I’ve discussed a lot about what makes a good logo on my blog, but I haven’t gone into as much detail about what makes a bad logo. After some thought, I was able to come up with 11 fundamental factors for what makes a bad logo, and I’ll go through them in this article.
What Constitutes a Bad Logo?
Here are 11 characteristics of a terrible logo.
Excessively literal
Trying to actually show something rather than thinking about it in an abstract manner is perhaps the most egregious example of what makes a lousy logo.
Logos are distinct from other forms of design in that their objective is not to deliver a message or direct the observer to a certain course of action. A logo is just a basic, adaptable, and one-of-a-kind piece of iconography that may be used to identify a business. if you are searching free customized tool for makin logo for you brand such as clothing ,t shirt brand ,you should surely check it out free t shirt logo maker tool. It technically does not have to say anything, and as a result, logos with a little more mystery tend to function better.
Consider the above case. Both are delivery bad and good logos. Because it genuinely depicts delivery, the top design seems unprofessional. The bottom design seems more professional since the arrow snuggled in the negative space between the E and X suggests delivery in an abstract fashion. Most folks aren’t even aware it exists! It gives a lovely element of mystery, and logo design allows for such investigation.
I’ve discovered that many of my clients are obsessed with having their logo precisely portray what they do. It’s OK to illustrate something, but carrying excess nearly always results in a sloppy logo design.
Outdated logos
A major issue with bad logo designs is the use of out-of-date methods, images, and effects. The logos above seem to have been designed decades ago—and not in a nice manner. Effects like old-fashioned skeuomorphism, 3D gradients, clip art, and specific typefaces were overused throughout the 1980s and 1990s, making these logos appear especially obsolete.
Excessive reliance on color
Another sign of a bad logo is that it can’t be simplified to just black and white.
A logo can have colors and gradients, but a design that only uses colors isn’t flexible enough to be used in all the ways a logo is usually used.
A logo must function as effectively in black and white as it does in color, so that it may be carved into wood, formed into a steel sign, branded on a step and repeat banner, embroidered onto a garment, printed in black and white, and so on.
Is imperceptible at smaller sizes
As previously said, a logo will be utilized in a number of contexts, so it must be produced in such a manner that it is adaptable enough to operate in all of them. Scaling is a nice illustration of this.
Even when scaled down to tiny proportions, a logo must be readable. When developing your logo, consider how it will appear at 16 16 pixels in a browser tab. If it isn’t viewable at that size, it’s unlikely to look good on a business card or as a profile photo on social media when seen on a mobile device. This frequently occurs when there are too many fine details.
Excessively fashionable
As I said in a previous piece on logo trends to avoid, design trends may seem cool now, but they’ll probably look like a mullet in 10 years.
Excessive Font Use
Using too many distinct typefaces is another example of what creates a lousy logo. When you utilize a lot of distinct typefaces in a logo, they all compete for attention and clash. In the end, it looks sloppy and jumbled. In my logo designs, I almost never use more than two typefaces.
Isn’t Distinct Enough
Another characteristic of a terrible logo is the use of design clichés. The vintage automobile outline logo is a fantastic illustration of this.The fundamental purpose of a logo is to have a distinct piece of iconography with which your audience can associate you. Using design tropes destroys the aim entirely.
Insufficient Color Selection
In a previous piece regarding the use of color in logo design, I recommended using no more than three colors in a logo and utilizing a color wheel to choose hues that complement each other.
Colors that are opposite one another on the color wheel tend to complement and contrast beautifully. If you look attentively, you will see that some of the world’s top brands adopt this strategy. Bad logos often break this rule by using colors that do not complement one another.
Lack of consistency
Line uniformity is sometimes overlooked, but once I learned about it, it made a huge difference in how well I could design logos. As you can see in the examples above, the typefaces used in the top row reflect the style and weight of the lines in the accompanying icons. The bottom row depicts how they appear after they are switched .The upper row seems more harmonic, but the bottom row appears to be off. Here’s where line consistency comes into play. A good logo has consistency throughout, but a poor logo does not. Always ensure that the font type fits the style of the remainder of the design.
Attempting To Communicate Too Hardly
Many of my customers also make the mistake of trying to say too many different things with their logo.
If you look around, you will see that some of the world’s top businesses transmit just one message in their logo. In general, I try not to express more than one or two ideas in a logo that I create since it gets too cluttered.
In the above case, there is just too much going on. A hand holds up a dish of food against a background of the planet, with a ribbon running across it. It’s very crowded.
Don’t fall into the trap of wanting your logo to say too much. Even though your company is complex and does a variety of things, keep in mind that it is not the logo’s role to express a message. It’s only a basic piece of artwork that a customer may utilize to identify your brand.
Excessive detail
It’s not that elaborate logos are terrible in and of themselves; they’re simply not scalable. Detail logos work well for huge billboards, murals, and vehicle wraps. If they were the only locations your logo would be shown, intricate logos would be the standard, but consider how often your brand shows on much smaller, harder-to-see surfaces. The issue with elaborate logos is that they appear bad on tiny displays such as cellphones, as well as on some swag and items such as pens or even business cards.
Sure, the logos above appear excellent and are well-designed, but such graphics bad logo are wasted at tiny sizes, and they may even render the brand unreadable or indistinguishable. You are not need to relinquish your detailed logo if you do not like to. Responsive logos, which develop variation logos for smaller sizes, are a totally fine option. To put it another way, maintain your detailed logo for big placements and a distinct one for tiny places. This method is thoroughly explained in our guide to responsive logos.
Take a look at the Bluffton Inn logo below. Their building’s historic design is a major selling element, and employing a detailed drawing is ideal for a rustic atmosphere. When they need to print their it in a tiny spot, though, they employ specifically made replicas that look just as good.
Kerning Deficiency
Kerning is the technique of manually changing the spacing between letters so that they appear to be uniformly spaced apart in typography. This is one of those things that needs the use of the human eye. You cannot leave this to the machines.
The design on the left in the example above looks to have all of its letters uniformly spaced. The design on the right, however, does not. The spacing seems to be irregular.
The characters on the left were painstakingly spaced, believe it or not. The letters on the right were created by a computer. Examine the red bounding boxes surrounding each letter below, paying special attention to the gap between the A and the T. They seem to be so far apart because the base of the A protrudes considerably more than the tip on top, and vice versa for the T. This gives the impression of more room than is really available. This is why logos must be kernered by hand.
Inadequate Font Choice
A lousy font selection is the last illustration of what creates a lousy logo. Every typeface has its own personality and transmits a distinct set of feelings. A good logo employs a font style that is consistent with the brand’s basic principles. A bad logo does not.
Avoiding from bad logos
- Black-and-white logo doesn’t work Color or black-and-white logos are OK. If the color is vital, it’s going to create complications when it is presented in black. Creating a logo in color and black-and-white is typical.
- Small logos don’t work When utilized, it will have various sizes. It needs to work on billboards and mobile apps. This is why logos shouldn’t include much text.
- Complex logo – Effective logos are basic. Too much is distracting. This includes text and graphic components. Simple is best.
- It’s not unique. Avoid clichés and designs that resemble other logos, particularly well-known or industry-related logos.
- Unmemorable logo Logos help generate brand awareness. Unmemorable logos are ineffective. Simple logos are more remembered than cluttered ones.
All of these examples might be used as logos. This essay outlines detailed facts to highlight how modest modifications may effect identity & branding design.
Sharing Tips : The t shirt logo maker tools didn’t need registration and provided a free SVG vector file for future usage with no need to pay, also high-resolution PNG is free as well.
End Thanks..
