How to Design a Logo Using Grids (Full Process)

[00:00:00] I've been designing logos for almost 10
[00:00:02] years. When I started, I wasn't using
[00:00:04] grids. Bad news. Well, in this video,
[00:00:06] you'll learn how to design a
[00:00:08] professional geometric logo using the
[00:00:10] four type of grids. So, before we start
[00:00:12] creating our professional geometric
[00:00:14] logo, we want to create the first type
[00:00:17] of grid, which is a base grid. So, a
[00:00:19] base grid can be a square, isometric,
[00:00:22] hexagon, or even a golden ratio logo
[00:00:24] grid. And this is the type of grid that
[00:00:26] is created before the logo. So, it's
[00:00:28] like the foundational layer. For this
[00:00:30] example, we're going to create a square
[00:00:33] base grid. There's many ways to create a
[00:00:35] square base grid in Adobe Illustrator.
[00:00:37] The easiest way to do it is go to view,
[00:00:41] show grid, and then it does this. But
[00:00:43] for this example, we're not going to do
[00:00:45] that. I'm going to hide the grid. So,
[00:00:49] another way is to click the rectangular
[00:00:51] grid tool. If this rectangular grid tool
[00:00:53] is hidden, you may see the line segment
[00:00:55] tool. You just want to click and hold,
[00:00:56] click on rectangular grid tool. So to
[00:01:00] use a rectangular grid tool, you can
[00:01:02] just click and then it shows you the
[00:01:04] dimensions you want. I'm going to leave
[00:01:05] mine as 88. And then I'm going and make
[00:01:08] sure these numbers are the same as well.
[00:01:10] And then I'm going to click okay. So now
[00:01:12] we have our simple square base grid.
[00:01:17] So I'm going to place this in the
[00:01:19] center. Before you start designing the
[00:01:22] logo on the grid, you have to configure
[00:01:23] a few settings in Adobe Illustrator. So,
[00:01:26] in order for Illustrator to work with
[00:01:29] your mouse in terms of connecting your
[00:01:31] grid and the logo, you want to go to
[00:01:34] view and then you want to turn on smart
[00:01:38] guides. Smart guides is very important,
[00:01:40] showing you what's going to connect to
[00:01:41] your grid. You want to turn that on.
[00:01:44] I'll I'll show you more um about that in
[00:01:46] a few step. And then also you want to
[00:01:47] turn on snap to point which is very
[00:01:49] important cuz without this you can't
[00:01:51] connect to your grid which is going to
[00:01:53] be very weird. So now you have both of
[00:01:55] the grid settings turned on. You also
[00:01:57] have your base grid. So that's the first
[00:01:59] step in creating your first type of logo
[00:02:02] grid which is the base grid. So now you
[00:02:05] have the base grid, you have the right
[00:02:06] grid settings. You now just want to go
[00:02:07] to layers and you probably want to lock
[00:02:10] this layer and then create another layer
[00:02:12] on top. So this just makes sure
[00:02:15] obviously you can't click the layer. So
[00:02:18] we have the base grid layer and we have
[00:02:21] the layer the new layer that we're going
[00:02:23] to create the logo design on.
[00:02:26] Okay. So now we're going to create the
[00:02:28] logo and we can do this through using
[00:02:31] the pen tool or using the rectangle
[00:02:34] shape tool. I'm going to use the
[00:02:35] rectangle shape tool for this example.
[00:02:37] So in order to do this, you can just
[00:02:40] simply let's say I want to click here
[00:02:43] and then you can see the purple line
[00:02:45] snapping and you see where it says
[00:02:46] intersect and you can see the purple
[00:02:49] diagonal line. That just makes it so
[00:02:51] much easier when you're creating a
[00:02:54] logo using um Adobe Illustrator grids.
[00:02:56] So I have my first shape here and then I
[00:02:59] just want to duplicate this
[00:03:02] and I want to just drag that across.
[00:03:06] I'm going to drag it across again. And
[00:03:08] you can see already it's starting to
[00:03:10] create a like instantly you can see the
[00:03:13] professional type of perfect geometric
[00:03:17] logo starting to create. In the past, as
[00:03:20] I mentioned, I didn't use grids and when
[00:03:22] I wasn't using grids, it was just
[00:03:26] bad. like my my work didn't look
[00:03:28] professional until I remember the day
[00:03:30] like it was yesterday when I started
[00:03:32] using grids and everything just just
[00:03:34] changed. My whole um work just changed.
[00:03:38] So you can see now we have this
[00:03:42] Q letter looking logo Q / R. Um and it
[00:03:47] just looks very professional.
[00:03:50] So the next step is I want to merge the
[00:03:54] logo. So, I want to unite the logo. So,
[00:03:56] now I've united the logo.
[00:03:59] We have a logo that's all one shape.
[00:04:04] So, I'm now going to move on to the
[00:04:06] second type of grid that you want to
[00:04:08] create, which is a construction grid.
