The following is a guest blog by Barton Damer, a freelance digital artist designing for new media, interactive, print and broadcast design. He operates under the studio name AlreadyBeenChewed.tv
#2-4 are not logo designs. They are variations of a logo design. A logo should stand strong in solid black and white. If it falls apart when reduced to those 2 solid colors, it is not a strong logo design. The strength of a logo should not rely on full color, gradients, grunge effects, 3d effects, or shading & highlights. A logo in it’s basic form needs to work for print, web and video. There are many times when a logo may need to be reproduced on a vinyl banner, fax machine, gobo for lighting, tee shirt printing, embroidered, embossed/engraved or extruded in a 3d program. None of those will work if your logo is not replicable in solid black & white. Even the grunge effect is technically replicable in solid black & white; but at it’s core, it is an effect applied to a logo. The logo should stand alone without that effect applied to it. Logo designs that are too ornate should be avoided as well. You will run into a lot of the same issues if your logo is too intricate. Less is more.