always design your logos in a vector application such as adobe illustrator, and not a raster...
TRANSCRIPT
LOGO PRINCIPLESAlways design your logos in a vector application such as Adobe Illustrator, and not a raster application such as Photoshop, reason being the logo must be scalable without losing quality and needs to appear crisp when printed on anything from business cards to 20ft vinyl banners
Logo Principles
Ensure that the logo can be reproduced in a single color, such as black and still be recognizable. Think how the logo will look on a newspaper ad or a fax letter
Logo Principles
Bear in mind that the logo may need to be reproduced as small as a postage stamp, so ensure that any fine lines or text will still be legible when scaled down
Logo Principles
Limit your color palette and specify your corporate colors with Pantone or CMYK references to certify correct color reproduction when printed
Logo Principles
Bear in mind your use of typeface, color and form to give your logo the desired appearance of it's business.
Location and use
Upper left corner of Web page A link to the home page Size: rule of thumb about 74 x 74 pixels
Sketch
Examples:
Color
Use colors near to each other on the color wheel (e.g. for a “warm” palette, use red, orange, and yellow hues).
Don’t use colors that are so bright that they are hard on the eyes. Red on Blue hard to see
The logo must also look good in black and white, grayscale, and two colors.
Breaking the rules sometimes is okay; just make sure you have a good reason to!
try to match the color to the overall tone and feel of the brand.
Trend
3D-looking logos, with “bubbly” graphics, gradients, and drop shadows.
Typography
Avoid the most commonly used fonts, such as Comic Sans, or else your design may come off as amateurish.
Make sure the font is legible when scaled down, especially with script fonts.
One font is ideal, and avoid more than two.
Strongly consider a custom font for your design. The more original the font, the more it will distinguish the brand. Examples of successful logos that have a custom font are Yahoo!, Twitter, and Coca Cola
Tie to Brand
The whole point of creating a logo is to build brand recognition. So, how do you go about doing this?
It varies from case to case, but the goal with the logo is for the average person to instantly call the brand to mind.
Portions via
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/06/12-essential-rules-to-follow-when-designing-a-logo/