With the number of professional logos already out there, and the demand for original yet minimally simple designs, it can be difficult to get inspired for your logo projects. If you can’t find the right font, can’t decide what color to make your logo or just need a little constructive criticism, here are the ten best free resources to help with your design endeavors.
1. Free Fonts
Most logos require at least a few letters to convey what company or entity they represent, and for that you’ll need some good fonts. Thankfully, there are heaps of free fonts out there. Take a look: 40+ Excellent Freefonts for Professional Design.
2. Free Logo Vectors
Vector icons are offered in large packs on many logo-focused web sites, so if you’d rather not draw your own, go to a site like Logo-maker.net and download one of theirs.
3. Free Examples From the Pros
If you’re not sure what makes a good logo yet, examine the best examples out there – the logos of big brand-name companies. At sites like Designguide you can read all about why famous logos were designed how they are.
4. Free Style Guides
A style guide in logo design terms is like a mini rule book with what standard design elements your logo should have to appear professional. There are many free style guides out there; sites like Identityworks will help you find style guides for particular brands.
5. Free Color Guides
If you’re on the fence about whether your new logo’s main color should be blue or orange, take a look at AllGraphicDesign’s Coloring Your Logo article to see what each color tends to represent (and make people think when they look at it!)
6. Free Feedback
There are numerous forums out there where designers like you can post their logos and get feedback and critiques. Designerstalk and HOWdesign Critiques are good ones.
7. Free Tutorials
Don’t feel as confident as you could with the Pen Tool in Illustrator? How about making logos that look like postage stamps in vector? Try one of the many tutorials on TutorialBlog or a similar site. There are thousands of tutorials out there.
8. Free Role Models
Knowing how the greats did it can definitely help you on your own path to becoming a better logo designer. Check out LogosDesigners for biographies and photos of some of the most iconic (no pun intended) logo designers of all time, as well as examples of their work.
9. Free Inspiration
If there is one thing you’ll never run out of, it’s other people’s logos to look at online. Sites like Logo of the Day, LogoMoose and Creattica have large, impressive galleries of logos that you could browse for hours.
10. Free Design Software
If you can’t afford Illustrator or Photoshop, try your hand at free equivalents like Inkscape (vector) and the GIMP (raster)
If you’re uninspired or think that you can’t start designing logos right now because you can’t afford it, don’t have the right software, or don’t know much about the subject, think again. There’s a wealth of information and free resources out there, and you already have what you need to access them: a computer and the internet.
Sonia Mansfield is the content editor for PsPrint and editor of PsPrint Design Blog. She likes to write, do yoga and make nerdy “Star Wars” and “Simpsons” references. PsPrint is an online commercial printing company specializing in brochure printing.