| CMYK |
Stands
for "Cyan, Magenta,
Yellow and blacK." Also
referred to as "full
color."
When you have a logo designed,
your colors you will mostly
be using will be in CMYK
mode since those are the
four ink colors that can
mix together to create any
color in the rainbow.
« back
to top |
| combination
logo |
A logo design
that combines an icon with
the actual text of the company
being represented by the logo.
The text is intrinsically combined
with the logotype itself.
« back
to top |
| corporate
identity |
A company's
corporate identity is every
single piece of its marketing
material (logo, business
cards, envelopes, magazine
ads, website, slogan, corporate
colors, mascot, etc.) and
how all the pieces act as
one unifying marketing message.
« back
to top |
| duotone |
When two
ink colors are used in the
reproduction of an image. These
colors are usually black and
a Pantone color,
but it can be any two colors
used together to recreate a
black and white image that
normally just used black ink.
Along these same lines, there
can be more colors than two,
but the more colors, the more
muddy and brownish the entire
image becomes.
« back
to top
|
| font |
A set of
characters, numbers and symbols
of a particular style, such
as Times, Garamond, Arial.
Synonym: typeface.
« back
to top |
| glyph |
A letter
or symbol that stands for something.
Each letter of our alphabet
is technically a glyph, but
so is a pictograph of a stopsign,
for example.
« back
to top |
| icon |
A graphical
representation of an object
or idea. Used in logo design
to boil down a company's central
identity into a simple representative
picture or shape.
« back
to top |
| logo |
Short for
logotype.
« back
to top |
| logotype |
A personalized
treatment, either textual or
graphical, that represents
a company or product.
« back
to top |
| negative
space |
The part
of a drawing or shape that
is "empty."
This idea is important in logo design
because this negative space
can be used to create an idea
and join that with another
concept. An example in my portfolio
is that of
Bringbacks.
The shape of the carkey is
created by the negative space,
which is intrinsically combined
with the image of a hand.
« back
to top |
| Pantone® |
The industry-standard
way to ensure that colors are
reproduced in the expected
way. They are pre-mixed in
exact proportions of CMYK.
If you don't have a corporate color already, you should be sure to determine
your corporate color by way
of Pantone first, then a graphic
designer can then translate
that color into equivalent
CMYK and RGB colors
for uses in other applications.
« back
to top |
| PMS |
Stands for
Pantone® Matching System.
And you thought it stood for
something else!
« back
to top |
| raster |
Used to refer
to images that use a grid of
multi-colored or multi-tinted
cells that, when looked at
altogether create the image.
When getting your logo designed,
never get only raster images
because these are unable to
be sized up, only down. Always
request a vector version
of your logo.
« back
to top |
| RGB |
Stands for
"Red, Green, Blue." These
three colors all combine in
varying degrees to create all
the colors in the light spectrum.
RGB is the color language used
by computer monitors and digital
cameras. This colorspace is
opposite of CMYK,
which is the colorspace of
inks, not light.
« back
to top |
| sans
serif |
A way to
identify typefaces that do
not have serifs, or small strokes
that are at the end of the
main strokes of serif typefaces.
Read sans
serif vs. serif article.
See also serif.
« back
to top |
| script |
A kind of
typeface that mimics handwriting
in any form, including cursive
or children's print.
« back
to top |
| serif |
A way to
identify typefaces that have
small strokes that
are at the end of the main
strokes that identify serif
typefaces. Serif typefaces
are used mostly in print, while
sans serif typefaces are used
in website design. Read sans
serif vs. serif article.
See also sans
serif.
« back
to top |
| style
guide |
A document
that sets out
the groundrules to follow with
a logo so that the business' corporate
identity system
is adhered to.
« back
to top |
| text
only |
A style of
logo design that creates the
logo only with a typeface and
possibly editing the natural
shape of the typeface, but
no incorporation of an icon.
A text only treatment is usually used when a business doesn't have a focus that
is easily translated into an
icon.
« back
to top |
| typeface |
Synonym: font
« back
to top |
| vector |
Images that
are composed of line segments
determined by mathematical
formulas instead of by a grid
of multi-colored cells. Having
a vector version of your logo
is of utmost importance because
it can be resized to any size
– from the size of a pea to
the size of a building – without
loss of quality. Antonym: raster.
« back
to top |
More
marketing articles
