In the film industry production logos are usually seen at the beginning of films, on posters, websites and other materials that market the movie. Some of logos have become very famous over the years and they still have the potential to attract the audience.
Have you ever wondered how to design a logo for your own film production company or film?
The best way to start the logo design process is to write down some words describing your independent production company or your films. Try to think of what your brand should represent and decide what impression you want the logo to impart to the audience. For example, if you are making comedies or funny shorts, you can try to communicate a friendly or ironic message to your target audience – if you’re more focused on horror movies or action movies, choose a dark or intense atmosphere.
If you need help, you can organize a brain storming with your friends and compare their ideas. At the end you need to build a single, clear message about your brand.
Knowing other famous logos can also give you a great insight into what makes a good design. Be careful with taking example from old logos which are very sophisticated and full of details! They are still used because of their historical meaning.
When you design a logo, choosing the right graphic elements is the most important thing. Logo will express your brand identity through shapes, fonts, colors, and/or images.
Use Pictures In Your Logo
If it’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words, then using a graphical element (icon, sign) in your logo should help to build your brand awareness. But remember, there is a huge difference between an effective logo and an illustration!
A picture, while impressive, is full of details and colors which used as a logo, may make it completely unreadable and inflexible! You should choose something very simple that will symbolize your brand's personality and will represent the business.
Pick Your Fonts
Maybe more important than the picture in your logo, is the font. The typography you use should reflect your company’s characteristics and the brand identity. Finding the perfect font for your design is all about matching its style to the message you want to communicate to your audience.
You then need to find the right balance between the typography and other elements of the logo. Without harmony and cohesion the whole message of the brand will misfire!
Choose Colors
Choosing a color should be the last decision. Remember that your logo sometimes can be displayed in only one color, so you should check whether this would affect its identity. Remember that if you use colors to distinguish certain elements, your logo may be completely unreadable in greyscale!
Keep in mind that it is good to choose one or two colors for the logo because it facilitates recognition of the brand. It really matters which color you choose because colors have meaning!
How To Design A Logo For Your Filmmaking Business
By now you realize that designing a logo is no easy task and it is always better to hire a professional graphic designer to do it. However, if you'd like to know how to design a logo for your filmmaking business, here are some steps.
For this example, we are going to create a production company called “Byway Films”.
Step 1 – Research Font Style
As mentioned previously, you will first need to research the font style you want to use with your logo.
We have two words: “Byway” and “Films” which we can write in two different ways. Using a maximum of two fonts of different weights in a logo is standard practice. Sometimes it’s possible to separate words from each other by keeping the same font, but changing their size or color. However, we should consider that seeing too many typefaces at once causes confusion!
Let’s try to write down the name of the company using different fonts:
When you’re designing your own logo, the tip you can use is to go on some websites with font libraries. If you’re not a graphic designer and you don’t know how to create your own customized font, you can go on www.dafont.com where you’ll find thousands of free fonts which you can easily download.
This website also allows you to type the name of your company and preview it across many different fonts available in the library. It’ll also help you to check quickly what looks good or not with your logo.
Step 2 – Choose An Icon
Once we have some possible fonts selected, we can also try to add an icon to the logo. First of all, we need to search for some images, pictures or shapes that symbolize cinema or filmmaking. Here are some examples:
Now, let’s try to find a shape or a symbol that represents the company's name…
Finally, we need to match the shape of the road to one of the film symbols. In my opinion, when you design a logo the best solution is to merge the square shape of the film with a curved line of the road. I also suggest keeping the icon as clean and modern as possible — the more simple it is, the more memorable it will be to the audience!
Step 3 – Match Font To Icon
Now the next step is matching a font to the style of the icon. We need to make sure that the icon and the font do not compete with each other for attention. Otherwise, the viewers won’t know where to focus! For this reason we’ll choose a very simple font.
Once we’ve selected the font and matched to the icon, the ultimate goal is choosing a color. The best decision is to choose one or two colors that will facilitate recognition of the brand. But we should remember that if you design a logo, it has to be readable in color and black and white!
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Ela Gancarz is an art director and designer who specializes in branding, entertainment advertising, commercials and web strategies across a variety of media including film, photography and installation art.
