When preparing brand guidelines, Clear Space is a part that we will not miss. If you are a graphic designer or brand designer like me and are working on a clear space design for a logo, this article will be perfect.
What is Clear Space, and why do we need it?
Whenever we use a logo anywhere, it needs to have a little space around it to protect the visual impact from other factors, and we call this clear space. Because the size of a logo varies with the application, it is necessary to design clear space as a rule. It is a crucial part of the brand style guide.
Clear space design communicates two messages. Firstly, clear space instructs people that there is a space around the logo that no other elements can occupy. For example, we cannot put the logo and other factors too crowded.
Secondly, which is accessible to ignored, clear space also instructs us that we always need to have enough room for the logo, which is the total space of the logo plus clear space. For instance, if we design a badge with a logo, although it is not together with other elements, we can’t prop up the logo on the surface of the badge, which will affect the presentation of the logo as well.
How to design Clear Space?
There are several specific solutions to designing Clear space. Still, this time I want to share from a designer’s thinking point of view, so whether you are the initial designs for the logo or not, you can go from this approach to create a proper clear space.
Choosing a minimum unit of “x” is the key.
The minimum unit is the core of clear space because the actual size of the logo used is very flexible, so we define more of a ratio to clarify this rule. The minimum unit must be the apparent size already there, such as the elements in the logo, a specific spacing, or height. Choosing the “x” first requires checking the form of our logo. Is it a logotype？ Or does it have a graphic logomark? Is it perfectly equal in height, or is it more staggering?
1. letters
Using the letter as a unit is the most straightforward and intuitive approach. We can choose a single letter as the smallest unit. For example, Google uses G for x, and PayPal uses the initial P for x. You don’t need to do any math.
2. x-height
We can also observe the logotype, and if the logo has x-height, you can use x-height as a unit to design clear space, be aware that x-height usually brings clear space in a relatively small range. Please make sure it is enough for your logo.
3. logotypes height
Or use the entire height of the logo as a unit. All-caps or all-lowercase logotypes are particularly suitable for this.
We can also consider a logo with logomark in this way. The clear space around the logotype in the case below is 2/3 of the height of the logotype.
4. logomark
Using the visual symbol as the smallest unit is also a more common practice if the logo contains a graphic logomark. Stable and regular graphic signs are suitable for a unit, such as rectangles, squares, and circles. You can use the logomark directly to plan clear space, such as Slack and Microsoft. You can also take the percentage, such as 120% of Reddit, as long as that is what you need.
5. elements of logomark
If the whole logomark does not fit as a minimum unit, we can try to extract elements of it. For example, Green Lead uses this point of the graphic logo as the minimum unit because its graphic logo is more scattered, but its point is a square circle so that we can use it to develop a clear space.
6. more details
If there is no standard shape in the graphic logo that we can directly utilize, we can also start with the details. McDonald’s designs the minimum unit from the width of the M’s foot. Its clear space is equal to 2 times the width of a leg of the Golden Arches.
What is the best Clear space?
Sometimes we struggle with whether the Clear space should be larger or smaller. The answer is that there is no answer. The clear area is a range. Only within this safe range is everything reasonable. It is our design goal to ensure enough clear space.
1. The proportion of “x” that fits is related to the compactness of the logo
Although there is no standard proportional formula that we can apply to all logos, we find that by looking at the comparisons, the better the internal tightness, the smaller the clear space. Volvo’s clear space left a lot of space because its logotype letters are dispersive, so its clear space needs to be more than the gap in the letters themselves to avoid interference by other elements.
2. Consistently exceed the spacing between the logomark and the logotype combination
3. Consider what kind of feeling you want to convey about your brand
Compact, hilarious, highbrow, or your brand is approachable. It can be very many elements crammed together hilariously or very expensive high-end and needs very much blank space to reflect a unique identity.
Some more tips
- Whenever possible, choose the iconic elements of your brand as your “x,” which will make your brand design feel more consistent.
- Try not to use different x’s as units in a brand style guide. It will increase the burden on the audience to understand and remember.
- If you want people to follow your rules, choose whole numbers or easy to work with ratios and try not to make the audience do the math.
Thanks for your reading.
Let me know how you feel about it, especially how you designed it.
