Recently a high school classmate contacted me asking if I'd design a logo for his church. Thankfully he said this was a paying job which brings me to a point.
With a few exceptions, I strongly believe that artists should ALWAYS charge for their work. If we don't charge for the work we do, the work is diminished. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to do a lot of art work for no pay. In the past I accepted those jobs but those days are over.
ALWAYS CHARGE FOR YOUR WORK, EVEN IF IT'S A SMALL AMOUNT!
OK, rant over!
My friend gave me some ideas and information about his church and the goals they wanted to achieve with the logo.
I didn't tell him that I've NEVER designed a logo for a genuinely professional situation but hey, he didn't need to know that, right?
Since this was a relatively new experience, I did some research to ensure that I completed this job as professionally as possible.
First, I looked up logo design best practices. I got a lot of great and helpful hints on how to proceed.
Once I knew this, I researched church logos and my friend's church specifically.
That research turned out to be essential because I learned an important piece of info about the church that wasn't told to me until much later in the process.
By looking up the church online, I discovered that on its property is a meditation garden that contains a stone labyrinth.
Once I learned that, I knew that a labyrinth had to be one of the design ideas! I was especially excited about this because I wanted to stay away from the common church symbols (steeple, cross, bible) that other church logos had used.
So my first suggestion for making a logo is: do your research! Spend as much time on this step as you need. Because this is the step that's going to get you the ideas that you execute later.
With a few exceptions, I strongly believe that artists should ALWAYS charge for their work. If we don't charge for the work we do, the work is diminished. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to do a lot of art work for no pay. In the past I accepted those jobs but those days are over.
ALWAYS CHARGE FOR YOUR WORK, EVEN IF IT'S A SMALL AMOUNT!
OK, rant over!
My friend gave me some ideas and information about his church and the goals they wanted to achieve with the logo.
I didn't tell him that I've NEVER designed a logo for a genuinely professional situation but hey, he didn't need to know that, right?
Since this was a relatively new experience, I did some research to ensure that I completed this job as professionally as possible.
First, I looked up logo design best practices. I got a lot of great and helpful hints on how to proceed.
Once I knew this, I researched church logos and my friend's church specifically.
That research turned out to be essential because I learned an important piece of info about the church that wasn't told to me until much later in the process.
By looking up the church online, I discovered that on its property is a meditation garden that contains a stone labyrinth.
Once I learned that, I knew that a labyrinth had to be one of the design ideas! I was especially excited about this because I wanted to stay away from the common church symbols (steeple, cross, bible) that other church logos had used.
So my first suggestion for making a logo is: do your research! Spend as much time on this step as you need. Because this is the step that's going to get you the ideas that you execute later.