Logo designers are specialists in developing brand identities and creating the style required by reputable companies. This is important for standing out amongst competitors and gaining tools that contribute to market positioning.
An identity and corporate identity designer embodies in the visual a series of associations that are linked in consumers to certain memories, beckoning them to a certain culture of life. It is this system of visual and verbal communication that makes a brand stand out in a crowd of competitors and be memorable.
Graphic design courses with a focus on logo design from scratch offer a unique opportunity for beginners to learn this exciting and creative profession. In our article, we have gathered the best educational programs available online, both paid and free, so that you can start your journey in graphic design from a confident base, and in just a few weeks you can create a new and unique logo.
Why do you need to learn?
A quality logo is the key to high sales and brand recognition. It is thanks to the logo that potential customers recognize the product and form the first impression of the company. Logo designer with the help of graphic means creates the face of the brand – and develops symbols that customers will associate with the company. Working with logos is one of the areas of graphic design.
According to research, an unattractive brand design will repel 52% of consumers from buying or receiving a service. This is why the services of brand designers – specialists in visual brand support – are becoming more and more in demand.
If you are attracted to stylish and memorable graphics and creating a special atmosphere with images, then you can safely prove yourself in creating visual identity and corporate styles.
What do they learn?
The online courses listed in this article teach the basics related to aspects of this specialty, from choosing colors to graphic elements, from selecting fonts to using professional graphic editors. Course organizers will introduce special concepts, and tell you what does not correspond to logos, and what tools to use. The training encourages you to build your portfolio and become self-employed in the field.
In such courses, you will learn the basics of logo design and understand how to build a memorable trademark. You will learn how to understand fonts and choose the right color palette. All these aspects are really important in creating the face of a brand.
And if you are already an illustrator or artist, a logo design course will help you learn a new direction and start earning from it.
Top 5 Platforms
Online learning programs allow you to get a sought-after profession in just a few months without taking time off from work and personal affairs. Courses are taught by practicing experts who know exactly what it takes to build a successful career in logo design. Training includes plenty of practice and only the most necessary theory. The coursework can be used to initially fill your portfolio, which is already a great advantage.
Udemy
Udemy is a very popular resource where you can learn and teach skills to others. Companies can train employees using this site. Udemy has its own way of allowing experts to create online courses and offer them through the platform. In logo design courses, you will learn the basics by breaking down successful and popular cases, learn how to choose the right font for your design, use simple shapes, work with textures and gradients, and choose the right color palette.
Coursera
Each course on Coursera is taught by instructors from the world’s top universities and educational institutions. Coursera courses include video lectures, hands-on exercises, and discussion forums. Coursera is an education company that offers online courses for so many industries, including visual identity design. In these courses, you will learn about visual communication and gain an understanding of how graphic design interacts with other fields such as interface design, motion graphics, and editorial design.
LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn Learning used to be called Lynda.com and this resource is one of the first educational platforms on the internet. Currently, there are over 500 web design and web development courses to choose from on the platform, mostly focused on beginner and intermediate levels and covering all the aspects. If you choose the logo design course on LinkedIn Learning, you will go through all the steps involved in logo design, from client briefing to sign development, from guidelines to project presentation.
Skillshare
Like Udemy, Skillshare is an online marketplace for video courses of all kinds, including web design courses, mostly for beginners and intermediate levels. There’s a lot of short video courses available for everyone. For example, Skillshare offers a free course that covers the five basic principles of graphic design in just 35 minutes. This course is perfect for those who want to explore and experiment with images and text for messaging.
Canva
Canva is one of the most popular platforms where even a beginner can create cool graphic content. But there’s an educational side to it as well, with a variety of logo design training courses. For example, the Basic Principles of Graphic Design course offers a solid foundation, including everything from defining your message to the basics of color palettes and typography. It consists of twelve short tutorials, each with an activity so you can practice your new knowledge.
Additional Resources
Of course, if you want to develop in this profession, online courses alone will not be enough. You need to constantly improve yourself, follow the latest trends in logo design, and analyze successful cases of world designers. You can also do all this on your own – with the help of books and video resources.
You can start, for example, with Behance and Dribble – the most popular services where designers, photographers, and illustrators share their cases. These platforms help you to seek inspiration and develop an appreciation.
As for books, there is no shortlist, but we have chosen those that according to graphic designers with experience are a must-read.
- David Airey “Logo Design Love. A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities”. David Airey will guide you through the journey of developing an iconic brand from the very first ideas to their final realization, drawing on the experience of the most celebrated designers. Learn how to create effective briefs, generate ideas, negotiate costs, and communicate with clients.
- Paul Rand “A Designer’s Art”. A book by one of the most influential graphic designers of the twentieth century. The publication includes over two hundred graphic works and twenty-seven articles by Rand on visual communication, corporate style, commercial art, the tasks of the designer and his cultural role, ideas, symbolism, and images in design, typography, and much more.
- Robert Bringhurst, “The Elements of Typographic Style”. According to Library Journal, The Elements of Typographic Style is considered a classic in its field. The book covers all aspects of typography: history, theory, and practice. For every designer who wants to better understand this field, this book should be a desk reference.
- Noreen Morioka, Terry Lee Stone, Sean Adams “Logo Design Workbook: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Logos”. This book examines not only each element of a logo but also explains its importance on the whole structure. Using real examples, the authors show all the stages of work on creating a logo, while describing each step in detail. An ideal guide for both beginners and professional designers.
- Alina Wheeler “Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team”. Designing Brand Identity is on LinkedIn’s list of “10 graphic design books every designer should read.” Essentially, it’s a guide that gives the entire team a toolkit and recommendations for creating a visual brand identity. This book is important to read not only for designers but also for marketers.
Conclusion
To become a graphic designer, it is not necessary to graduate from art school, the main thing is to have a basic set of necessary skills. You need to know the basics of typography and coloristics, have experience in creating original compositions, and most importantly be able to work with specialized design software.
You can master these skills in professional free courses on graphic design, which you will find on the platforms we talked about in this article. Well, of course, do not forget to constantly improve yourself in your chosen direction.