[00:04:11] Okay. So, I've hidden the previous
[00:04:13] layer, and now it's time to create a
[00:04:14] construction grid. So, a construction
[00:04:16] grid is the type of grid you create
[00:04:18] after you design the logo. And the
[00:04:21] construction grid helps you with logo
[00:04:23] alignment and spotting any mistakes
[00:04:26] within a logo. Think of the construction
[00:04:28] grid as like an X-ray for logo design.
[00:04:31] There's two ways to create a
[00:04:33] construction grid. The first way is to
[00:04:34] do it manually when you select each
[00:04:37] point and then you would have to select
[00:04:40] each vector and then you have to
[00:04:42] recreate it and then drag it over like
[00:04:44] this and then do it like this and then
[00:04:47] again you do this. And it does take a
[00:04:49] while.
[00:04:50] This is a simple logo, so it wouldn't
[00:04:52] take as long. But then when you're
[00:04:54] recreating like anchor points and and
[00:04:56] stuff when you want to include it in
[00:04:57] presentations to show that your logo is
[00:04:59] perfect, then it becomes very long. So I
[00:05:02] can sit here and this will take me like
[00:05:04] 20 to 30 minutes for this logo. But I
[00:05:06] don't want to waste your time. So the
[00:05:08] other way to create construction grids
[00:05:09] is to use logo grid generator. To do
[00:05:11] this, we can go into Windows
[00:05:14] extensions logo grid generator.
[00:05:17] And now we have the tool here. And what
[00:05:20] logo grid generator does is instantly
[00:05:22] create the construction grid. So as soon
[00:05:25] as I do this, then boom. You see it's
[00:05:27] just like everything. You can see the
[00:05:29] anchors, the handles, the outlines, and
[00:05:32] the grid lines. And already why you can
[00:05:34] see this tool is very useful is because
[00:05:38] as I've used the square tool, I've seen
[00:05:40] that I have duplicate anchors that need
[00:05:43] to be removed.
[00:05:45] But you can see the angles are perfect.
[00:05:46] Everything looks symmetrical. So, what I
[00:05:49] can do is go back and use the delete
[00:05:52] anchor point. Delete that. Delete that.
[00:05:55] Delete all of the extra stuff that
[00:05:59] doesn't need to be there.
[00:06:01] And then again, just make sure
[00:06:07] and you can see everything looks
[00:06:09] perfect. Again, because this is a simple
[00:06:11] logo, there isn't much refinement how to
[00:06:13] do it except for remove the duplicate
[00:06:15] anchor points. But you can see already
[00:06:17] using the first type of logo grid and
[00:06:19] then use um which is the base grid and
[00:06:21] then using the construction grid again,
[00:06:23] you are like doubling your accuracy cuz
[00:06:25] if you just use one type of logo grid,
[00:06:27] it's going to be things that you you
[00:06:28] would miss when it comes to like
[00:06:30] alignment, um any errors and other
[00:06:33] issues. So those are the two type of
[00:06:36] grid so far. The next type of grid we
[00:06:38] want to use is a clear space grid. Okay.
[00:06:42] Now, so I've hidden the construction
[00:06:44] grid and now it's just the logo by
[00:06:47] itself, the beautiful professional
[00:06:49] geometric logo. And I'm going to create
[00:06:50] a clear space grid. So I'm just going to
[00:06:52] hide logo generator extension. And what
[00:06:57] I'm going to do is use the rectangle
[00:07:00] tool again.
[00:07:03] Going to create a new layer.
[00:07:07] And with the rectangle tool, I'm just
[00:07:09] going to copy this shape because I know
[00:07:12] it's a perfect square. And I'm going to
[00:07:14] use this as a reference point for clear
[00:07:16] space. So a clear space grid is also
[00:07:19] known as the safe zone around the logo
[00:07:21] is what you shouldn't put within the
[00:07:24] range of the logo. And this just helps
[00:07:26] with um the practicality and just making
[00:07:28] sure that it looks good and it just
[00:07:30] works well. So there's been many times
[00:07:32] I've created a beautiful logo I've sent
[00:07:33] off to the client and they might have
[00:07:35] butchered it by just squashing it in the
[00:07:36] corner of a screen or adding too many
[00:07:38] things close to it. So that's why you
[00:07:40] want to use a clear space grid. So let's
[00:07:41] just change this to like a pink. So we
[00:07:46] have this. And then again I'm going to
[00:07:48] do that again there. And you can see how
[00:07:50] the smart guides are really really
[00:07:54] starting to help. I'm going to place
[00:07:55] that there actually.
[00:07:58] [Music]
[00:08:01] There's many ways to create a clear
[00:08:02] clear space grid. I'm actually working
[00:08:04] on another tool to automate
[00:08:08] clear space which should be out soon.
[00:08:13] So you can see it isn't too long to
[00:08:17] create a clear space grid, but it is a
[00:08:19] bit tedious cuz you have to do all of
[00:08:21] this filling with the grids. So you can
[00:08:24] create a clear space grid in two ways.
