You just opened your new company, and you're looking to design a logo. You might think that creating a logo is a piece of cake, but don’t underestimate the time and thought that goes into creating a logo. Creating a logo design is not just putting a shape and a company name together. You have to dig deep and give meaning to your design. People who take shortcuts and believe that putting in time to create a logo is not important will end up with a logo template that is unsatisfying and that does not reflect the values of the company or corporation that it embodies.
1. Asking the right questions
You have to ask yourself when and how my company was created and for what reasons. Is there a story behind the creation of the company? Is there anything that influenced you to create it? Asking yourself these kinds of questions will help you get a better idea of what your core values are and what kind of visual elements you will be using for your logo.
Sketching up a few logo concepts is a great idea. Before you get started with your logo design, write a few questions down on one side of your drawing pad:
- What makes my brand different?
- Why did I start up this company and what are my objectives?
- How do I plan to reach my goals?
- What are the core values of the company?
- What kind of personality do I want to give this company?
- What audience am I targeting?
2. Mixing and matching
When it comes down to designing your logo, there are a few tricks and tips that you can use to make your logo more appealing and stand out. For example, combining two graphical concepts into one icon is trendy now. For example, if your company name is MetroMobile, you might want to combine the metropolitan and mobile aspects at the same time with an icon that uses buildings in the shape of mobile phones. Or if your company is PokerHills you might want to use game cards in the shape of a hill or mountain. Finding the right idea is always tricky, but combining elements always makes your logo that much cooler. The possibilities are endless. You may also want to get creative with your fonts for example, if your company name is twins, you could use a 2 instead of an "N" and rotate the 2 so that it looks like an "N", Using the two is a great idea is it emphasises the fact that there are 2 people in twins.
3. Colors are Key
Using the right colors in your logo is crucial. You don’t ever choose your logo colors randomly. Colors convey ideas, feelings, and beliefs. This is why you have to think about what colors you are going to use for your logo to work. To pick the right colors for your logo, you will have to study the psychological effects that colors have on people. Although colors may be perceived in different ways, there is a color code that must be respected. For example, red is passion and excitement. Blue is more soothing and reassuring. Green is commonly used for environmentally related businesses, and purple embodies luxury and wealth.
Here is a little exercice you can do to find out which colors work best for your business. Take some time to define your brand personality and answer these questions:
- Who is your ideal customer?
- What pain points do you solve?
- Are you a playful or a serious brand?
- How do you make your clients feel?
- Are you a youthful or mature brand?
- Why do your clients trust you?
Consumers go after brands that match their own personalities, so it’s important to define well what makes you unique. Now that you have the main attributes of your brand, you can use 99designs’ Color-O-Matic tool that will translate them into a primary logo color that matches your business.
So, keep in mind what color your company corresponds to so that your logo does not stand out like a sore thumb.
4. Don’t copy
Just like every industry, some tricks and gimmicks are often used to design logos. The problem with using these tricks is that the result of your logo design may be deceiving as your logo will look like everyone else’s. Don’t be afraid to be different. Be bold and original; your logo should reflect your company values.
Here are a few things you should watch out for if you don’t want your logo to look too generic:
- Dull, standard fonts like Helvetica, Arial, and Myriad are not made to be used for logo designs. These fonts are commonly used in word documents.
- Adding random dots, pictograms, symbols, and gizmos around your logo. These kinds of graphics elements pollute your logo design.
- Multi-colored gradients. Using more than two colors in a gradient should be avoided.
- Too many lines of texts. Generally, a logo should be composed of three lines at the most. One line for your company name, another for your baseline & and possibly a third for a website URL for example.
5. Just keep it simple
Keeping it simple is the keep element to having a great looking logo. When you keep things simple, your audience will understand your logo right away, and your logo will be much more visible on various printed formats. Simple logos are the logos that age well over time. Sometimes big companies have had to simplify their logos even further to make the design timeless. For example, Apple started off with a multi-colored logo in the 80’s, but now they've switched to a simple, grey logo. People think that it is best to add as many things to the logo as possible to make it stand out, but this is a common error.
Expert advice
Everyone is looking for an excellent logo for their company. Open your mind and think outside the box, don’t make the rookie mistake of copying a trending concept. Use your imagination and design a logo that looks like you! By following the five steps which we’ve spoken about in this article, you will be on your way to designing a kick-ass logo. Start designing an awesome logo today. Need to design a logo for your company? Start designing a logo with Logogenie. Choose from over 1,500 logo templates and add your finishing touch with the easy-to-use online tools. Create your own logo in under ten minutes today!
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