We're excited to bring you the first post from our new DIY editor, Whitney Lee. In her first DIY post, Whitney makes logo designing accessible to those of us without a background in graphic design. Check it out…
A wedding logo is a snazzy way to spice up your wedding day. Once you have a great one designed you can use it in, like, a bah-zillion ways: on your return address labels, your wedding cake, your programs, t-shirts for your wedding party… anything!
Plus your logo doesn't have to live and die only on the day, it can live for decades as a symbol that succinctly represents your coupledom (think: The Artist Formerly Known As Prince).
Step 1: Choose your font
Your computer may have some cool fonts pre-installed, but I recommend you download a font. There are piles and piles of free fonts available online. Some are so cool that you'll simply be able to just type your names and you'll have a great looking logo! I recommend that you check out dafont.com.
Take your time in choosing your font — get one that suits your personalities. Also, make sure to click on the font name to see a chart of what characters are available in your font. Some fonts may only have uppercase letters, or some fonts may have cool features that you might not otherwise know about. For example, a font called “Velocette” has this cool swirl-y underline but you have to consult the chart to know to use the “æ” character to make the underline appear.
Step 2: Design your logo
Once your font is installed on your computer (here's how to do it!) it should be accessible in any program. You can use anything from Adobe Photoshop to Microsoft Word. First try just typing out your names to see how that looks. I used the “Velocette” font and mine looks awesome already…
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How about if I just use our initials and an ampersand, and one of those cool swirly underlines?…
Looks pretty great but, on second thought, this font is too smooth and perfect to represent Chico and me. We need something more loose, maybe handwritten. So I experiment with more ideas…
After a few more tries, I've come up with “Heartland” as my favorite font and this logo…
Logo-designing tips:
- Choose whether to spell your names out or use just your initials. If you are going to share a last name, maybe just that name would be appropriate!
- Instead of the word “and,” you can use a heart or a plus sign or many other symbols to represent your commitment to each other. How about an infinity sign? A lightning bolt? There are thousands of dingbats out there in font-land, with a little digging you can find the right symbol for you!
- Experiment using uppercase letters vs. lower case. Also experiment with spacing.
- Font size is your friend! Like the look of the lowercase letter for your initial but the uppercase letter for your partner's? Don't despair, just make yours a bigger size!
- You don't have to use all the same font. If you have a more complex font for your initials maybe just a simple “+” in a plain font is best so your logo doesn't look too crazy. My logo uses the “Impact” for the “+” because the “Heartland” font was just too busy.
- Simple and bold is best. The best logos have clean lines and can be understood from far away. If you make your logo one inch wide, is it still legible? This is a good test.
Step 3: Embellish
Would your logo look good with color? How about a circle around it, or a heart? Now is the time to apply the final touches using image editing software. If you do add color, remember to save a black-and-white copy too.
Step 4: Size Matters
Where will you ultimately use your logo? If your logo is simply for your wedding website then it doesn't have to be big. But make sure it is at least three inches wide, just to be safe. If you expect to use your logo on a t-shirt someday, then make it as large as you can before you save it.
Remember: you can always make an image smaller later, but you cannot take a small image and make it bigger.
Other helpful resources:
- Not sure how to install a font? Dafont has information about how to install your font here.
- Looking for free image editing software? Paint.NET is a nice freebie for PCs.
- How to find the special characters on your computer.
