I want to start an Internet company and wish to hire a freelance
graphics artist to design the company logo.  How are web graphics
created?  Using a tool such as Paint Shop Pro?  Drawing by hand and
scanning in?  For example, how was the design for the company logo in
this example made -- the legs with the shoes followed by the name of
the company?

www.shoes.com

Thank you.

Meadow Wolf

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Request for Question Clarification by leapinglizard-ga on 26 Sep 2004 14:06 PDT

Logos are typically made by graphic designers using Photoshop. What
more do you need to know?

leapinglizard

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Clarification of Question by meadowwolf-ga on 26 Sep 2004 15:18 PDT

Is the entire graphics design process done from start to finish by
opening and using PhotoShop?

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Clarification of Question by meadowwolf-ga on 26 Sep 2004 15:33 PDT

I don't want a cheesy "out-of-the-can" design like this:
http://www.mccannas.com/pshop/pshop1.htm

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Clarification of Question by meadowwolf-ga on 26 Sep 2004 15:44 PDT

xpertise,
Post as an answer if you can so I can pay you.  If you can't, they
should hire you!

Meadow Wolf

There are roughly two trades in professional webgraphics creators:
those that go for Adobe and those that go for Macromedia.
Both brands have professional software for vector-based (lines,
polygons, circles etc) as well as pixelated pictures (bitmaps).
Vector-based pictures can be scaled at will (a circle will remain a
circle, defined by center and radius), which cannot be said for
bitmaps (make a bitmapped circle large and you will get "jaggies").
But bitmaps are ideal for photos (which cannot efficienty be
represented by vectors).
A logo as in your example would typically be designed in a
vector-based program (Macromedia Freehand, or Adobe Illustrator),
which can then be used in high quality (for print, such as envelopes
or ads) or low quality bitmap (for quick download on a webpage, as in
your example).
In my opinion it doesn't take much perspiration at all, so only some
inspiration is needed... hell, I'd do it... for little more than $2 ;)

Good luck!

Some people also create graphics with Paintshop which costs a lot less
than Photoshop. Other people draw their art on Wacom tablets or draw
on paper and scan their art in. There are also online graphics
generators that let you create your own (eg: cooltext.com, or other
sites here: http://www.freegraphics.com/11_Online_Create_Your_Own/ )

The graphic for shoes.com looks like it was made with a software
program (maybe Photoshop or Paintshop, or one of the other software
programs  mentioned by xpertise-ga. His advice about vector graphics
is good because some people that start out with a web business and web
logo find that they are growing and want to have stationery, envelopes
& business cards made with their logo. If the graphics are made with a
vector-based program, scaling them to print resolution is no problem.
If they're not, the graphics will have to be redone for print
purposes. (this is because the resolution for the web is  maybe 72-96
dpi [dots per inch] whereas it's 300-600 dpi for print.)

Good luck!