Powerful Tips For Effective Logo Design
A logo is a symbol made up of text and images that identifies a business. A good logo shows what a company does and what the brand values. Logo design is all about creating the perfect visual brand mark for a company. Depending on the type, a logo usually consists of a symbol or brandmark and a logotype, along with a tagline. Creating a logo demands a complex mixture of design skills, critical thinking, creative input, methodical planning, and skillful application.
A logo serves many purposes in the modern world of business. It can send the right business message to your target audience. A professionally designed logo has the power to convert people into loyal customers. There are many ways a well-designed logo can serve its company and business. The logo design of a company can make or break its business prospects in the market. A perfectly-created logo is capable of establishing a good rapport with the audience that a company is trying to achieve. But a wrongly designed logo fails to communicate a business message and ultimately harms the business of a company.
A good logo should:
- Be unique and distinctive
- Reflect your brand identity
- Be eye-catching
- Be timeless
- Be memorable
- Work well either large or small
Whether you’re a beginner or just in need of a refresh, follow these powerful tips for effective logo design
1. Know the brand
Before you set out to design your logo, make sure that you have some insight into the brand. Keep this in mind that the logo must reach a particular set of people, which is the target market and target customers. So, write down what your business, brand, and market are all about. Find out what the brand ideology is and what inspirations it holds for the future. Know the brand personality also. Is it a softer brand or a tough brand in terms of its tone. What is the way it wants to project itself amid its market and customers? All such details must be ready beforehand. Such information will serve as a guide to create your logo design. You will pick your logo elements considering the information about your brand.
2. The logo must reflect the nature of your business
Make sure that your logo is fully capable of representing your business. The colors and images used in your logo should align with the business you run and the products or services you deliver. It is when a logo aligns with your business that it will create a brand identity for your company in the competitive market. The targeted customers will also get your message when the design reflects your business and its values or attributes. So, whether you are freshly designing or redesigning your company logo, consider these three major tips in mind, to establish your business in a competitive market.
3. Choose the type of logo
Do you want a logo that has your company’s name as the main feature? That could be the best logo idea. Such a logo is known as a logotype. Famous examples of logotypes include the logos of RayBan, IBM, and Coca-Cola. If you choose to have a logotype, it will have your company name visible to the customers immediately. This means that your logo will become your brand’s advertisement as well. You will not be spending much to generate publicity about your brand. The logo will tell your company name to the people. But if you choose to have a symbol as your logo, it will require you to spend a lot of funds on generating awareness about your brand name. Famous companies using symbols as logos include Apple logo that has a half ‘byte’ apple as its business symbol. You can also think of a combination logo that has both the symbol and company name. Such a logo will speak out your company name along with a business message from the symbol.
4. Give your background contrast
Following the theme of visibility, another way to ensure your logo is always ‘seen’ is by selecting a background color that gives enough contrast with your text. If the color of your text is white go for a darker background color such as black.
5. Colors are vitally important
One of the most important considerations for logo design is the color palette. Colors carry meanings and communicates ideas. Sometimes you’re pegged to the colors of a brand, but other times you’ll have the freedom to explore. Colors play a crucial role in determining a brand’s message. For example, if you use red as the main color in your logo, it will send the message of the brand being aggressive, passionate, and energetic. This means that your brand intends to target young customers. If blue is the chief color, it will evoke the feelings of intelligence and togetherness. This is the reason that most of the social channels such as Facebook have logos in blue. If you want to create a social media page, think of having blue as its main color in its design. Use bright and bold colors to grab people’s attention. But these colors should speak about your brand personality as well. Remember that every color evokes an emotion, which becomes its message for the viewers or customers. There is a science behind colors, which modern graphic designers effectively use.
6. Use the right font
Just like the color scheme, the logo fonts also matter very much. In fact, it’s possible to design a great brand logo by just using a memorable font. A perfect example, in this case, is the Coca-Cola logo whose fonts are just right. Many designers just do not pay attention to the selection of typefaces and chose them randomly. The fact is that typefaces speak about the personality of a brand. For example, a typeface used for a toy company’s logo will most likely be a handwritten typeface. This is because the children are the target customers and you want to project your brand as a child-friendly business.
Similarly, if you are creating a logo for a rock music band, pick bold fonts that create a strong personality of your band. So, make sure that there is not a mismatch between the typeface you chose and your brand personality. If the choice of typeface does not speak for your brand, the logo will send wrong signals to your potential customers. Also, avoid using gimmicky fonts. If possible, use your unique fonts that you should be created especially for your logo. You can also think of using very high-quality fonts that are now available free on the web. Logos such as that of Coca-Cola are recognized for their custom fonts.
7. Keep It Simple
When we speak of a simple logo, it implies that there should be the use of one or two colors, fonts, and other elements. The viewers should get the message at first glance of the logo. But if there are too many confusing colors and fonts or a complex shape of the logo, then it will send a mixed signal to the viewers. Simple but powerful logos permeate the business world and always prove to be the best icons for standing the test of time. A simple logo is also a memorable design. Most of the global business is represented by its simple logos. Take for example the Nike logo. It is a simple swoosh logo. The Pepsi logo is made of two colors only. The Samsung logo has one color. Apple logo has an application as a symbol of its business. The simplicity of design is not restricted to logos only. All graphic design products such as brochure design etc should also be simple, neat, and clean.
8. Use online resources and tools
There is a vast sea of information online for those who need some inspiration, collaboration, or assistance when designing a company logo. 99designs offers a logo store equipped with unique, hand-vetted logos for those on a tighter budget looking for off-the-shelf ideas, and the site provides an opportunity for more personalized contests where customers are integral to the outcome from the beginning. For those who want to design on their own, sites like Logomaker and LogoYes are logo design interfaces that are easy-to-use and free, although, there is a fee to download higher-quality versions for print.
9. Design for the long term.
“A logo should be designed with longevity and future use in mind. It should be created as a vector file for scalability, be legible even at a very small size, and use Pantone colors for consistency.” In the logo design industry, trends are quite common. For instance, currently, the minimalist bright and metallic colors are in vogue. However, your logo shouldn’t be based on these trends alone. It should be a classic design capable of surviving the test of time, yet flexible enough when change is needed.
10. Practice all the time.
If there’s only one thing you remember from this article, make it this rule. You need to practice all the time.
Conclusion
So, these are powerful tips that you should consider while designing your logo. In this digital era, creating a powerful logo design is a must. To create a powerful logo design, make sure that you know the brand inside out. The logo should be a unique but simple design that conveys a brand message. It should be a versatile and scalable logo. The use of fonts and colors must be specific to the brand personality.
