The only question we should be asking is, why aren’t there many animated logos. They are smart, creative, engaging, exciting, everything a logo should be. But that is a question for later, I guess.
is the question at hand, and we were fortunate enough to have just the experts that can answer this question. This is what our expert friends at Logo Design Crux had to say about this question that often stumps young logo designers.
1. The Space Is Limited, Use It Wisely
When making animated logos, many logo designers make the mistake of grabbing the territory. They believe that it is necessary to use the entire space for animation. Now, this might seem correct at first, but remember even when animated, logos are just that, logos.
Designers need to bear in mind that being concise is almost an essential feature of a logo and going to elaborate might make people lose interest.
Use space wisely. Define an area in the available space where the animation will settle and use the rest of the space creatively to assist in animation only. Also, ensure that the graphics and texts are proportionally sized and settled in the targeted area rather than being scattered. It might give a haphazard appearance to your logo.
2. Timing Is Key
We can’t emphasize this one enough. IT IS A LOGO, NOT A MOVIE!!
Many logo designers out of excitement, flood the logo with details and graphical elements. Animation is a lengthy and difficult procedure and the more detail you add, the more complicated the process of animation becomes.
Cluttered animations are very prone to losing their rhythms and you might end up compromising the effect altogether. A correct approach towards making your animated logo is to define the actual time for your logo reveal. Next, deconstruct the logo and dedicate each element an equal amount of time. This will result in a rhythmic, smoothly flowing logo. Also, remember not to inundate your logo with a burden of details and graphics, and texts.
3. Identifying Inertia And Acceleration
This one has a lot to do with the speed of the animation and is a little tricky to master, but you will surely get there with a little practice. Imagine an animated logo where the elements are flung into the air.
The catch here is to make the motion appear natural and seamless. Remember, when anything is tossed up it decelerates at a constant rate before the speed becomes zero at the summit momentarily before it starts to descend again with an acceleration. This brief window when the object’s speed becomes zero should be carefully timed because if it is longer than necessary, the object will appear to hang or stop dead in the air, which isn’t very natural.
4. Using Palettes Smartly
Palettes and strokes are used to add the effect of animation to the logo. And since this is the focal point of attention of our logo design, you have to be very careful and specific with it.
It is necessary to blend and morph the strokes with the logo to ensure that the effect of the animation is spot-on. To achieve that, ensure that the element you are using to depict motion matches the color schematics of the logo exactly.
Another, trickier specific that needs to be looked into is the sizing of the elements that are being added. A simple hack is to match the additional element with the biggest and the smallest detail of the logo. This will help the designer to remain in a size range that is compatible with the logo. Once that is done, all the designer will have to do is tweak the elements enough to morph and blend them with the logo until the animation is perfect.
5. Be Creative? Not Always
This one is might be a little turn-off for many but bear with us for a minute. Often when designers get a brand’s or a business’s logo to animate, they try to add their artwork or details to the logo. They do try to match the logo’s style and theme but end up messing it all up.
Remember, unless you are the one who has made the entire logo from scratch, do not add your art to the logo. No matter how brilliant you are as an artist, it is still an uncalled-for risk and might compromise the logo. Stick to the animation at that’s about it all.
Well, there you have it. The dos and the don’ts of making an Animated Logo. Just to give a heads up, these are tips for amateur logo designers who have a basic know-how of logo design. For those who are entirely clueless, they should let a pro logo designer like Logo Design Crux handle it. They are a digital marketing agency that has all the solutions under one roof. From crafty logo designers that can put together stellar logos to shrewd and smart business analysts and strategists, they have it all on their roster.
