Recently, I participated in a logo design competition sponsored by DESIGN 21. Designers were challenged to create a logo for the UNESCO DREAM Center, a project with the goal of providing underprivileged children, especially in post-conflict regions, the opportunities and tools to express themselves creatively through the arts.
Bringing the Arts into Focus
My entry, “Bringing the Arts into Focus” was one of over 1500 entries from designers around the world. Submissions represented all parts of the logo design spectrum: simple to intricate, serious to playful, large, small, good, bad, and everything in between. However, this article is not about logo design. (For principles of effective logo design, check out this short article by Jacob Cass.)
Before this competition, I had never given much thought to how I presented a logo or identity design to a client after it was completed. Looking through hundreds of submissions during the voting period, I realized that presenting an identity design is much more than providing a color and greyscale version of your logo.
The best designs in the competition stood out for more than just their conceptual strength or creativity – they had an effective presentation. Below are the aspects I believe contributed to this professional feel, with examples selected from this competition and several others sponsored by Design 21.
1. Negative Space
Many entries uploaded an image that left empty space around the logo at the center. This minimalist design concept helps draw attention to the logo and is visually appealing.
DreamLogoType by Giorgio Uboldi
DREAM ...by edoardo perri
Illuminated Expression by Deja Engel
2. Horizontal and Vertical Solutions
Clients want a design that is versatile. Showing how your logo can be easily altered to fit into spaces of various shapes and sizes makes your design stand out as well-crafted. Your logo might be very versatile, but if you don’t present it that way clients may not notice.
Winner of the UN Documentary Film Festival logo competition: Stories from the Field by Abi Huynh
International Festival of Cultural Diversity by KarlaPamanes
A silver lining by musterseiten
3. Vignetting
Officially a lens effect, vignetting darkens (or lightens) from the corners of an image to draw attention to the center. This dramatic effect can be easily applied with Adobe Photoshop using the Lens Correction filter. A vignette can be very visually appealing, but it is also a common effect that can easily be overdone.
expressions by Harpreet Padam
Winning Design - Cultural Diversity by yael alkalay
DREAM of a Better World by Carlos Santana, Jr.
4. Bold presentation
Using a bright backdrop for a logo design draws the eye and helps it stand out from others. It is also a way to bring a splash of color to a black and white design. The use of other effects such as faint drop shadows or glow can be visually appealing, but it is important to also include a a plain and simple version without these effects, or the logo could be considered too busy or complicated. ‘Helping Hand’ below is a great example of an effective shadow. It is not pronounced enough to easily identify it as a drop shadow, but it gives a slight depth that is very appealing and looks professional.
Helping Hand by art&choke
FACE by kresimir grancaric
PANGEA by Francesco Donati
5. Print Layout Example
A large number of entries featured an example of how the logo could be incorporated into an appealing print layout. Although certainly not required, and maybe overkill for some projects, it shows dedication and allows clients to see the many ways your identity design could be utilized.
A DREAM grows..... by Tina Engineer
Dreaming is imagining by matias cageao
Most Popular: Here we meet by Diego Pinilla Amaya
6. Product examples
Similarly, many designers provided examples of how their logo could be used on various products. It can be helpful for a client to see that a design is versatile and can be adapted for use in many different ways. T-shirts and stationary are common examples – but it is possible to go too far (example 3)
House drawing by Anna Guigard
Dreaming Star by Upstate
Art Everywhere by michaelv
If you really want to go above and beyond, you can animate your logo, as quite a few entries did.
Have other tips for making a design proposal stand out? Share them here.
When displaying your logo on a t-shirt, don’t pick the first google image result you find. It works against you when 5 other design entries have their logo on the same guy’s shirt.
Nice article and thanks for quoting my logo presentation.
Glad you liked it, Giorgio. I thought your logo design was very impressive. I would love to see a link to more of your work!
What a useful article, thank you Alexa for showing my work. Nice blog.
great logo! the imagery of the Andes is present, I love it.
I’m so happy to see a Colombian fellow making it in such an important competition, congrats!
Thank you Laura, I just saw your portfolio, it´s really brilliant. I´m glad to know another Colombian doing things well. My best wishes, Diego.
Nicely done. I’ve had a presentation this week at school and utterly blew it – not only because of presentation design, but partially. Now I’m working on a display and a project documentation. The logo isn’t mine, and unfortunately my colleague thought doing pencil sketches first and going into illustrator second was too much of a hassle. Hence, there is precious little to document. Pity, really.
To be fair, my design was shot down in an earlier presentation, largely due to failing on most of the above suggestions. Good work on the logo is seldom enough, in most cases you will pitch to laymen, and your presentation and their personal expectations turn out to be the deciding factor. Your own customers should trust you enough to not second guess what you are presenting, but in any kind of contest, your presentation makes or breaks your entry.