Figured out why my logo mockups kept looking flat

I was working on a branding gig for a local coffee shop in Portland and kept getting feedback that the logos looked "off" somehow. Turned out I was using a solid black for shadows instead of sampling the actual background color and darkening it. After I switched to that method about 3 weeks ago, the before and after difference was night and day. Has anyone else had that moment where a small color tweak made everything pop?

2 comments

2 Comments

bailey.xena3d ago

Huh, I actually kind of disagree with this one. I've tried that method before and found it made my shadows look kinda muddy, especially if the background color has a lot of yellow in it like a warm cream or beige. For that coffee shop project you mentioned, I bet the shadows would look weirdly warm and not read as proper shadows at all if the background was anything close to a latte color. I usually just go with a desaturated dark version of the main brand color instead, like a really dark brown for a coffee brand, and that gives me way more control over the contrast. Plus solid black has a certain graphic punch to it that can work really well for certain styles like vintage or minimalist logos where you want that hard edge. Not saying your way is wrong, just not a one size fits all fix in my experience.

troy_butler73d ago

Honestly it's not that serious it's just shadows lol.