[00:08:26] taking one component within the logo and
[00:08:29] then
[00:08:31] duplicating it around the edge.
[00:08:35] I actually want to bring this
[00:08:38] down um because I feel like that's
[00:08:40] within the logo. So, I'm going to bring
[00:08:43] that down there.
[00:08:45] So, now we have the clear space grid.
[00:08:47] And then of course when you're
[00:08:49] presenting it, you can add if you've
[00:08:53] chosen the measurements, you can
[00:08:56] add the the numbers or you can just use
[00:08:59] the X's.
[00:09:02] For this case, I'm going to use the X's
[00:09:03] because it wasn't a specific
[00:09:05] measurement, but it was rather just um a
[00:09:08] shape.
[00:09:09] So this is the third type of grid you
[00:09:11] want to create, which is a clear space
[00:09:13] grid. Now we're going to move on to the
[00:09:14] next type of grid known as a lockup
[00:09:16] grid. So, a logo lockup is where you
[00:09:18] pair your logo mark and your logo type.
[00:09:20] There's many different type of lockups.
[00:09:22] There's a horizontal, vertical. It can
[00:09:24] be quite tricky to pair them, but we can
[00:09:26] create a logo lockup grid to help us
[00:09:28] pair a logo mark with a logo type. So,
[00:09:30] it's now time to create your logo type.
[00:09:31] I'm going to create mine and skip ahead.
[00:09:33] Now, we want to pair these two. So, to
[00:09:36] pair them, this is a horizontal lockup,
[00:09:38] as you can see, cuz it's horizontal. And
[00:09:40] this would be a vertical lockup. But for
[00:09:44] this example, we're going to use a
[00:09:45] horizontal lockup. as we know what our
[00:09:46] clear space is for the logo. It would be
[00:09:49] something like this. Um, so we we could
[00:09:53] do it like this. Just use that there
[00:09:56] just for reference. And bring that
[00:09:59] there.
[00:10:01] So that's one way just using the clear
[00:10:02] space cuz we know that the clear space
[00:10:03] that we've used is just this shape next
[00:10:06] to it. But another way is um a lockup
[00:10:09] grid. To create a lockup grid, you can
[00:10:11] let's create a new layer. So you can
[00:10:15] just take the top
[00:10:19] of the whole logo. So let's change this
[00:10:22] to a nice
[00:10:25] grided blue. And then we go right to the
[00:10:28] bottom.
[00:10:30] And then what we can do is do it like
[00:10:33] this. You can actually kind of choose
[00:10:35] the measurements. Um but I've actually
[00:10:39] seen a way that just works better and
[00:10:41] I'm going to show you this. So you can
[00:10:42] create a lockup grid like this and then
[00:10:44] you can just take this
[00:10:48] and then you can do it like this. This
[00:10:50] does take obviously you can see some
[00:10:52] time it doesn't take too long but a way
[00:10:55] that I
[00:10:57] have seen that just works a lot better
[00:10:59] is to I made a script that you can just
[00:11:01] go to file scripts and then we
[00:11:04] horizontal lockup grid and then you can
[00:11:06] see you have the lockup grid here. So,
[00:11:09] um, boom. You can see it's connected.
[00:11:12] So, I've included some algorithms that
[00:11:14] just work well when it comes to like the
[00:11:16] measurements. Um, so you can see it's
[00:11:18] not using the clear space, but it still
[00:11:20] it still works. And then again, you can
[00:11:22] tweak how you want it. So, say if you
[00:11:25] wanted a line,
[00:11:29] if you wanted another measurement
[00:11:31] inside,
[00:11:34] um, you can do it like this.
[00:11:39] And let's do like that.
[00:11:43] Then you can see we have our
[00:11:50] logo. So you can see the final type of
[00:11:53] grid lockup grid has allowed us to
[00:11:56] create an aesthetically pleasing
[00:11:58] professional logo that just works. So
[00:12:00] we've just used all four grids
[00:12:02] throughout our logo design process.
[00:12:04] Starting with the base grid, which
[00:12:05] allowed us to create a balanced
[00:12:06] geometric logo from the ground up before
[00:12:09] using a construction grid to reveal the
[00:12:11] logo structure and then perfect it.
[00:12:13] Followed by a clear space grid to give
[00:12:14] the logo some room for functionality and
[00:12:17] then finishing with a lockup grid to
[00:12:18] pair the logo mark with the logo type.
[00:12:21] You can grab the logo grids kit
[00:12:22] completely free. It includes a
[00:12:23] readytouse logo grid templates and my
[00:12:25] mastering logo grids in Adobe
[00:12:27] Illustrator ebook. Just check the link
[00:12:28] in the description to download it. Thank
[00:12:30] you for watching. Please like, share,
[00:12:31] and if you want to see more videos like
[00:12:33] this, hit the subscribe button below.

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