The right logo for your business can be a tool that generates awareness and interest for your goods and services. The wrong logo can drive your potential customers away because it tells them the wrong story, is hard to read, or reminds them of your competitors’ brands. It is easy to think of effective and attractive logos, but harder to pinpoint what makes them that way. Our expert designers want to share with you four simple tips for excellent logo design: keep it simple, make it unique, remember versatility, and pay attention to messaging.
Keep it simple – The first tip is first for a reason: if you get this one right, you’ll have an easier time with the rest. Simplicity in logo design means you limit the total number of elements in your design, and arrange them so that they don’t interfere with each other. It also means that you avoid complex pictures that require a lot of different colors to look right. Mona Lisa is a classic painting, but makes a poor logo.
Make it Unique – This tip is easier said than done, but basically it requires that you do your homework before you sit down to design your logo. Look at examples of other people’s logos, especially logos for companies that share part of your name, or who do what you do. Without too much effort, using an online image search, you will find examples of what others have done, which can help you decide what to do, or at least what not to do.
Remember Versatility – For most businesses, your logo will need to look just as good on a 3.5 x 2 inch business card as it does on the side of a truck, or even a building. You may want to have it embroidered on a shirt or posted online for the world to see. It helps to have a logo where the written elements, words or letters, are close to the same size, so that they are all readable at any size. Also, it helps to keep the overall shape of your logo compact, to avoid creating awkward wasted space when you put it on a page with other text or pictures.
Pay attention to messaging – Perhaps the single most important value of your logo is the symbolic power it has to teach other people – at a glance – what your business is all about, and to give their brain a simple way to remember you. Even though this is our fourth tip, really it should be the first step in your design process. Start with a concept, a message that you want to portray symbolically, and you’ll be on your way to making a logo that stands out. But remember it will need to be versatile, so keep it simple.
Speaking of simplicity, if you sit down to design your logo and you’re still drawing a blank, remember that we’re here to help. Our expert designers would be happy to work with you to create a logo that is just right for your business.
-Dennis
