So what do you do when you want a professional, high-quality logo for your personal brand, business and infoproducts but are working on a budget? Or worse, have no DIY logo design skills what-so-ever!
If you are making the leap to entrepreneurship online, you want to feel proud of what you’re launching. But what do you do when you have zero design experience and have no clue what Photoshop or iDesign is, let alone how to use them?
Well, let me put those worries to rest. Because I am going to show you step by step, the process I use to create professional logos without Photoshop or fancy design tools. In fact, we are going to use a free tool, Google Drawings, to whip up a logo you’ll love.
SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT WHEN CREATING YOUR LOGO
There is a lot more that goes into the creation of a logo than most people think. From concept to color psychology, typography to spacing and a million other things in between…who thought something so simple could be so complicated.
But we’re going to throw all of that out the window. Our goal right now is to get your business and brand in front of your perfect fit fans and to deliver your products and services in a pretty little package that makes a great first impression.
So, let’s go over the rules:
- Keep it simple: A logo does not have to be complicated or overly styled to make an impact. You want people to be able to read it and instantly understand the message you want to convey. The purpose of your logo is not to keep your audience guessing but to make sure it is recognizable and memorable in the minds of your target audience.
- Keep it to 1-2 fonts: You do not want your logo to look like a crowded mess. Keep your logo to two font styles to ensure your logo feels congruent and effectively communicates the essence of your brand.
- Keep it timeless: Your logo should be timeless – simple and flexible enough to fit into any new design you may create.
- Keep within your skill level: If your logo looks like a 7 year old created it, it’s probably because you tried to create something outside of your comfort zone. Acknowledge and understand your limits so when it comes to designing you can plan and create accordingly. It’s ok to keep things simple. Remember, when it comes to your brand nothing is forever. Create a logo you are comfortable with and when you launch your course and make a bunch of dough you can pay someone to create what you couldn’t.
So now that we’ve got that out of the way let’s get to creating this amazing logo of yours!
P.S. If you’re not in the mood to read today…you’re in luck! Check out the FREE video tutorial which was taken from my popular program: Create Your Champion Course below!
STEP 01: OPEN UP GOOGLE DRAWINGS
When I first found out about this app I knew it was going to be a game changer. You may not have even heard of this tool, but thank God it exists!! If you have a gmail account you can find this gem of a tool in Google Drive.
Visit drive.google.com, click new, click more and then under the more tab you’ll find Google Drawings. Just click to OPEN.
STEP 02: GIVE YOUR NEW DOC A NAME
You can double click the title section at the top or rename the drawing here. Hit the RETURN key and you’re good to go.
STEP 03: ADJUST THE SIZE
Before you begin typing or adding elements make sure your design space is large enough. To adjust the size go to File > Page Setup > navigate to “Custom” and then set your document size. I set my document in pixels, but the bigger the canvas size, the higher the resolution. So if you decide to use it on your website, or in marketing collateral you can do so without losing resolution. So start with something like 1000 x 1000 pixels.
STEP 04: ADD YOUR TEXT BOX AND PICK YOUR FONT
First, use the Text Box tool to drag your text box across the page (you want it to stretch as far across your page as possible.) Then, type your brand or product name in the text box.
If you already have a set of fonts you use for your website or primary brand, start there.
If you are starting from scratch with your design, select a font that matches your brand personality and style but one that is easy to read and legible at any size.
For example, I use the Raleway font – it is clean, modern and easy to read. It also comes in a number of variations, Bold, Light, Regular, Medium, and Italic. The one thing I always look for when choosing fonts is versatility.
Enter your course or brand name, then scroll through the Google Fonts available in the toolbar. Click on the ones that stand out to see how they look and if they fit the style and tone you want.
You can change the font size, enlarging it so it will stretch across the width of your text box. You will also want to center it on the page.
