Help Files and Tutorials for Computer Users

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Things to consider:

If you are considering designing a logo for your own company, you may be thinking of incorporating your name or initials.  There are software programs such as CorelDraw and Inkscape that let you manipulate text characters as vector graphics, allowing you to alter their shape. Just be sure to check on the lagalities of altering and using particulat fonts, as some are protected by copyright. There are also some "Do-it-yourself" on-line logo creation websites but since I have never used them so I don't have one to recommend.

If your logo will later be used for a business card, letterhead, company invoice, and a company web site, you will probably need colour and gray-scale versions.  If you use any bit-map images, you should save a few different sizes and resolutions of each version. Consider the following versions of logo images:

Print versions:

  • High resolution (300 - 600 d.p.i.) colour image -approximately 300-400 pixels wide

  • High resolution gray-scale image -approximately 300-400 pixels wide

  • High resolution (300 - 600 d.p.i.) colour image -approximately 75-125 pixels wide

  • High resolution gray-scale image -approximately 75-125 pixels wide

Web versions:

  • Low resolution (72 d.p.i.) colour image -approximately 300-400 pixels wide

  • Low resolution (72 d.p.i.) colour image -approximately 75-125 pixels wide

Samples:
Colour image -400 pixels wide
Gray-scale image -400 pixels wide
Colour image -120 pixels wide
Gray-scale image -120 pixels wide
Important: Your logo should be instantly recognizable whether it's on a billboard or a business card. Don't make it too elaborate. Try to make it do what you want it to do regardless of it's size. A 'rule of thumb' is that a thumnail size of your logo should be recognizable. That's how big it will be on a business card.

© T. Carson 2021