13 votes

How to avoid making icons and logos too minimal?

I've designed minimalist icon sets and there are three factors which, together, make for a pretty clear indication of where the line should be. In order of importance: Usability (which, ultimately, ...
user56reinstatemonica8's user avatar
8 votes

Non CMYK color in branding?

Most branding use Pantone colors along CMYK and RGB colors. PMS (Pantone Matching System) allows for more precision in the reproduction of colors by using 10 different inks (as opposed to 4 for CMYK). ...
curious's user avatar
  • 8,471
6 votes

What kind of goals would come out of a rebrand?

The goal of a rebrand would (pretty much) always be to increase market share / turnover / profit. I've only encountered the opposite aim once, when a supermarket had a loss-leader product that was ...
Westside's user avatar
  • 9,498
5 votes

Should the font in a logo be used otherwise in the corporate identity?

There is no rule for or against this, you as the designer can set the rules as you wish when building the corporate identity. Generally however, but again this is not a rule, the typeface in a logo is ...
Lucian's user avatar
  • 29.1k
5 votes

When does design need a concept / idea... and when doesn't it?

Shouldn't all brands have some kind of idea or concept behind their brand identity? Sure. The fallacy here is thinking that there is no concept or idea... There should of course always be an idea, a ...
Cai's user avatar
  • 40.4k
5 votes
Accepted

Please help to identify this map-printing technique

At its heart, this is simply called "line art," and as DA01 states, halftone dots are really just a method to get a continuous tone (photograph etc) into line-art form for printing with a single ink. ...
Yorik's user avatar
  • 4,489
4 votes

Please help to identify this map-printing technique

It's not particularly a technology nor something exclusive to maps. It's essentially doing the same as your 'dots' method--which is screening back a solid color via a pattern. The only difference here ...
DA01's user avatar
  • 50.2k
4 votes
Accepted

Should I oblige when a client asks to use a design as a logo when it wasn't made to be the logo in the first place?

This question is closely releated but not a duplicate: Copyright on free work Similar to the linked question, you did a small job and now it's becoming a big job. So you explain that the rules are ...
Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum's user avatar
4 votes
Accepted

License for logo of an open source (GPL) project

You don't typically license a logo at all--as a logo is meant to represent a single entity. However, within the license of the software itself, you may want to add clauses about how the logo can be ...
DA01's user avatar
  • 50.2k
4 votes
Accepted

What kind of goals would come out of a rebrand?

Is the only reason to rebrand: To position our brand in the marketplace as a leading supplier of [* service name *], to reflect our professional and reliable service... etc Absolutely not. I'd go as ...
Ryan's user avatar
  • 23.1k
4 votes

Some newbie questions about branding

Yes, you can use stock photos in a presentation as references as long as you mention the source. When the work is approved, the client needs to produce their own photos or buy the original stock ...
Lucian's user avatar
  • 29.1k
3 votes

Should the font in a logo be used otherwise in the corporate identity?

Though there really aren't rules or guidelines for this in any serious way, I can answer that for myself, I tend to reserve the typeface of a logo to itself - especially if it's a logotype (...
GerardFalla's user avatar
  • 9,596
3 votes
Accepted

Why are precise measurements frequently included in brand identities?

Having spent a long time designing and delivering logos, logotypes and full Corp ID packages, and then also having working in similar corporate environments and constantly wading through a never-...
GerardFalla's user avatar
  • 9,596
3 votes

Branding for various communications in the same company

There can be no definitive answer for this. But looking at those highly varied company names I would say that the branding very well might be totally different for each (as it is for say Unilever ...
mayersdesign's user avatar
  • 8,562
3 votes

How to avoid making icons and logos too minimal?

Is there any non-subjective way of deciding where is the line between skeuomorphism and ultra-minimalism First of all, skeuomorphism isn't just about something 'looking realistic'. It is just as much ...
DA01's user avatar
  • 50.2k
3 votes

How to avoid making icons and logos too minimal?

There is no too simple, only unclear. Simplicity is about style, clarity is about information. As long as users know what an icon means without having to decode it, it works from an information ...
plainclothes's user avatar
  • 17.5k
2 votes

Using part of logo in creative concepts

Assuming the logo itself is not up for discussion, I will say yes, you can use the r on its own. I think example #3 is the best one. 1 gets a little convoluted. 2 is rather boring and generic. I ...
benteh's user avatar
  • 10.8k
2 votes

When does design need a concept / idea... and when doesn't it?

How you approach a particular design brief really depends on the brief itself. A good brief should tell you about the background, objectives, target audience, qualities the brand wishes to convey and ...
Derek's user avatar
  • 21
2 votes
Accepted

When does design need a concept / idea... and when doesn't it?

A design should always back a concept or an idea. And as you said you already have it..you want to look it simple and minimal so that it denotes high end luxury and simplicity that catches eye. I ...
Mansi's user avatar
  • 144
1 vote

Should designs for certain products have specific colours?

There's a limit to how many colors we can see. Sometimes the colors you want to use overlap with other companies in the same space. That's okay, there are other elements of branding. See "Copyright of ...
Zach Saucier's user avatar
  • 13.3k
1 vote

Should designs for certain products have specific colours?

First - what you did with that Coke and Pepsi is you made up a reason for them having different color. Burger King and McDonalds use warm colors. In-Out use warm colors. YET these are not the same ...
SZCZERZO KŁY's user avatar
1 vote

Is there a name for a miniature set of brand guidelines?

I use Short Brand and qualify this at the beginning with what will be included. I've had no negative feedback with this approach in 20 years of practice. It puts me in control with an end point of my ...
Applefanboy's user avatar
1 vote
Accepted

Is there a name for a miniature set of brand guidelines?

I'm slightly troubled by having differing nomenclature for two things that are fundamentally the same. "Brand guidelines" and "style guide" mean the same thing to me. I think I'd decide on which ...
mayersdesign's user avatar
  • 8,562
1 vote

What kind of goals would come out of a rebrand?

When a business is working at full potential, in some fields the managers will not waste too much time with marketing work. There are a lot of large companies doing very well with dated logos/...
Lucian's user avatar
  • 29.1k
1 vote

Difference between primary and secondary logotypes and their application.

You can make secondary versions of a logo just because you want to, but in most cases doing anything "just because" isn't the best idea; there should be solid reasoning behind it. You should always ...
Cai's user avatar
  • 40.4k
1 vote

Using part of logo in creative concepts

I think there are tasteful ways to do so, especially if the "R" is the first letter of the company name. But even if it's not, I can imagine scenarios where using it as a secondary design element ...
DLev's user avatar
  • 1,880
1 vote

How to avoid making icons and logos too minimal?

First of all: Do not be misguided by "Modern Art Concepts". There can be some really stupid concepts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist's_Shit that some people call "Art". But yes, there are some ...
Rafael's user avatar
  • 36.2k

Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible