What is a logo? A logo, short for logotype, is any graphic that is used to identify an organization, product or idea. The term was coined in the 19th century and was originally used to refer to all forms of identification. Today it is only applied to graphic symbols or icons.

A logo is a pictorial that represents a company’s brand. The word logo comes from the Greek word “logos,” which means “word”. The company’s logo design will be incorporated into its name thus it helps to also think of the firm’s name as a logo.

Your logo is often the first thing people see on your product, marketing materials, or website. Its prominent position and presence on all print and digital assets make it a crucial part of your branding process. Logo design is a must for businesses, as it is the first impression that the customer will get about your business or product. A good logo can easily attract customers and improve their loyalty. Therefore it is essential for you to choose the best logo design software.

Logo Design Studio Pro

Logo Design Studio Pro is an easy-to-use yet comprehensive vector graphic editing software providing everything a small business owner needs for a logo design at an affordable price.

Pros

• Subscription or download options
• Great for basic to intermediate design skills
• Can export logo in several formats

Cons

• Online subscription requires a 90-day commitment
• No downloadable version for Mac
• May want to buy expansion packs for more templates

The company Summitsoft introduced its graphic design software in 2001 and has continually improved it. Logo Design Studio Pro provides high-level features without a sharp learning curve, making it the clear winner in our best overall logo software category. 

Logo Design Studio Pro offers a “premier do-it-yourself logo design experience,” meaning small business owners with different experience levels can create professional logos with ease. The software comes with:

• Over 2,000 customizable logo templates
• More than 6,000 vector shapes, images, and graphics
• Over 750 fonts available for commercial use

Logo Design Studio Pro offers several pricing options, including a one-time fee for a Windows download or subscription-based plans. You can use the web version on Mac and Windows operating systems. Packages include:

• Logo Design Studio Pro Standard Edition: $69.99 one-time fee for a downloadable version
• Logo Design Studio Pro Platinum Edition: $149.99 one-time fee for download plus three expansion packs
• Logo Design Studio Pro Online: $29.99 the first month, then $7.99 per month for a web browser-based version
• Logo Design Studio Pro with 30-day pass: Use the software for 30-days for a one-time fee

Plus, you can edit your logo design using gradients, shadow, blur, glow, 3D bevel, or emboss effects. Once complete, users export their graphic as a JPEG, PNG, GIF, or black and white file. If you want more logo, font, and graphic templates, you can purchase expansion packs starting at $29.99, such as:

• Color Splash Pack
• Cutting Edge
• Vintage Cool
• Food and Beverage
• General Construction
• Fashion and Retail
• Service and Odd Jobs
• Professional and Business
• Sports and Mascots
• Alphabet Art
• Winter Wonderland

Inkscape

Inkscape is an open-source design program with robust logo creation tools and does it all for free.

Pros

• Works on all operating systems
• Tons of editing features
• Frequently updated

Cons

• Installation is more complex on Mac computers
• Outdated interface
• Learning curve for people unfamiliar with design software

The software was created in 2003 as part of an open-source project, meaning developers can create new versions or tweak the code to fit a company’s needs. Inkscape’s straightforward design and rich capabilities make it a clear winner for free logo design software.

Inkscape is one of the few vector editing programs that work on Linux, Mac, and Windows platforms. If you’ve operated graphic design software before, then Inkscape will be easy to use. However, if you’re unfamiliar with the various vector editing features, there is a learning curve. But its popularity means you’ll find plenty of online tutorials to develop your logo. 

Once you create your design, you can export it in several file formats, including SVG, AI, EPS, PDF, and PNG. Top editing functions consist of:

• Pencil, pen, and calligraphy tools
• Shape tools for rectangles, ellipses, stars, spirals, and polygons
• Text tool for multi-line text and on-canvas editing
• Color selector tool for RGB, HSL, CMYK, color wheel, and CMS palettes
• A gradient editor

Adobe Illustrator

Built for graphic designers, Adobe Illustrator provides comprehensive software with many customization options and in-depth features for people familiar with vector editing tools.

Pros

• Seven-day free trial
• Can import scanned images
• Customizable workspaces

Cons

• Steep learning curve
• Doesn’t support many raster graphics
• Special pricing offers require a 12-month commitment

Since 1985, Adobe has led the industry in graphic design software, and Adobe Illustrator is part of Adobe’s Creative Suite. This feature-rich logo tool gives you unlimited design options perfect for customization by business owners familiar with graphic design software. Its complex functions require knowledge of editing and design tools, so Adobe Illustrator is the best software for experienced designers.

You can download the software to Mac or Windows computers or use it on your iPad. Inside this graphic design application, you’ll find a nearly unlimited number of editing and design tools, including:

• Perspective and pixel grids
• Advanced color options like Pantone or CMYK palettes
• Over 16,000 font types
• Gradient tool for objects or individual brush strokes
• Reshaping, symbolism, and paint tools
• Puppet Warp to twist and shape objects

Adobe offers plans for commercial and personal use along with a discount for teachers and students. You can buy a single application, like Adobe Illustrator, for $33.99 per month per license or purchase all apps (over 20) for $79.99 per month per license. Business plans differ from individual plans by offering:

• Integration with popular apps like Slack and Microsoft Teams
• 1TB of cloud storage per user
• Team accessible Creative Cloud Libraries
• Instant syncing across devices
• Premium tech support

 Affinity Designer

Affinity Designer is a vector graphic design tool. It helps you create accurate curves and customize live shapes for vector illustration. Certainly, Affinity Designer is an ideal solution for illustrators, UI designs. It is coupled with powerful features to give you amazing results. It is a good competitor for all the others mentioned on the list. However, you can try the Affinity Designer Pro version at ￡48.99.

Affinity Designer is available for Mac, Windows, and iPad.

• macOS: ￡48.99
• Windows: ￡48.99
• iPad: ￡19.99

Features

• You will get non-destructive operations.
• It has advanced file support.
• You will get the live preview of transforms.
• Amazing real-time gradients, blend modes, and effects.
• You can create your own custom keyboard shortcuts.

Pros

• It has a wide range of tools.
• The type of professional features.
• Light and dark user interface availability.

Cons

• It has a steep learning curve.
• It doesn’t have any free trial for iPad.

CorelDRAW

CorelDRAW has come a long way in the field of logo design. No matter, if you are a beginner or a professional logo designer CorelDRAW would make your logo designing process a breeze. Moreover, tools like Corel capture and Corel photo-shop enhances your logo designing experience. Thus, logos built with CorelDRAW are highly professional and superior in quality. So, make CorelDRAW one of the best logo design tools in the market. It offers unmatchable color accuracy and flexibility to deliver a stunning logo. The Pro version of CorelDRAW comes at $602. You won’t find anything better than CorelDraw when it comes to logo sketching.

Features

• It gives you the experience of the non-destructive effects of vector and bitmap objects.
• It authorizes you to control the structure of the document and its components.
• CorelDRAW is a vector graphic oriented logo design software.
• The LiveSketch feature is an amazing addition in the logo designing world by CorelDRAW.
• It is pretty simple to create high-quality vector mosaics.
• It is the best software for logo sketching.

Pros

• It offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
• It comes in both Windows and Mac versions with trials.
• You can easily resize and relocate the toolbar and menu.
• The LiveSketch features give stunning results.

Cons

• The freehand brush is a little hard to use.
• Higher learning curve.

Adobe Photoshop – Best Logo Design Software for Designers

Adobe Photoshop is indeed a magnificent tool from the Adobe family, known as the master of image editing. This tool is built for professional designers to create gorgeous illustrations, 3d paintings, icons, and logos. Various exemplary features such as artistic filters, color levels, texture, and many more make Photoshop the most desirable graphic design software. But, it requires you to have some photoshop skills to create effective logos. It works perfectly for novice users as well. And the user-friendly features make designing graphics as easy as pie. The Pro Version of Adobe Photoshop comes at $20.99/month.

