Not everybody can afford the costly prices of design giants Adobe. But not to worry, there are excellent free alternatives which can help you design on a budget.

Inkscape

An open-source vector graphics editor, it’s a great alternative for those who cannot afford to use Illustrator. It has a clear interface and is user friendly, containing a 3D boxes tool which allows speedy drawing and editing.

Easel.ly

A great graphic design software which allows you to create infographics for free using stock templates. There are more templates available, but at a cost. You can use different themes and also upload images onto the graphic.

Blender

A 3D graphic software used for creating visual effects and animated films, Blender is great for texturing, simulation, animation and much more. It’s also available on three formats for free – Windows, Mac and Linux.

When designing a logo, you need to take into consideration the fact that each colour gives a different impression, even if you’re not intending it to. Colours convey a meaning, and logo design needs to take this into consideration.

Blue is the most popular colour to use in a logo, as it seems to show calm and professionalism. It’s also linked with success, hence loads of banks and government bodies have blue in their logo.

Green unsurprisingly is used when emphasising natural, ethical, health in a logo. You will also see it in financial products too, as it shows growth and success.

Red shows energy, danger, passion, warmth etc, hence you’ll see it in a lot of food products. Food chains such as Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Dominos all have red in their logo.

Everyone is a designer nowadays, which is fair enough… but there should be some practices we should all follow. It’ll come in handy and be eye-pleasing for us all! Check out five tips below;

1) Keep it appropriate

Think of your target audience, look at other designs in that similar field and then get designing!

2) Use black first

One common mistake is colouring the logo midway, which ends up in the final design being poor. Leave colour till the end and focus on the idea first.

3) Leave trends to the fashion industry

Yep, trends are exactly that… a trend. They come and go. Longevity is what you should be looking at, don’t follow everyone else!

4) A simple logo aids flexibility

Keeping the design simple. Look at brands like BBC and Samsung, their logo is simple but most importantly easy to recognise.

5) Even Leonardo da Vinco started somewhere

You don’t need to be an artist to know that logo sketching is beneficial. Ideas come across much faster with a pencil and paper, than they do with a mouse and monitor. So stop trying to be a Photoshop whiz from the get-go!