What is Clearspace in Logo Design? (And How to Make It)

00:00

You’ve probably come across this logo grid system and wondered:

What is it? How do I even create it?

This video shows you exactly what it is — and how to create it — so your logos actually work when handed off to clients.

Clear space is one of the four key grid systems in logo design.

It’s used at the final stage of the design process.

It defines a protected area around the logo — often called a safe zone or exclusion zone — to keep other elements from getting too close.

00:32

Clear space ensures your logo remains:

• Legible

• Recognizable

• Visually balanced — across all layouts

It’s essential when handing off logos to clients — so they don’t distort, crowd, or misuse the logo in digital or print formats.

00:44

Let’s create a clear space grid in Adobe Illustrator:

• Turn on your rulers → Press Command/Control + R

• Draw guides around the top, bottom, left, and right of the logo

01:10

Next: create the safe zone (exclusion zone)

Choose a component of the logo to define this space. It could be:

• A letter

• A part of the logo mark

• Or the full logo mark

In this case, the letter H is chosen.

01:44

To avoid the safe zone being too large:

• Scale down the component by 50%

• In the Transform Panel → type /2 into Width or Height

• Ensure aspect ratio is locked so both dimensions adjust equally

Now you have a smaller version to use as your clear space unit.

02:28

Place this unit around all four sides of the logo.

Important: Since the shape is rectangular, rotate it 90° each time to maintain an even space.

• Top → no rotation

• Right → rotate 90°

• Bottom → rotate 180°

• Left → rotate 270°

This ensures a balanced, consistent clear space all around.

03:40

Now we create the full exclusion zone:

• Draw new guides outside each component

• This gives you a clean square boundary

• Without rotation, it would be uneven and visually off

04:07

To make the clear space grid presentation-ready:

• Lower the opacity of the grid shapes

• This helps it appear subtle and professional in brand guidelines

04:12

Exporting the logo with clear space:

• Use the Rectangle Tool to draw a shape from the top-left to bottom-right corner of the clear space grid

• Set the fill to “None” — so it’s invisible

• Select both the shape and logo

• Duplicate them together

• Hide guides

05:04

Turn the invisible shape into an artboard using the Artboard Tool.

This ensures the exported logo includes the clear space built-in.

05:27

Export your logo:

• File → Export → Export for Screens

• Choose PNG and SVG formats

• Ensure background is transparent

05:45

You now have:

• SVG file — with bounding box

• PNG file — with clear space built-in

Clients can now use the logo instantly — with the correct clear space applied.

06:07

Free Resources

You can download the Logo Grids Kit completely free.

It includes:

• Ready-to-use logo grid template

• Mastering Logo Grids in Adobe Illustrator eBook

Check the link in the description to download.

06:16

Thanks for watching!

Please like, share, and subscribe for more videos like this.

‍