Brand logos are one of the most important assets in marketing for a business. A badly designed logo can break a business by failing to communicate the desired message. A well designed logo can convert people into loyal customers, and it’s easier than you think. Nowadays, it’s very easy to build a logo by using one of multiple online logo builders. Let’s go over 10 helpful tips you need to keep in mind when creating a logo for your brand.
1. Know Your Brand
Before creating your logo, you should first know your business, know what your brand is, and who your target customers are. Next, determine your brand personality traits. Do you want the customer to think about luxury, or affordability? Do you want them to feel feminine, or excited? These simple marketing basics will steer you in the right direction.
2. Reflect Your Business
Your logo is representing your business, so it should have clear communication to what your business is all about. Colors, graphics, and fonts are the important elements in a logo–make sure they reflect your business so that it reflects a brand identity.
3. First Impressions
If you can’t capture the first glance, you won’t capture anything that follows. Keep in mind that logo exposure is the first step in your customer cycle. Once you know your brand and reflect your business, your brand identity will be based on the uniqueness of your logo.
4. Choosing the Right Type of Logo
The first decision you’ll need to make is if you want your logo to feature your brand name. If not, there’s an option of creating just a graphic logo, although it will be much easier to communicate with your company name visible. Examples include Disney vs. Apple. You know both logos, yet only one has the brand name actually within the logo.
For small businesses, it’s recommended to include your business name. You could also try a combination logo that has both the symbol(s) and company name.
5. Use the Right Colors
Did you know the color red can make us think we’re hungry? Or that yellow makes us think we’re thirsty? This is why fast food restaurants like McDonald’s and Wendy’s use these colors in their branding. Determining the main color of your logo determines the feelings your customer will have.
Are you a spa or skincare brand? You may want to use blue, since it insinuates calm and collective feelings. Branding colors aren’t random–choose yours wisely.
6. Go Easy on the Fonts
The less fonts, the better. It’s good to have two fonts in mind for marketing purposes, although you do not have to feature both on your logo. If you choose more than one, make sure they complement each other, and target your customer in the right way. Fonts speak for the brand personality just as much as the other features.
The best advice when it comes to fonts is to do the opposite as the other features. If you want a gimmicky font, go with subtle colors and graphics. If you would like bold colors and graphics, go with a simple font.
7. Keep it Clean
Consumers tend to like white space because it insinuates freedom of movement. This doesn’t mean your logo has to be white, but for a consumer to get the message at a first glance, you want to create the feeling of freedom. The features in the logo should feel consistent with one another in order for the consumer to immediately understand the message.
8. Keep it Simple
Every expert graphic designer lives by this. Simple is always better. Oftentimes, brands want to grab the attention of the customers, and in turn, the customers are confused by the multiple colors, graphics, etc. Confusing your customers is the opposite of what you want your logo to do. It drives them away! A simple design is a simple memory.
9. Keep it Interesting
That being said, don’t create a logo that’s so bland, no one ever sees it. Your logo should still be unique to your business, just be careful of overloading with multiple colors and confusing graphics and fonts.
10. Create Different Sizes
Your logo should be easily scalable. This way, you’re able to utilize different types of advertisements. Be sure to create at least two different versions of your logo, or even three or four. If the logo looks disproportionate, it’s a failed design in communicating your brand.