We can argue about, if the background is part of the logo design or not. But we can’t argue about the fact, that the background has an impact on the design. This is why we should always test our designs with different backgrounds and give recommendations to our clients which backgrounds to use.
Logos need to work on white backgrounds
Almost all logos need to work on white backgrounds. There is a very high chance that letterheads, business cards, and websites of your client use white as a part of the actual design or to create negative space. So, always test and deliver your logo designs on a white background.
Additionally, you should look at the corporate design (does you client have design guidelines?). What colours is your client using on the corporate website, flyers, catalogues, etc.? Test your logo design with the most prominent colours and create a do and don’t list and deliver it with your logo to your client.
Additionally, you should add a colour range that doesn’t work with your logo design. Take this example:
If you use the same background colour the logo frame has, you change the impact of the logo. As obvious as it sounds, explain this to your client when you deliver the logo.
Let us look at another example:
A green colour is not the best to pair with the logo, but the left works better than the right. The left logo has a background that only uses a different hue, while saturation and lightness are identical to the blue of the logo. On the right hue, saturation, and lightness are different, which results in a design that doesn't work at all.
What to include in the logo delivery to your client?
When it comes to colours and backgrounds, I always deliver the following:
• White background (logo in colour and in black and white)
• Black background
• Colours of the logo as hex, hsl, rgb code
• How the logo colours as a background effect the logo design
• Complementary, monochrome, and analogues colours to the frame colour of the logo (and the most prominent colour, if its diffferent to the frame colour)
• Colour range to avoid as a background
Most clients aren’t designers – that’s why they hire us – which is why it makes sense to point out things that are obvious to designers when we deliver our designs to them.