Quests and Treks

Let me start by pleading with you to have a look at the following logos – all of them represent successful eTwinning projects. (They are in alphabetical order.)

1 Beautiful stories from our countries:

2 Bridges through history with maths:

3 European children’s calendar:

4 European spring festival:

5 Famous cities and football clubs:

6 How children see autumn:

7 Let’s talk and learn English!

8 Our European culture:

9 Our life:

10 Read and understand:

11 Strawberry united:

12 The stories of angels:

13 United through folk tales – a 21st century performance:

14 Virtual travel agency:

15 Young scientist in the laboratory:

They are good logos. They tell important information about the project. But is this all that the perfect logo should do?

I believe the answer is no. Great logo designers (here or here) have thought of what makes a perfect logo, and they have come up with the following list:
- it is distinctive
- it is simple in form
- it tells one single message
- it has a meaning behind it
- it is printable at any size
- it is effective without colours
- it can be animated
- it has handwritten script which ‘spells’ pride.

If one looks closely at the last logo, for the eTwinning project “Young scientist in the laboratory”, one can say about it that it is indeed distinctive (out of many), it is simple in form (not too many shapes or colours), it has a meaning (a laboratory can be the place for young scientists too), it is effective in black and white (and shades of grey), yet it is NOT printable at any size (there are too many details), it CANNOT be animated (what exactly to animate? perhaps if the child were to hold the tube with one hand only…) and it has NO script at all.

As we can all see, it really does not matter if you make it vertical or horizontal, for instance. The style carries little weight too – it can be a photo, a copyright-free clip art, a scanned drawing, an abstraction, a cartoon, a combination of these. All you need to keep in mind is that it should be appropriate. How do we get to ‘appropriate’ then?

Designers have thought of the designing process, and these are the ‘appropriate’ steps they recommend – do check the 6 links, they provide insightful details and good advice:

1. Design brief

Get the details of the eTwinning project you are creating a logo for and decide on a few key-words.

2. Reference

Look at successful logos and current styles that may be related to the key-words.

3. Sketching

Develop the logo design concept, the script and a tag line using (some of) the key-words.

4. Reflection

Take breaks through the design process to allow your ideas to grow, to renew your enthusiasm and to get feedback.

5. Presentation

Present your logo as a .pdf or .png file.

6. Celebration

Drink Pepsi Cola, eat chocolate, sleep

I am confident your students will make great logos for your projects, and choosing the best one for each will be a daunting job! Good luck!

Yet I would like to finish with a list of logo makers – I hope they can be of help!

http://www.imagechef.com/

http://www.bighugelabs.com/

http://www.logoease.com/

http://www.onlinelogomaker.com/

http://thefreelogomakers.com/free-services/free-logo-maker/

http://www.logodesignengine.com/

Daniela.