How to Use Affinity Designer to Design a Logo

Wondering how to set up an Affinity Designer logo? Then you're in the right place! In this Affinity Designer logo tutorial, we'll create a logo in Affinity Designer. Then we'll go over the best practices of how to export and use logos and vector art created in Affinity Designer. You'll be able to apply this knowledge to all sorts of design projects!

What You'll Learn in This Affinity Designer Logo Tutorial

• How to use the type tools in Affinity Designer to create a logo
• How to use the shape tools in Affinity Designer to create a logo
• How to organize and prepare a logo in Affinity Designer for web or print
• How to export a logo in Affinity Designer

What You Will Need

For the purposes of this Affinity Designer logo tutorial, I'll be using the Moon Impact typeface from Envato Elements for the font. We'll be making the shapes from scratch using Affinity Designer's vector shape tools.

Need to Tune Up Your Skills?

If you're looking for a crash course on how to use Affinity Designer, check out this amazing introductory Affinity Designer video from our YouTube channel. It's a great place to start brushing up your skills so that you can take on all kinds of projects, including this logo design tutorial.

1. How to Create a Logo in Affinity Designer

Step 1

First, let's create our logo! We're going to create this logo entirely out of vector components to ensure that it will be scalable at any size. Generally, this means using the shape and drawing tools within Affinity Designer, as well as the type tools. Any graphics such as images or textures would be considered raster imagery that does not scale well and so is not suitable for logos.

Start a new document in Affinity Designer by going to File > New.

Step 2

Don't worry too much about the settings; the defaults are fine in this case. We'll be going with an 8.5 x 11 inch canvas for this logo design tutorial.

Go ahead and click Create.

Step 3

Next, select the Artistic Text Tool!

Step 4

Now with the Artistic Text Tool selected, click somewhere on the canvas and type out the name of your logo We're using "goodloot" for a loot box concept!

Now, highlight the text and use the Moon Impact font with a Size of 90 pt.

Step 5

Now, let's add some colors that will be suitable for this logo. Highlight the word "good" and add a yellow color and for the word "loot" a green color.

Tip: If you want the exact colors, you can add some color swatches with the hex codes #F9C52C and #48CB7B.

Step 6

Let's create a shape to finish up this logo! Select the Rectangle Tool from the toolbar.

Tip: You may need to click and hold in order to select the square.

Step 7

For the fill color, select none, and pick a green color for the stroke. Make the stroke around 10 pt.

Step 8

Using the Move Tool, hold an anchor point and then drag to rotate the shape. Turn the square until it creates a diamond shape.

Tip: Hold Shift as you rotate so that it snaps into place.

Step 9

Now repeat the same process by creating another shape, except with different settings.

This time, we'll use the yellow color as a fill and use no stroke. Rotate and place the square on the inside of the green square, as shown below!

2. How to Prepare a Logo in Affinity Designer

Step 1

First, you'll want your layers to be nice and organized. This will help out a lot when we export to file types which retain information, and for our own purposes when we use this logo in our designs.

Luckily, our design isn't too complicated, with only three layers! With the Affinity Designer Layers panel open, click the top layer and then hold Shift as you click the bottom layer. This will highlight all the layers.

Step 2

Now right-click the selected layers and Group.

Step 3

Now all your elements have been added to a group. The great thing about groups is that now the logo will act as a single object. So if you use the Move Tool, it will all move as a single unit. This is extremely useful when using the logo in our designs as the logo will be something we will want to use many times!

Tip: Click the small arrow to the side of the group in the Affinity Designer Layers panel. You can still have access to the individual layers if you need to edit the design.

Step 4

You may want to adjust and edit your canvas size to better match the dimensions of our finished logo. To do this, go to File > Document Setup.

Step 5

From here, you can adjust the size of the document dimensions to better suit the proportions of the logo. Once you're satisfied with your chosen dimensions, go ahead and select OK.

Step 6

Now we can save our work by going to File > Save As...

By default, this will be a .afdesign type project. This means that it's a project file specifically designed to be opened by Affinity Designer. You can now use this project file in all of your designs simply by copying the grouped object and pasting it into other projects.

3. How Do I Export My Affinity Designer Logo?

Step 1

There are a lot of options when it comes to formats you can export your logo to. The format you choose will largely depend on what you need to use it for. The main difference, however, will be whether you are exporting a raster image or a vector type format.

You will find all the exporting options under File > Export.

Step 2

To save a raster image which would be suitable for the web or for sharing as an image document, use the PNG, JPEG, GIF, or TIFF options. This image won't be suitable for design work, but it's a great way to show off your logo quickly.

I would suggest going with PNG for logos as it does a great job of keeping flat colors crisp with a relatively low file size.

