Logo Design

Create distinctive, scalable logos with AI generation, 55 curated styles, and 30 color palettes — from concept to production-ready SVG.

What This Skill Does

The Challenge: Logo design is the most visible brand decision but also the most subjective. Without structured exploration, teams iterate endlessly on superficial variations while missing fundamentally better concepts.

The Solution: Logo Design skill provides structured exploration with 55 visual styles, 30 color palettes, AI generation prompts, and design critique frameworks. Produces concepts that translate to vector format and scale from favicon to billboard.

Activation

Implicit: Activates when user requests logo, icon, wordmark, or logomark design.

Explicit: Activate via prompt:

Activate logo-design skill to create logo for [company/product] with [style/direction]

Capabilities

1. Brand Discovery Questions

Extract positioning before any design work.

5 essential questions:

What 3 adjectives describe your brand personality?
Who is your primary customer? What do they value?
Which competitor logos do you find effective? (For contrast, not copying)
Which styles feel wrong for your brand? (Equally important)
What industries or aesthetics inspire you?

2. 55 Logo Styles

Pre-cataloged aesthetic directions with examples.

Style categories:

Category	Styles	Examples
Geometric	Minimal, Bauhaus, Swiss, Constructivist	Stripe, Figma
Lettermark	Monogram, Typography-first, Slab	IBM, NASA
Symbol	Abstract, Pictorial, Emblem	Apple, Target
Wordmark	Script, Modern, Vintage	Google, Coca-Cola
Combination	Icon + Text, Badge, Shield	Slack, Reddit

Full style catalog: references/logo-styles.md

3. 30 Color Palettes

Curated palettes with psychological associations and industry fit.

Palette families:

Tech/SaaS: Blues, teals, deep navy
Creative/Media: Bold primaries, neons, gradients
Finance/Enterprise: Navy, forest green, charcoal
Health/Wellness: Sage, warm beige, forest
Consumer/Fun: Coral, orange, bright yellow

Full palette catalog: references/logo-color-palettes.md

4. AI Generation Prompts

Structured prompts for consistent, production-quality logo concepts.

Prompt template:

Minimalist logo for [company name], [style] aesthetic,
[primary color], [secondary color], vector style,
white background, no text, scalable icon,
[specific element if desired].
Negative: photorealistic, shadows, gradients, complex details.

AI tools: DALL-E 3, Midjourney v6, Ideogram (best for logos)

5. Scalability Testing

Verify logo works across all required sizes.

Size test matrix:

512×512px: Full color version
128×128px: App icon (simplified if needed)
32×32px: Favicon (icon-only, high contrast)
1200×630px: Social share card
Monochrome: Single-color version must work

Prerequisites

Brand discovery questionnaire completed
AI image generation access
Vector tool: Figma, Adobe Illustrator, or Inkscape for refinement

Best Practices

1. Design in black first If the logo doesn’t work in black on white, color won’t save it.

2. Generate 5-10 concepts, not 1 Diversity of directions beats depth on one concept. Get client to react to variety.

3. Always deliver vector SVG or AI/EPS source file, not just PNG. Logos need infinite scalability.

Common Use Cases

Use Case 1: Startup Logo from Scratch

Scenario: B2B SaaS startup needs logo before website launch.

Workflow:

Complete brand discovery (5 questions)
Select 3 style directions to explore (e.g., geometric, lettermark, abstract)
Choose 2 color palettes to try
Generate 10 AI concepts across styles and palettes
Narrow to top 3 with stakeholders
Refine chosen direction in Figma
Deliver: SVG, PNG at 5 sizes, monochrome version

Use Case 2: Logo Refresh

Scenario: 5-year-old logo feels dated, needs modernization.

Workflow:

Audit existing logo equity (what’s recognizable, what’s dated)
Identify evolution vs revolution direction
Maintain brand equity elements (colors, core shape) while modernizing style
Deliver evolution concept alongside radical alternative

Troubleshooting

Issue: AI-generated logos have text artifacts or poor letterforms Solution: Add “no text, icon only” to prompt. For wordmarks, generate icon only, then set type separately in Figma.

Issue: Logo looks good on screen but fails at small sizes Solution: Create icon-only lockup for sizes below 64px. Simplify internal details.

CIP Design - Full corporate identity system
Brand - Brand strategy and positioning
AI Artist - Advanced AI image generation
Banner Design - Marketing assets using the logo

/ckm:design - Design task routing
/ai-artist - AI visual generation