Logo Grid Tutorial

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Logo Construction Grid Tutorial

Hello, this is more of a lesson for those who are new to logo design with the help of logo grids in Adobe Illustrator. Here, I'm attempting to teach how to work with a logo grid and how to create a logo presentation that includes step-by-step construction directions, as shown in the images below:

Step 1 - First and foremost, for any logo job, you should have a decent design in mind with a brilliant concept, and then generate at least 10-15 sketches, experimenting with many variations before deciding on the finest one to work with. Here's an example of one of my works in which I attempted to combine the letter P with the elephant symbol. Because I'm not very good at drawing, I'm only going to share one sketch that I drew specifically for this class.

Step 2 : Import your sketch into Illustrator and give it the name "Rough Sketch" before locking it.

Step 3 : Make a new layer on top of it and call it "Logo Guides." Before you start doing anything, decide on the grid size you wish to use. I normally work with a grid of 8x8 pixels. You can adjust the size of your grid by heading to Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid and changing the subdivisions. The size of your grid is determined by the complexity of your design. More subdivisions will be required in a complex design.

Step 4 : Go to View > Snap to grid to enable the Snap to grid option, and View > Show grid to enable the Show grid option.

This is how your workspace will now appear.

Step 5 : Select the "Logo Guide" layer and draw the outline of the logo by snipping to grid with a 1pt stroke (stroke thickness depending on you) and no fill colour. It's critical to make good contact and cut throughout this phase since it'll help you form a shape with the Shape Builder Tool in the next step. After you've finished, your design should look like this.

Step 6 : Turn off the Show grid and Snap to grid options after drawing the outline, and then create a new layer on top of it called "Logo File." On the new layer you created, copy the logo's outline. Ctrl + A (Selection) > Ctrl + C (Copy) > Ctrl + F (Finishing) (Paste) I always copy with Ctrl + F rather than Ctrl + V because Ctrl + F pastes the file exactly over it with no mismatch, but Ctrl + V pastes the file randomly on the work space. Turn off the "Logo Guide" layer after pasting the design over the "Logo File" layer. This is how it will seem.

Step 7 : Now press Ctrl + A to choose the design, and then select the Shape Builder Tool from the toolbar. Choose a fill colour with no stroke and start filling only the region that will be part of your final logo by dragging the arrow over it (it will show + sign with arrow), then hit Alt while dragging over it to eliminate the undesirable portion (It will show minus sign with arrow). In the graphic below, I've shown:

You will get your design after finishing this step. Later on, you can play about with the colour.

Step 8 : Now drag "Logo File" layer below the "Logo Guide" layer. You can make extra copy also of this layer to experiment with design.

Step 9 : Activate the "Logo Guide" Layer now. This is how your design will appear. You can customise the construction guide's style, colour, opacity, and thickness.