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What are some good instructional resources for learning logo design (books, sites)? How can I learn logo design more in depth?

This question is not about:

  • basic principles.
  • books or sites like "1000 best logos of year" or other picture collections, etc
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    I think you can actually learn a lot from looking at the "100 best logos of the year" or whatever. A large part of learning to design things is noticing and (mentally) critiquing other people's work.
    – Computerish
    Commented Jan 7, 2011 at 21:29
  • One of my favorite instructional books on logo design is Logo Design Love by David Airey. You can pick it up on Amazon for something like $15 and it's an excellent resource to have.
    – Ashlee Palka
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 16:56

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Maybe you should reword your question to be "What are some good instructional resources for learning logo design?" Because simply looking at lots of well-designed professional logos and analyzing them yourself is arguably one of the best ways to become a good logo designer.

You can't really be instructed into becoming a good logo designer. Most of the nuances of great logo design can't be taught or even put into words. It's not like there's a straight-forward formula or checklist for creating awesome logos. Sure, there's an academic side to design, but that's only a small component of becoming a good designer (just look at all the design school graduates who suck at creating actual designs).

So you can't just pick up a textbook or go to a website and expect to be "taught" how to be a really good designer. Most of what's required to become a good logo designer is developed through years of training/practice. That requires you to be more pro-active and teach yourself.

Specifically, you need to cultivate a strong aesthetic eye and develop your creative instincts. There's no textbook or tutorial that can teach you those things. It just takes lots of dedication and hard work. And there's no better resource for these things than:

  • logo galleries/showcases - which allow you to "feed your mind" with good logo designs; the more you immerse yourself in good designs, the sharper your aesthetic eye becomes, and the more your own designs will improve; aside from their high concentrations of good logo designs, galleries also help you identify current design trends—which are ever-changing and another reason to constantly keep your eye out for strong designs;
  • practice design briefs - the best way to improve at anything is still good old-fashioned practice; an even better way of practicing than downloading practice design briefs is to enter into design contests (plus, you can win stuff like an iPad, iPhone, Wacom tablet, or even cash);
  • design case studies - case studies are the counterpart to design briefs; they show you how other successful designers approach specific design problems; again, it's not instructional, but they walk you through the thinking process of other designers and help you improve your own creative process;
  • design communities - design communities like Behance.net, deviantArt, etc. allow you to post your work and get critique from your peers; depending on the quality of the community, this can be an invaluable learning resource;

There are instructional resources out there, but I think you'll find that most of them deal with the "fundamentals" or theory of design. Sites like Logo Design Love are certainly useful, but most of their content are just articles like "Top X logos for 2010", case studies, workflow tips, or general advice on the creative process.

I will however recommend the Logo Design Workbook by Adams Morioka. It's the closest thing to an instructional book on advanced logo design that I've come across. But a lot of it is just case studies, design theory basics, etc. However, it teaches you a lot about the business side of logo design as well. And it's just an overall good read.

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Logo Design Love is a great resource for logo design. Our school just started using it and it is very helpful. There are tons of RSS feeds out there as well. Any of David Airey's blogs are good and there are great resource sites like You the Designer and Fuel Your Creativity.

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Search for good logo galleries and showcase websites.. take ideas from logo galleries... keep practicing again and again... if possible first try to make same logo which you like the most and then create new one from your own imagination... :-)

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Clavin's answer can't be any more perfect but I can recommend watching this video. which sums it up in a way.

And... another collection of books

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