STEP 05: ADD SLOGAN, IDENTIFIER OR SECONDARY PHRASE
Once you are happy with your font, give your logo another layer with an identifier. For example, if you are a yoga instructor and launching a yoga course, called Elevate with Yoga and you want people to have a more in depth understanding of what your brand is about then you can add an additional text box in a complementary font.
This font would be smaller in size and less prominent because you want the focus – what people read first – to be on the name of your brand followed by the more secondary info (your identifier). This will help you create depth within your design by make your identifier smaller and thinner. Play around with the font. Get creative. Play with the spacing between letters and words (also called tracking), type in call caps, or try using an italic font to create visual interest.
You can get as creative as you’d like.
STEP 06: ADJSUT + ALIGN
If you have more than one text box, select both text boxes and use the alignment tools to make sure they’re centered with one another and that the spacing between them is just the way you want it.
Step 07: ADD YOUR COURSE BRAND COLORS
Here is where things get fun. You can highlight your text and use the text color tool to change the color of your logo name. Use one of the colors in the drop down, OR select “Custom” to use your own unique hex code. This is where your brand book comes in handy because you can reference it to grab your hex codes or color codes so you don’t have to remember what they are off the top of your head.
You can also use tools like Coolors.co or the Chrome extension ColorZilla to find the hex code of a color you want. For my example, say I decided to go with a magenta color. I simply paste it in the color picker to modify the color of my text.
Step 08: CROP + SAVE YOUR LOGO AS A TRANSPARENT PNG FILE
So now we are getting somewhere. We now have a brand new logo, so the next step is to remove the excess space in your canvas by cropping it out. This way, if you upload the file onto your website, there won’t be all this empty space around the edges.
The easiest way to crop is to simply grab the bottom right-hand corner of your design area and drag up until you have about the same space all the way around your design.
Once your logo is the proper size and cropped, you’ll want to save it as a PNG. You can do this by selecting File > Download As > PNG image. This will export a .png file with the transparent background to your desktop allowing you to easily upload it to your website, insert it as a picture into your course slides or add it in your iMovie frames.
Tip: If for some reason your canvas background is not the checkerboard transparent background you see above, right click anywhere outside your document (in the gray area) and select Background > Transparent.
You also have the option to export your logo as a vector file by using File > Download As… > Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg). This will create a file that can be scaled up or down without fear of losing resolution. You could use this to print your new logo on a large banner for an event OR you could give it to a designer to edit in a vector program like Adobe Illustrator. Pretty dope, huh!!
BONUS: ADD BRAND ICON/GRAPHIC ELEMENTS TO YOUR LOGO
Now, if you want to take this one step further and add a little more flair to your logo, here are some options I’ve played around with.
- Add geometric shapes (circles, squares, etc,)
- Add dotted lines plus some random shapes using the “Polyline” selector .under the Lines drop-down adds fun and visual interest.
- Drop the transparency on the color fill bucket of the shapes for added fun.
- Using white text on a color-filled rectangle or circle can give you a cool variation.
- Use an icon resource like The Noun Project or Dry Icons to find an icon and use it as a template to draw your own illustration using the Polyline tool.
- Use the “Scribble” tool to create the illusion you’ve colored in your illustration. Start with an icon from The Noun Project. Choose “Scribble” from the Line dropdown and drag your cursor over the illustration. Then, change your line width to something thicker like 8px. Change the color of your line to the color you want your scribble to be. Finally, use the Arrange > Order > Send to Back option to put the scribble beneath the illustration outline. Now you have a “color outside the lines” brand icon!
The possibilities are endless and you can play around with Google’s Drawings tool until you come up with a course logo you are proud of!
Boom!! You are the bomblogocreator.com!!! How fun was that. See you I told you you didn’t have to be a graphic designer to slay your logo design. Whether you need a logo your your upcoming ebook, online course or Facebook group, you can whip up a logo both you and your tribe will love in just a few easy steps.
Hey, got questions? Let’s talk about it! Leave a comment below along with a link to your website so we can see your fabulous brand logo design!
