Ref PR 04 · Practice and business How to design a logo as a freelancer
Method Edition of 20/08/2026 also filed under: identity, vector, delivery
Logo: a mark that identifies an organisation and has to keep working at any size, in one colour, and in every process it will be reproduced by.
In short
- An illustration is admired once. A mark is recognised a thousand times.
- Design it in black first. Colour is the last decision, not the first.
- The job is not finished at the drawing: it is finished at the delivery set.
1. A mark, not a picture
Illustrators get hired for marks because a distinctive hand is exactly what a young organisation wants. The trap is treating the mark like a small illustration. A picture is looked at; a mark is recognised, at a glance, out of the corner of an eye, often at the size of a fingernail. That difference sets every decision that follows: fewer shapes, bigger counters, thicker minimum strokes, and no detail that dies below a certain size.
2. Before drawing
Write down, and have the client confirm: what the organisation does, who it is talking to, where the mark will appear first, what it must never look like, and which existing marks in the sector it must not resemble. Ask for the physical constraints early: a mark that has to be embroidered on a cap, etched on a bottle or cut in vinyl carries different rules than a mark that lives on a screen.
Ask who signs off. A single named decision maker turns three rounds into one.
3. Sketch and direction
Sketch small and in quantity, in pencil or with a hard brush at thumbnail scale, so that only the big shape survives. Then choose two or three genuinely different directions to develop, not five variations of one idea. Presenting one direction per idea, in black on white, at two sizes, keeps the conversation about the mark rather than about colour preference.
Show the mark in place: on a sign, a card, an app icon, a shirt. A mark presented alone on a white slide is an invitation to judge it as a drawing.
4. Building in vector
A logo is built as vector artwork because vector geometry stays sharp at any size and can be cut, etched and printed from the same file. Rules that keep the file usable in someone else's hands:
- Use as few anchor points as the curve allows. Every extra point is a place for the shape to wobble.
- Expand strokes to filled shapes before delivery, so scaling cannot change the line weight.
- Convert type to outlines in the final master, and keep an editable copy with live text for future changes.
- Align to a consistent grid and keep optical corrections deliberate: perfect circles often need to overshoot a flat edge slightly to look aligned.
- Name the artboards, delete stray points, and check that the artwork sits on a transparent background.
5. The tests
Run all of these before showing a final. Each one has broken a mark that looked perfect on the artboard.
| Test | How to run it | Failure looks like | Usual fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sixteen pixels | Export at favicon size and look at it on a screen | A grey smudge | Remove detail, thicken strokes, make a compact variant |
| One colour | Fill everything black, no gradients | Shapes merge or disappear | Introduce gaps, redraw overlaps as cut outs |
| Reversed | White mark on a dark ground | The mark thickens and closes up | Slightly lighten weights in the reversed version |
| On a photograph | Place over a busy image | The mark stops reading | Provide a version with a clear space rule or a holding shape |
| Physical process | Embroidery, engraving, vinyl, stamp | Fine lines vanish or bleed together | Set a minimum stroke and a minimum size |
| Distance | Look at it from three metres | Only a blob survives | Check that the blob is still the right shape |
| Upside down | Rotate 180 degrees and look again | An unintended second reading | Redraw, or accept it knowingly |
Wide table: scroll it sideways.
6. What you deliver
The deliverable is a set, not a file. A useful minimum:
- Vector masters: the working file and an SVG, plus a PDF for print suppliers.
- Raster exports: PNG with transparency at a few named widths, for people who cannot open vector.
- Variants: full colour, one colour black, one colour white for reversing, and a compact version for small sizes.
- Favicon and app icon sizes, tested at the smallest one.
- Colour values: HEX and RGB for screen, CMYK for print, and a spot colour reference if the client prints often.
- A one page usage sheet: clear space around the mark, minimum size, what may not be done to it.
7. Rights and type
A logo is two things at once in law: it is artwork, protected by copyright as soon as it is made, and it is a potential trademark, which in most systems is earned through use in commerce and strengthened by registration. Clients usually need the copyright assigned or licensed broadly, which is a legitimate reason for a mark to be priced differently from an illustration.
Two cautions worth writing into the contract. First, searching for conflicting marks is a professional service: check the obvious sources, then state that clearance is the client's responsibility and recommend a proper search before registration. Second, fonts come with licences. Many desktop licences allow type to be outlined inside a logo, some restrict it, and web or app embedding always needs its own licence. Read the licence for the exact font you used and keep a copy of it with the job.