Adobe Photoshop Pricing

• Monthly Plan: US$31.49/month
• Annual Plan, Prepaid: US$239.88/year
• Annual Plan, Paid Monthly: US$20.99/month

Features

• Adobe Photoshop is beautiful photo manipulation and logo designing software comes with professional features.
• It works flawlessly with other Adobe products.
• It is an immensely versatile software.
• You can include animations as well.
• You can easily transfer images between programs.

Pros

• Adobe Photoshop is a perfect tool for graphic designers and other design professionals.
• It gives you mobile-friendly images and logos.
• It’s quite simple to edit a variety of image formats.
• The integrated stock library is readily available.

Cons

• It can be a little heavy on the fresher’s pocket.
• The interface of Adobe Photoshop can be a little overwhelming for a novice to get started.
• A progress bar is missing with some of the tools.

Canva

Canva is a web-based, drag-and-drop graphic design tool created in 2013 to help users make social media graphics, presentations, posters, and more.⁴ We chose it as the best price because it makes it easy to create professional logos for free or at just $1 per premium element and offers an affordable monthly subscription with additional features.

Canva’s free logo maker features a very visual and easy-to-use interface. Users start by choosing a template from the thousands available. From there they can personalize the colors, shapes, and symbols.

Users can then rearrange elements, including fonts, icons, or imported graphics, or even change templates using a simple drag-and-drop editor. Canva’s professionally designed templates give users a head start with color and font combinations that look good right out of the box. Users can also choose from millions of free and premium icons, illustrations, and images.

Canva’s logo maker is completely free and can be used on any web browser. Users only need to pay for premium graphic elements, which cost only $1 each and can be replaced by suitable free versions if necessary.

Designhill

Designhill started as a design crowdsourcing platform in 2014 and has grown into a community of over 125,000 graphic designers and artists from nearly 52 countries.³ We chose it as the best for beginners because its unique AI-powered tool lets anyone create professional logos with no design skills needed.

Getting started with Designhill is easy. Just enter the name of the business and the basic logo style and color palette. The software then offers up hundreds of design options that can be previewed on business cards, t-shirts, signboards, and more. Any part of the templates Designhill creates can be tweaked and edited as needed, including colors and fonts.

Users can spend as much time as they want to create logos and the process is free. Once they find a design they like, it costs just $20 to download a basic low-resolution file suitable for online use.

For $65, users get a high-resolution logo, vector graphic files with transparent backgrounds, phone support, black and white versions, font names and color codes, and full commercial and non-commercial use rights.

What to Look for when Choosing the Best Logo Design Software

A logo design software provides various features to create a beautiful and relevant logo for your business. There are a number of logo design software present both free and paid over the internet and you can use them however you like. A logo design software should be efficient enough to provide a compelling logo without much effort. Pay attention to the following things.

Ease of Use: A logo design software should be easy to use. So that even a novice can use it. Usually, logo design software is based on the drag & drop functionality and you don’t have to do anything except simply drag the elements to the desired place to create a beautiful logo.

Price: Make sure you haven’t picked up something that is too heavy in your pocket. However, you can choose 100% free software instead of any premium software, depending upon your logo needs.

Features: Well, another important factor is what kind of features the selected software is offering you. You can take the trial before finalizing any software. Be sure the design software is allowing you to make desired customizations in your logo and then go for it.

Conclusion

Designing logos is one of the first steps in starting your own business. It serves as a brand for your business, serves as a symbol on your products or identity online. A logo can be an image, text, word, picture of your motto. Logo designs are used on various business cards, letterheads, commercial products, websites, billboards, or pamphlets. A few rules to follow when designing logos are but are not limited to: stand out from competitors, use appropriate colors and fonts. Logo designs should be recognizable at first glance even on small sizes of internet ads.