Seal design
Seal design is a narrow discipline because a seal has to survive being small, photocopied and faxed. The conventions exist for that reason: concentric rings give the eye an edge to find, evenly spaced ring text stays legible when the contrast drops, and a simple centre survives reproduction. Decorative seals fail the photocopy test, which is where most seals end up.
Templates you can start from
How to make it
- Set the outer ring, then decide whether a second inner ring helps.
- Space the ring text evenly. Gaps at the sides read as a mistake.
- Keep the centre simple: one mark, a monogram or a short line.
- Preview at 40mm, not at screen size, before deciding it works.
What you get
- Single, double and triple ring borders
- Milled, scalloped and serrated edge treatments
- Even arc spacing on the top and bottom text
- A live preview at the real millimetre size
Test it the way it will actually be used
Look at the seal at 40mm on screen, then imagine it photocopied twice and faxed once, because that is the life of a sealed document. Thin strokes disappear first, then small text fills in, then anything with fine detail in the centre becomes a blob. A design that survives that is a good seal design. A design that only looks good at 400 pixels is a logo.
Questions
One ring or two?
Two, if there is text on both arcs: the inner ring separates the ring text from the centre and stops the whole thing reading as a crowd. One, if the centre is empty or holds a single mark.
What colour should a seal be?
Blue or black for most business use, and it is worth checking what the receiving body expects rather than assuming. Red carries specific meaning in China and in parts of the Middle East, and using it casually elsewhere can read as an official mark it is not.
Estamplab is a design tool. This page describes common commercial practice rather than giving legal advice, and practice changes. Where a specific document matters, check the requirement with the body receiving it. Only produce a mark your own organisation or your own credentials are entitled to use.