Can you use GIMP? Help me :(

Bennie-Mac · 16 Feb 2012 at 22:57

Hey guys

Ive finally got round to making my company website, however my logo is poor quality and I was hoping to recreate it in a similar style in GIMP so that it looks reasonable and has no white background. The problem is I have never used GIMP before and dont have a clue how to begin. Can anyone shed some light on what they would do if they had to recreate it so I can "borrow" your technique? Ill be making some changes to it, but if I could get the basic logo sorted I reckon ill be able to tweak it myself.

This is the logo as it stands:

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated

Cheers!

Pho · 16 Feb 2012 at 23:11

I wouldn't use Gimp for that. Logos should be done in a vector package (scalable images) so that you can resize them to whatever dimensions you want later without losing quality.

http://inkscape.org/index.php?lang=en

Bennie-Mac · 16 Feb 2012 at 23:19

Thanks matey, ill have a play around with Inkscape and see if its any easier for me to comprehend.

Pho · 17 Feb 2012 at 00:42

Here's a vector version of your logo to get you started, made in Illustrator but will work in Inkscape:
Vector: http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~akiller/OcUK/images/Bennie-Mac/insight-consulting.svg (your browser might render this so just right click > save link/target as)

Sample: http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~akiller/OcUK/images/Bennie-Mac/insight-consulting.png

You can open the SVG with Gimp and resize to whatever size you want losslessly for exporting for websites, letterheads, billboards etc. You'll want to choose 300 PPI+ for things which will be printed when you load in the SVG (I assume Gimp asks you like Photoshop does).

Enjoy.

Bennie-Mac · 17 Feb 2012 at 02:11

Oh wow that's brilliant thank you! Very kind of you Pho much appreciated

Jono · 17 Feb 2012 at 09:30

Yay for Pho... he should be a MoH... from years back.

Pho · 17 Feb 2012 at 11:15

Bennie-Mac said:
Oh wow that's brilliant thank you! Very kind of you Pho much appreciated

Np, now I challenge you to re-make it yourself in Inkscape (layer over the top of mine even to get it lined up). The font is calibri by the way.

Jono said:
Yay for Pho... he should be a MoH... from years back.

Would you please tell my boss that so I get a payrise?

.

Jono · 17 Feb 2012 at 11:23

Sure, where can I find him?

Pho · 17 Feb 2012 at 11:48

I haven't seem him for about 3 weeks so I genuinely don't know

.

Bennie-Mac · 17 Feb 2012 at 16:28

Pho said:
Np, now I challenge you to re-make it yourself in Inkscape (layer over the top of mine even to get it lined up). The font is calibri by the way.

Challenge accepted, however what tool did you use to draw the actual logo part? That's the part I'm struggling with, I can get the text no problem but I'm unsure on the rest. I'm guessing you changed the opacity of the circles as they get further out, but did you just use the draw circle tool to make them? Is it that simple?

Sir SpankalotUK · 17 Feb 2012 at 17:24

I use illustrator a lot to recreate logos. As for the circles, I would draw one using the circle tool, copy and paste it so I have two side by side (with a gap), then I would step and repeat the cicles going outwards for both sides. From a artwork point of view you should try to avoid transparency for logos (spot colours and transparency dont mix) I would use a spot colour (usually Pantone solid uncoated) and adjust the tint. Then select all the circles and rotate on the centre point through 120 degree twice.

Pho · 17 Feb 2012 at 18:04

Bennie-Mac said:
Challenge accepted, however what tool did you use to draw the actual logo part? That's the part I'm struggling with, I can get the text no problem but I'm unsure on the rest. I'm guessing you changed the opacity of the circles as they get further out, but did you just use the draw circle tool to make them? Is it that simple?

I basically traced over the 5 dots in the 12 o'clock position using the ellipse tool and set their colour to match what you had. I then just copy/pasted and rotated them (origin at the middle of your logo) by 45 degrees, repeat until you get all the way around and have a full set.

Good call by Sir SpankalotUK on using Pantone colours and avoiding transparency.