Flexible logos are trendy and for good reason; They are suitable for almost all types of media. Find out how to use InDesign to create your unique and flexible logos.
Flexible logos that shift position and orientation are big news in graphic design right now.
Why is this way of creating logos so effective? First of all, by creating a flexible logo with multiple positions it is possible to adapt the logo to a wide range of supports. Do you have a tall and narrow fair stand? A tall logo that fills the space will always look better than a small-scale square logo. Are you trying to adapt your logo for an app? A flexible logo gives you more freedom in how that logo can be organized on different screen sizes.
As brands must adapt to both print and digital sphere, flexible logos also translate into incredibly good for both. For example, this logo trend may seem fantastic if it is adapted to the animation.
Here we will look at some suggestions for creating flexible logos using Adobe InDesign, from how to choose a core for your logo on how to structure your typography in an effective and professional way.
1. Getting started: Choose a typeface for your logo
You can use any character style to create your own flexible logo. Many professional design agencies will use custom or adapted typefaces to ensure that their logos are completely unique. However, it is also easy and effective to use a pre-existing font.
Step 1
You can find fantastic paid fonts on font sites like MyFonts or check Font Squirrel for free fonts with a commercial license. You can also find a wide range of vector fonts in the Shutterstock library.
Heavy weight sans-serif characters tend to work well for flexible logo designs, as they are clear, easy to read and look clean and modern. But you could also give a more contemporary touch to a more traditional serif font by using it in a flexible logo.
Step 2
To open InDesignand go to File> New> Document.
You can create your own logo design on any page size, but it helps you have a lot of space to play. Here, I'm working on Landscape A3 page. Once you have decided the size of your page, click Create.
Use the Tool Type (T) to create a text frame on the page and type the name of the brand. copy is Paste the frame a few times and positions each one below the previous one in a vertical sequence. This will allow you to easily compare the characters.
From both vertices controls panel or the Character panel (Window> Type and Tables> Font), set the Font of each text frame to something different. Become experimental and play with different styles. You are looking for a font that has the right mood for the brand, but is also clear, legible and visible.
Here I am experimenting, from top to bottom, with Orkney, Gilroy and Spartan MB.
Step 3
Limit your choice to a font. I decided to use Gilroy, which in ExtraBold the weight looks really nice, and looks friendly, modern and it's really easy to read. His chunkiness will also ensure that the logo is distinguished when viewed from a distance.
2. How to create a core for your logo
A flexible logo is not a series of different logo designs, but rather a series of variations of the same logo.
Step 1
To ensure that your logo design has a noticeable continuity between the different versions, good advice is to choose a main letter for your logo. This is the letter that remains approximately in the same position, while other parts of the logo orbit around it.
Identify the letter or pair of letters that can still work as good for your logo designs. This could be the first or last letter. In this case, I will go for the "U" in "PLUME", which is at the center of the name of the main brand. I can reduce the size of "Co." and use it as a peripheral element in design.
Step 2
Once the core is identified, set this letter in its text frame on a new page. Click on Create new page button in the pages panel [Window > Pages].
3. How to use the guides to structure your logo
Step 1
With the middle letter positioned approximately in the center of the page, drag the guides out of the rulers (View> Show Rulers) to mark the vertical and horizontal central points of the letter.
Step 2
Drag multiple guides to mark the left and right edges of the letter, as well as the top and bottom edges.
Step 3
Create a new text frame on the page and type the letters preceding the main letter, in this case "PL".
Apply the same Fontand do the Font size smaller. Use the horizontal center point guide to place the text centrally next to the main letter.
Use the guides to highlight the top and bottom edges of the smaller letters.
Step 4
Select the text frame of the small letters e Edit> Copy, Edit> Paste, and move this copy to the other side of the main letter. Edit the text inside to read the remaining letters in the brand name.
Using the guides you just created, align this text frame to match the center alignment of the frame on the other side.
Step 5
If you have other parts of the brand name, such as "Co." here, set it in its text frame and reduce it Font size more and more. Ensure that the baseline of the text in this frame matches the baseline of the adjacent text frame.
4. How to create alternative versions of your logo
With your basic logo created and your guides set up, you can start getting creative with alternative versions of your logo.
Step 1
In pages panel, Right click> Duplicate spread on the page containing the basic logo design.
Working on the copy of the page, try moving the text frames around the core, moving them to different positions.
Your logo design will always be better if you use guides to perfectly resize the text. For example, here I moved the "PL" text frame to the beginning of the main letter and set the tracking (letter spacing) slightly to ensure that the edge of the "P" and "L" meet the guides on both sides of the "U".
Step 2
You can also experiment with rotating text frames to give a different look and get rid of the logo.
On the text frame, Right-click> Transform> Rotate… to move the orientation.
Step 3
Continue to duplicate pages and experiment with different versions of the logo.
Try to create logos with a square shape and others that are longer or taller. Always use the guides to keep the position of the text frames under control.
5. How to vectorize your logo
Once you have finished a variety of logo designs, you will need to vectorize your logos. This will make them scalable and easy to use in other projects.
Step 1
Start with your first logo design. Select all the text frames that make up the logo and go to Type> Create contours.
You can repeat the process for the other logo designs.
You can therefore both copy is Paste each vector logo in other InDesign documents or other software (such as a vector program such as Illustrator) to create multiple drawings. Or you can File> Export your logos as .EPS or .PNG files, ready for use in other projects or for uploading to a website or app.
Your flexible logo is finished
With your vectorized logo designs, you're ready to start incorporating them into other projects. Try experimenting with different color combinations. Or, why not create a simple animation of your projects by creating a GIF?
Are you looking for more inspiration for logo design? Take a look at these articles:
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