Why You Shouldn’t Design a Logo In Photoshop

Photoshop is awesome, but not for logos. Sure you can create a logo that looks amazing, but here’s why you shouldn’t design a logo in Photoshop.

Why You Shouldn't Design a Logo In Photoshop

Image Source: Photoshop

How often have you seen a logo that looks like it was designed in Photoshop – a lot of depth, layers, photorealistic illustration? Although this type of design is often perceived as modern and sophisticated, this approach has some major drawbacks.

This post is going to take a look at logo design and why you shouldn’t design a logo in Photoshop.

What’s the Purpose for Designing a Logo?

A logo represents your business visually. It’s the first thing that online users will see when they Google your business, and it can be the first thing that brings them to your website. A well-designed logo will make you stand out from the competition, and it can make a solid first impression. More importantly a good logo is going to be used in many different applications and Photoshop is not the best source for creating certain file types.

Experts from a top-ranked Tampa Web Design Agency were helpful to explain why designing a logo requires the right tools to create it properly. 

Here are three elements of a good logo:

#1: A Logo Should Be Simple.

Your logo should be simple and easy to remember. You don’t want to bomb people with too much information at once, and you don’t want to confuse them. Keep it simple, and focus on making sure the logo looks good on various backgrounds.

#2: A Logo Must Be Unique.

It should be recognizable even without a description or context. If people see your logo, they should be able to think of your company or organization immediately. This is particularly important if you use the logo on a web page or advertisement.

#3: A Logo Should Be Customizable. 

Your logo shouldn’t be static. You should be able to change it easily to modernize it to the latest trends in the industry.

These 3 elements don’t necessarily rule out Photoshop, but we’re just about to cover some key points that should indicate you should not design a logo in Photoshop.

Why you should avoid designing a logo in Photoshop

There are a few reasons why you should avoid designing your logo in Photoshop:

  1. Adobe Photoshop is not the best tool for creating logos.
  2. Maintaining a consistent and professional look with a logo designed in Photoshop can be challenging.
  3. If your logo needs to be modified or updated later on, it will be more challenging to do so with Photoshop.
  4. It is competent as a graphic software, but unfortunately, it’s not well-suited for logo design.
  5. It can be challenging to create a consistent and professional logo with Photoshop.
  6. You can’t change the logo after its creation.

1: Raster graphics.

If you’re thinking about using Photoshop to design your logo, you’re in for a tough time. Not only is Photoshop not particularly well-suited for this type of work, but it also creates a lot of unwanted challenges that can ruin your final product.

 

Instead, you should work with a suitable vector graphic design program to design your professional visual representation. These programs handle the intricate details and precision required for logo design. They won’t cause any undesirable elements along the process.

2: Complicated Tools.

Designing a logo in Photoshop can be a daunting task. There are many complex tools at your disposal, but you also have to consider the various layout styles and proportions that may be popular among your target audience. 

 

If you’re not familiar with Photoshop tools, you’ll likely spend more time figuring out how to do things the way you want rather than simply following a preset or guidelines. 

 

Furthermore, if you’re about to use the logo on different products or services, it’s essential to make sure it looks good. This can be difficult to achieve when using Photoshop because the tool is notoriously limited in its capabilities. 

3: Poor logo versatility.

Photoshop doesn’t offer many options to make your logo design look good on various devices or formats. It’s easy to crop or resize a logo design, but it may not look right when printed or used online. Also, if you need to scale up the size of your logo, for like signage or a billboard — you’re hosed, because raster graphics don’t scale up without losing quality.

A perfect example of poor versatility is when you have to screen print. Complex graphics done in Photoshop are a nightmare. Take a look at the process in the post mentioned below:

Additionally, the iconography and fonts used in a logo can be challenging to change or reproduce if you need to make a different version for different platforms.

 

4: Opt for a professional logo maker.

A professional logo maker will know how to use a vector program like Illustrator or Inkscape to create a professional and Scalable logo. Photoshop is not a platform for designing a logo, regardless of its cutting-edge features and incredible worth.  

 

For some designers, using Photoshop is a much faster way to knock out a nice looking logo. The downside is that 9 times out of 10, a designer has to go back and rework the logo in a vector file format. Not only is it difficult to achieve professional results using Photoshop, but logos created in this way are often difficult to scale up or down without losing quality.

 

Designing a logo in Photoshop is a popular and easy way to get started. However, this is not a professional approach to logo design and can often result in poor-quality logos. 

 

One of the biggest problems with designing a logo in Photoshop is that it’s not a valid vector format. This means that your logo will have many distortions if you try to scale it up or down. 

 

The file size will significantly impact how people view your logo on different devices. Finally, because Photoshop is not a professional design program, it cannot produce high-quality logos.

Conclusion

If you really want to design a logo in Photoshop — you can, but think twice about it. A good logo should be designed in a vector program like Illustrator or Inkscape and then imported into Photoshop for final tweaking. This is the more efficient way to go, but it also ensures that your logo looks its best on all devices, including web and print.