How to use Google to find logo inspiration

I know what you’re thinking… why in 2016 would someone try and teach me how to use Google.

The search engine’s user process has been the same since it’s inception so what could you possibly learn that you don’t already know? You type in the keywords of what you’re looking for, click search and the most relevant results are at your fingertips. Easy, almost too easy it seems unfair.

Unfortunately, this isn’t always the most useful when you’re looking for specific types of images, even if you feel that you’ve nailed the perfect keyword search string.

As a logo designer, I spend a lot of time researching the logo history within industries of projects I’m working on, competitors within the current market as well as generally looking at creative solutions from designers and agencies I respect.

I had a bookmarked list of all the sites I would visit individually to begin research for each project. Sites such as Under Consideration, BP&O, Designspiration, Dribbble, Behance, Logopond, The Branding Source and Pinterest not to mention extensive list of agencies. Even though a lot of these sites have search capability with filters, they just don’t hold the same power as Google.

To save you time in the research stages of your next logo design, I’ve put together a small guide on how I use Google’s shortcuts and filters.

If you’re a long time Google advanced search user than you won’t need to read on, but if you don’t want to waste time reading through all that, then you should find this helpful.

A simple guide for designers on how to best use Google filters

1. If you don’t already have a bookmarked list of your favourite sites you go to for design inspiration put one together and save it so you can reference it in the future.

   Tip: Head to Google and in the search box type “related:” followed by a site you use for inspiration. You don’t have to use “http://” but make sure the domain extension is present. An example would be “related:underconsideration.com” This search will give you a list of results that will sites regarded as being similar to your searched site.
   

2. Once you have your list, start a new search and type “site:” followed by the first site on your gathered list.  This limits the search to the website you have specified. Following that you can start to use keywords that you would normally use. Eg. “Tech Logo” and make sure a space follows the the domain you’re searching and each additional key word. I find being industry specific yields the best results.
   
3. Once you’ve run a search, click on the ‘Images’ tab and you should have an extensive list of relevant images from the one website you have specified.
4. To further filter these search results to what I find more useful, I will click on “Search Tools >Time > Custom Range” and select dates from 2 years ago to the present. This helps to ensure you have modern results which is important when you’re searching sites that have a lot of archived images dating back 10 years or more.
   
5. If you really have a good idea of what you’re already looking for then the “Colour” filter can be very helpful too.
   

Personally I’ve found this way of filtering search results to be very useful as it removes all the pain associated with visiting individual sites. Unnecessary loading, advertising popups, a lack of search filters and learning a websites UI is all replaced with Google’s familiar layout and optimised engine.

I hope you find this helpful and if you have any questions you can email rogan@roboteatspopcorn.com