Selecting Advertising Logo Software

By Gabby Hyman
gabby.hyman@hqpublications.com

Whether you're a skilled design artist in an advertising job, or new to the world of Internet marketing, you're going to be involved in creating brands. And that means you'll be designing logos. Before you race off and invest learning time or financial resources on specialized drawing software, it's important to evaluate the needs of your company.

There's an incredible range of design and drawing programs out there, as well as a glut of dedicated logo design software for the advertising novice. If you're working for a major company or design firm, chances are better than average that you've already learned much of the state-of-the-art photo editing and illustration software.

Accomplished designers would wince at the notion of using a boxed, automated logo design program. But if you're on the job with a company that needs small-scale Internet marketing and advertising, you might easily get by with a wysiwyg logo creator.

Tools, from Macro to Micro
Comprehensive illustration programs for both PC and Mac environments offer the greatest range in logo design tools. These include CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator, and Macromedia Freehand. It will take you time to get up to speed with these programs, but once you do, you'll admire the power and flexibility of designing in these environments.

On the other hand, if your small company can live with standardized shapes and designs for its advertising logo, tools like The Logo Creator or AAA Logo Software will let you choose fonts and clip-art shapes (like orbs, shadows, and swooshes) to build your icon.

You can benefit from knowing both types of software. Designs from the wysiwygs can be exported into a more robust illustration program if you want to tweak them.

About the Author
Gabby Hyman has written for print and online media for more than 20 years. He has created online content for eToys, GoTo.com, Siebel Systems, Avaya, and Nissan UK. He has also been a web consultant to the Governor of California. As an author of fiction, journalism, and poetry, Gabby is a former English professor for the University of Illinois, University of Alaska, and Old Dominion University. He holds an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Alabama.