Logo designing

[Falco]

I'm looking to get a proper logo for my company, but don't really want to rush and choose the first idea that came into my head. I'm also not a very good at drawing so getting the ideas from my head to paper or to vector drawing program is proving to be a pain in the ass.

I would like to hear from you guys what kind of processes you went through when designing your logos. Did you use some kind of logo services or did you do it all by yourself.

[Fouinard]

Hi

Well I did mine by myself but for now it's only in my fb page header ^^ nothing woven/printed yet...

What I did is define what look I wanted, in my case old fashioned vintage/denim label and then browse for inspirations several websites :
https://dribbble.com/
https://www.pinterest.com/
http://www.fromupnorth.com/ (weekly/daily posts about logo, lettering etc.)

then search for fonts etc. and come up with something in illustrator and here it is :

[Gear Dynamics]

I designed my logo, at least a rough version using Photoshop and when I settled on something I liked, I had a friend's graphic design company make into a vector and modify some text for me as well. I think you should focus on a core logo or symbol that will represent your company and then you can work that into many different styles and looks.

[Shaddox Tactical]

Mine took me many years to get right.  I started with a very simple logo with just my company name stacked in a horizontal box stylized a bit with a shadow of the top part.  I messed around with different designs but still couldn't settle on something that I liked.

Rick of 1ManArmy on DIY Tactical helped me and a lot of guys with their logos.  He does great work.

Finally many years later I decided it was time to rework my logo and make something that had a better look for branding and marketing.  Something that better lent itself to merchandising.  I got out the pencil and paper and started sketching.  After I morphed the S and the T into a skull/mask concept I liked I sent the sketch to Rick and he digitized it into the logo you see today.

My advice is to take your time.  Get out a sketch pad and just start brain storming.  Even if you have no art skills at least get somethings on paper to look at.   Once you get a design or two you think you like set it aside and come back to it many days later and see if it still looks good to you.  We all get into a bit of a rush wanting to get our businesses going and have that name and logo for customers to see as soon as possible.  And although it's not uncommon for logos to evolve, change and get updated with new face lifts from time to time, it's good to start with something you can be proud of for years to come and that even with updates doesn't need major reworking and is still identifiable.  I wish I would have figured out my skull/mask years ago.