Here at work, we have been working on the final phases of the concept creation for my company’s new brand. Lately, we hit a snag over the gradient that was applied to the logo by our consultants because it drove up the printing costs and the consultants insisted that pantone printing would ensure a brighter print for our corporate collaterals. That’s all well and good, except for the fact that it is highly challenging to create gradients with pantone colour printing. We asked several different printers and the answer was always the same – it would cost more, and might not look consistent.
So I set out to scour the Internet to find out if our consultants had a point, and whether it was acceptable to have gradients in logos now since we have seen so many companies do it lately.
Because of the increasing usage of the Web, gradients in logos have seen a rise in popularity. You can see some examples here. Conventional design wisdom still says that gradients should be able to work well in B&W though, and the gradient should not be the only factor that makes your logo look good. Actually printing the logo in colour though, is another matter altogether.
From my research, it seems that gradients would only work well using CMYK process printing instead of spot pantone printing that my consultants have insisted on. The technology of 4C printing have also come a long way such that they can come very close to the accurate pantone colour required.
Hope that if you are facing the same problems, these links will help you!
http://creativecurio.com/2008/03/is-there-a-new-trend-in-logo-design/
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=179741
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