You don’t have to hire an expert to tackle your logo design if you don’t have the budget: provided you have the right software and an understanding of image editing, you can have a go at designing your own logo. The first question to ask yourself concerns file formats: do you want to create your logo as a vector graphic, or as a pixel or raster graphic. Most amateur image editors have experience with raster graphic-based programs like Photoshop. If that’s the case, it makes sense to use a raster graphics program for logo design. But the downside to these raster images is that they’re not so smooth to scale, which can mean additional editing after changing the size of the image. This problem doesn’t affect vector graphics.
The difference between the two: a raster graphic assembles an image from individual pixels. If the image size is enlarged, then the individual pixels are often also enlarged, reducing the quality of the picture. To display a logo on a large poster in high quality, you’ll need a raster graphic with very high resolution. Vector graphics don’t store images in pixels, but as a mathematical formula that describe the line courses of the graphics. This means that enlarging a vector graphic won’t affect its sharpness. Vector graphics are less suitable for complex images, but they’re suitable for logos because your logo should be kept relatively simple anyway. For this reason, logos are usually created as vector graphics. But if you’re certain that you only need your logo in small format sizes, then raster graphics are suitable, too.
Some classic programs used in logo development include Illustrator (for Windows and Mac operating systems), and CorelDraw (just Windows), both of which enable you to create images as vector graphics. For raster graphics, Photoshop from Adobe is the best option and the industry standard. These image editing programs are very complex, and it’s not easy to design a company logo on such a professional tool. For beginners, they can be very difficult to understand. These tools are also expensive – with prices often in the three or four-digit range for software packages.
But there are some free program alternatives, such as Adobe Illustrator, that allow you to create vector graphics (including Inkscape). And when it comes to the complex raster graphic program Adobe Photoshop, there are a number of simplified, free alternatives, including GIMP and Pixlr. But even though these programs are simpler to use and free of charge, you still need a decent level of understanding in photo editing techniques to create a professional logo. If image editing is new to you and you want to learn the basics, then there are plenty of tutorials and instruction videos online. With a little time and effort, you can learn how to design a logo and achieve a professional result by yourself.
For those who want to design a logo but would prefer not to download and use classic image editing software to do so, there are a number of web services that offer online logo editors. Web applications like Logaster, the Online Logo Maker, and Free Logo Services require no installation (you can use them directly and comfortably in your browser) or previous experience in digital image editing. Most of these web applications allow you to download your designed logo for free, but only in a lower resolution; a high-resolution version of the logo – which is essential for professional use – usually comes at a cost. But these tools are still great for inexperienced designers who want to create a logo that meets the highest standards.