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Jumpstart Logo Design

Use graphic building blocks

By , About.com Guide

logo building blocks

Start with a basic shape. Acme Paddle Cruises: Darken one piece to emphasize "A" shape | Frank's Flowers: Already flower-like but flip/enlarge one petal, add color -- it's a flower and "F" | Light the Night: Slice one circular design in half for a sunrise

© J. Bear
Whether you're constrained by time, your own skills, or just a creative block, you can jumpstart the design and desktop publishing process with the use of templates and other helpers such as clip art and dingbat fonts. This works for logo design as well.

One type of jumpstart for your design work is the logo or graphic building block. You may have seen clip art selections that are nothing more than circles, squares, lines, swooshes, and other shapes. You may find a stand-alone use for this clip art, but another way to use them is similar to using templates for your brochure or newsletter — use them as the basis for your logo designs or illustrations for your publications. Take them apart, recolor them, mix them with other shapes, text, or clip art.

Build a Logo or Illustration

To get you started, try this collection of 24 designs that you can use for inspiration or as the starting element in your own designs. Best of all, it's free. The designs are available in three formats: .ttf (Window TrueType font), .cdr (CorelDRAW), and .ai (Adobe Illustrator). The logos/graphics shown in the sidebar were created using three different designs from this Circular Building Blocks collection.

Sure, you could recreate these or similar designs in your own illustration program (these were done in CorelDRAW) but you could also create all your other publications from scratch without using a template. These are simply another tool at your disposal. Explore your desktop publishing and graphics software to discover other basic shapes that you can use to jumpstart your next logo design.

More Ways to Create a Logo

Readers Respond: How Long Should It Take to Design a Logo

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