Step 3

Let's review the general settings! The size will determine the dimensions of the images. This dimension can be as small or as high as you want, and the quality will be retained! If you're sharing online, I would suggest about 1000 x 1000 px.

Step 4

The Area setting is also important! As your canvas will often be larger than your imagery, you can choose to only export the selection so it won't include all of the white space.

Once you are happy with your settings here, you can click Export on the bottom right. That's all there is to exporting as a raster image!

Step 5

You will often find that people want your document in the PDF format. This is great for printing and is an easily accessible format to share.

Go ahead and click on the PDF icon.

Step 6

As you can see, the settings are fairly similar to that of the raster images. You can select a variety of presets here, but I would suggest the PDF (for print) option as this retains a high quality.

Step 7

So what if you need vector file types? Well, they are here too! Vector file types will allow people to expand and use the logo at any size. These file types will even keep some of your project information such as the different layers. This is great for sharing your logo with other programs. You will often find that printing jobs which require very large sizes will ask for EPS files!

To export as SVG, click the SVG icon!

Step 8

As you can see, there are some familiar settings. The one you will want to pay special attention to, however, is the Raster DPI. You will want to leave this blank to ensure that nothing is rasterized. If our logo contained any photos or textures, we would apply the quality of this here. Luckily, our logo is all vector based!

Go ahead and select Export if you need to save in this file format.

Step 9

Next, we'll look at the EPS file format. This is a great format as it will allow us to open up our logo in other programs such as Adobe Illustrator with most of the project information intact. This is also a great format for printing very large files such as billboards.

Step 10

As you can see, the settings are once again similar. EPS (for export) is a great setting to use here. Raster DPI should remain blank for our purposes.

Go ahead and click Export if you need this logo in the EPS format.

And there you have it! Thanks for following this logo design tutorial. You should now have a good grasp on the basics of how to use Affinity Designer to create and use a logo. You also learned how to manage a vector logo in Affinity Designer and how to export it for use in a large variety of design projects.

Looking for an Online Logo Maker? Check Out Placeit

Sometimes, inspiration strikes on the go, or maybe you don’t have access to design software. Placeit is an awesome online tool where you can design and create from the comfort of your browser. Whether you’re a beginner designer or a seasoned professional, its tools are easy and fun to use.

It’s more than simple customization too. Click and drag to move design elements. Import elements from your computer, or choose from a huge library right within Placeit. Change colors, change fonts, mix and match content, and a whole lot more. Save drafts, open them, and download high-resolution content for commercial use.

Here is a sample of some of the professional logo designs that you can customize, right now. They’re just a starting point too. You can completely overhaul them to create something entirely new, and you can start designing right now, for free.

1. Stylish Handwriting Logo Design (Logo Design Maker)

Do you prefer a type-based logo design with a brush-like feel? A font like this one can add a lot of energy and movement to the design. Keep in mind, however, that this is all customizable within PlaceIt. Try this design out with other fonts and colors too. 

2. Geometric Modern Logo Design (Online Logo Maker)

Here is a clean design that uses sans serif type and abstract shapes. However, you can completely customize this design, right from your browser. Basics like changing what the text says are simple, but you can also drag to rearrange elements, change colors, and even try out different imagery too.

3. Cute Logo Design (Customize Logo Online)

Isn’t this imagery fun and memorable? You can even change up the colors in this image, so if a different color scheme suits your brand, you can do that. Placeit has a whole gallery of images you can experiment with, but you can upload your own images too. It’s free to start customizing now, so why not give it a try?

4. Vertical Stylish Logo Design (Online Logo Design)

Here is an unusual logo design that takes a vertical approach. Try experimenting with the type, what it says, and how it’s arranged. You can also save drafts, here in Placeit, so you could save different versions, different ideas, and even come back to them later, too. 

5. Vintage Logo Design Maker (Online Custom Logo)

There are so many different aesthetics to start with on Placeit, like this design. It has a bit of a vintage or even Art Nouveau vibe to it, doesn’t it? Imagine it in different colors or with different type treatment. You can jump right in and try different options from the comfort of your browser. Give it a try.

What Kind of Logo Design Would You Make?

There are so many things we could create in Affinity Designer, and it’s an excellent choice for logo design.

So what kind of logo would you make? Do you prefer a sleek, minimalist aesthetic? Maybe a typographic logo design is best for your brand. Or perhaps you prefer a more graphic approach. Regardless of your preference, Affinity Designer might be just the software environment to help you make your design happen.

Or, if you prefer the convenience of an online logo maker, remember to check out Placeit. No software is required. All you need to do is open up your browser and start designing. It’s much more than simple modifications too. Customize, rearrange, click and drag, and get designing today.

Looking for more logo design inspiration, tutorials, and Affinity Designer help? Check out these free tutorials and articles from Envato Tuts+.

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