Googled around & tried a few websites, with little success, anyone recommend a method, software or online site that I could use, free is possible?

Photoshop perhaps.

My sons a graphic designer (out of work) did a great job of my logo. Would charge a lot less than a web company. If interested send me a e mail and I will put you in touch.

Pete

Look on Logopond website for inspiration. The most reliable ‘method’ is to pay an experienced and talented designer to come up with one. It’s not the sort of process that you should entrust to software.

I’d offer to do a logo for you, but you won’t get owt for nowt.

Do you want: Generic logo that looks like loads of others, or an ‘identity’ that helps your company to stand out, in the marketplace?

Speculate to accumulate. Invest a bit now, and it will pay dividends.

I know a graphic designer. She did a logo for a friend a while back for his potography business. She felt really guilty charging him for the work but when they sat down and worked out the time she spent on it, she wasn’t even making minimum wage! It can be a long and involved process if you want something you’ll be really happy with as it evolves a lot before you reach the finished article.

However, well worth spending a bit of money as it’s something that will stay with you a very long time.

I can recommend the guy who did the Big Bike Bash chainwheel logo. Check it out when you buy your tickets at http://www.bigbikebash.co.uk/tickets.php

Just to add to the mix, I’d be able to help you out. For a fee, as its my job 🙂
Email in my profile, with link to my site.

Jim

Speculate to accumulate. Invest a bit now, and it will pay dividends.

that capitalist mantra that you hold so dear to your heart shall regularly be brought back to haunt you fred “armchair socialist” dibnah.

Shut up Stoner.

Same principle could be applied to anything you wanted to promote, such as a non-profit making charity for example!

Go back to your bitter, warm, muddy drink… 😉

Talking of non profit making charities, did I mention the Big Bike Bash?

http://www.bigbikebash.co.uk/tickets.php

Great logos imo:

BP
Total
Garnier
P&O – quite why you’d rather be callled P&O than Pacific & Orient is beyond me though.

Garnier one is good, but whenever I see it I think the designer just looked at the window buttons on his macintosh, flipped em around and put some flowers in 😀

Fedex is probably my favourite logo. Look long and hard and you’ll see why.

What about the good old 2012 blowjob style?

Fedex logo is subtle

trouble is once you’ve noticed it’s all you see!!

P&O = Peninsula & Orient

trouble is once you’ve noticed it’s all you see!!

That’s the genius of it – it illicits a sort of affinity between the viewer and the brand. If you see it, you’re part of the club; on the same level.

It’s a very celver concept and something that I always try to incorporate into my own work.

I looked long & hard at Fedex, but can’t see what you are talking about, please enlighten me.

I looked long & hard at Fedex, but can’t see what you are talking about, please enlighten me.

If you look in the negative space of the first e, there is a spoon. Bizarre.

Look at Chuck Green’s site – this guy is a design inspiration

Chuck Green’s website

LOL at oggles. The very best logos don’t have to have a hidden symbol like that, but simplicity is absolutely essencial, and should try to get across something about the company. It doesn’t need to be a logo as such, the name in a distinctive font becomes a logotype, think of newspaper mastheads; The Times is set in Times, the font created for the paper, the Volksvagen Audi Group uses a rounded font called VAG. Apple Computers logo is an apple, and the name is Macintosh because the variety of apple called a Macintosh was the favourite of one of the originators of the company. That’s the way to think.

If you look in the negative space of the first e, there is a spoon. Bizarre.

What about the quarter pipe between the F and the e?

What about the quarter pipe between the F and the e?

Consider my mind blown.

holy crap – negative space between the E and x is an arrow. Is that it?

Ladies and Gentlemen- we have a winner!!!

I noticed before reading the other post too. All on my own and everything

Well you have no reason to believe me…..and this will probably sound oddly harsh because I know nothing about you but here goes……..

Pay a professional graphic designer. Someone who does this for a living. Not your mate’s son who does A-level art, not some guy who painted the sign for your local chippy and not some guy off a bike forum who knows photoshop. 99% of the general public (so that probably includes you) know f*** all about design but are strangely deluded that they do – the big bike bash logo is a prime example of this. It is utter shite, both in concept and execution, and not one person has bothered to comment on this, which just reaffirms my point.

If you care about your business and how others perceive it then pay a pro. This is what they are there for, it’s what they do for a living. If someone in your family needed surgery you wouldnt attempt it yourself would you? 😈

the big bike bash logo is a prime example of this. It is utter shite, both in concept and execution

I agree. A very amateur attempt, probbly knocked up by someone who only pretends to know what they’re doing. I certainly hope they din’t pay anyone for doing that.

Good logo design requires a knowledge of design principles, combined with the need to ‘sell’ the brand. And an understanding of the psychology of how visual forms are interpreted by the viewer. It also needs to convey the ethos of the product/service, and instill the right kind of ‘feel’ within the viewer’s mind. Very often, less is more, as it’s the simplest of forms, that are the most recognisable. McDonalds, VW, Nike and Shell are some of the most iconic company logos ever.

A good logo should also translate well in different media; print, web, tv, etc. Sometimes, colour combinations are important in promoting a corporate identity (Coca Cola), but logo should also be recognisable in B+W. In fact, I’d say a logo should start off in B+W, and maybe colour added later, if necessary. B+W is the cheapest to reproduce.

Gnargnar is right; get a good professional designer in, as they will probbly know stuff that an inexperienced person won’t. Get it right first time, as a complete redesign could prove very costly.

We had ours at work redone by The Chambers Of Commerce, think most areas of the country have them, just google them

the big bike bash logo is a prime example of this. It is utter shite, both in concept and execution, and not one person has bothered to comment on this, which just reaffirms my point.

I think that has more to do with most of us being oddly polite with some things.

And I was sure it was mentioned in the past, fwiw 😉

We spent 4 months designing our logo, it cost me a dozen beers and is commented on far and wide – looks like a chip card IC circuit which is handy cos we do security stuff. My mate did it and came up with it while discussing the finer points of some young ladies as we mulled life over a pint of Guinness one night. Not exactly FedEx tho..

You can spot home-made logos a mile away. They usually have an exact illustration of the product or service that the company provides. That’s not to say that logos shouldn’t be illustrative, but a good designer will simplify, stylise or symbolise concepts in a way that your average non-designer wouldn’t even consider.

Unfortunately, design is a rather under-valued profession, because like painting and decorating, it’s easy to get hold of the equipment and have a go. And let’s face it, a lot of people flatter themselves into thinking they have a burning creative streak.

Check out what I call the ‘bored-menapausal-housewife-that’s-always-dreamed-of-running-her-own-business’ sector for some of the best examples of crimes against logo design. Cake shops, hairdressers, aromatherapy shops, lingerie boutiques… All of these are amongst the worst offenders.

brant

the big bike bash logo is a prime example of this. It is utter shite, both in concept and execution, and not one person has bothered to comment on this, which just reaffirms my point.

I think that has more to do with most of us being oddly polite with some things.

And I was sure it was mentioned in the past, fwiw

Can you explain the inbred “graphic” by any chance?