape and portrait versions, as well as the full-color, black-and-white, and black-only and white-only versions.

For each iteration of the logo, you'll want to export these seven files:

JPG file in RGB color profile
SVG file in RGB color profile
Illustrator files in CMYK and RGB color profiles
EPS files in CMYK and RGB color profiles
PNG file using a transparent background in RGB color profile

Now you are ready to create a good illustration logo design with Illustrator!

Created by Estudio Selva | https://www.behance.net/gallery/123489461/Ollie-Bear

9.Get Feedback from Clients & Peers

Choose your best drawing and show it to your friend or customers. It is recommended to show 2-3 initial drafts, but it is up to you. Just show your drawing in black and white colors only in the first round. Adding color makes people focus on that, and at this point, you just need to know their response and opinion when seeing your design. Their feedback will help you to fix some mistakes in your design before going ahead to the next step.

Created by Analaura Fuentes | https://www.behance.net/gallery/135300323/Sistole-Coffee-Roasters

10.Present Your Logo With Several Mockups

When your logo looks perfect, you can show it again to some people around you. Make sure to view every iteration of the logo, including the different color versions. Remember that any version of the featured logo must be shown to them so that you are able to know the best options from them if you feel confused about choosing it by yourself. Keep it simple, clean, and clear so that they can receive the message you want to give by creating the design of the logo.

Created by Violaine & Jeremy | https://www.behance.net/gallery/111947197/La-Case-Cheval-Blanc-St-Barth

Final Words

While illustration design certainly has its benefits, it can also be limited. If you want to print your logo on equipment, illustrations can be difficult due to the complexity of images that you may not transfer to other media. However, you can get around this by completing two different versions of your logo (one with illustrations, one without).

Creating an emblem for business is an important visual component of your brand that helps build your identity. Without it, your business will not be able to attract new customers and win over existing ones. There are many ways to carry out branding design; for example, local providers, in-house visual artists, and freelance online professional designers can help you make a brand that meets your expectations.

Created by Senka Studio | https://www.behance.net/gallery/111419559/The-Breakfast-Club

Don't forget that make your emblem as simple as possible. The best one is something with a simple design it can represent the message of your business. Don't create a design that is a complicated design. Create an illustration design that is eye-catching and interesting.

Maybe it is not easy to design something from a business owner's point of view because small businesses rarely have enough money to invest in brand development. Small businesses usually use word-of-mouth marketing rather than paid advertising to get some customers. If they do it right, they can succeed. However, if creating a design by yourself is something difficult for you, there is an illustration service provider out there with affordable prices that can help you in designing a good emblem for your business. You just need to do deep research to find one of them.

The conclusion is the point at which something stops. What is the illustration emblem, and how to design it? Besides asking for a logo design, you can still create a good illustration logo by design using graphic design software such as Adobe Photoshop, CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator, SketchUp, etc. Illustrations are used to represent company names rather than words. So you should follow it to make sure you create a well-illustrated custom logo with some logo concepts that will stand out and can attract customers. That is all about creating a good illustration logo design.