Creating a Powerful and Effective Logo
By Katarina Knoff
Logos hold a lot of power and are a very important part of brand recognition. A perfectly designed logo can strengthen a brand and establish a good rapport with its audience which is what a business wants to accomplish. However, a poorly designed logo that does not effectively communicate a brand’s message will ultimately harm the business of a company. It may seem like a small detail, but it has a huge impact. There are a few things to keep in mind when designing a company logo that will help you stand out from the rest and have a strong foundation for building a voice for your brand.
1. Know the Brand Identity
When designing a logo, you should first be very familiar with who it is you are trying to reach. Keep in mind the target market and target customers that you are trying to reach and the message that you want to convey. It helps to write down what your market is all about and to find out what personality you want it to project. You need to consider tone: do you want an elegant look? Something strong or bold? These are decisions you have to make and keep in mind throughout the process of designing the logo.
2. Make Sure It Reflect the Nature of Your Business
While creating a design, make sure that the logo is capable of representing the business. While selecting colors, fonts, and imagery these must align with the services or products that you deliver to customers to increase brand recognition. For example, if you are an all-organic company with green company colors, consider using the same green in your logo and natural imagery and font, etc.
3. Creating a Lasting Impression is Critical
Your logo should be eye-catching. It should make a lasting impression with customers and the market. It should entice customers and they should have a positive association with the design. Make sure you are creating something unique to that it is easily identifiable amongst the other logos in the market and that it has a strong design.
4. Be Strategic About Color Usage
Color choices are extremely important when designing a logo. Different colors trigger a variety of emotions and these should be kept in mind throughout the design process. For example, if you want your brand to signal aggression or danger, the color red symbolizes those things. If you want your brand to signal calmness, intelligence or togetherness then blue is a better choice. There is a science behind colors, and it is essential to select colors based on what emotions you want your brand to evoke in its target audience. Also, keep in mind that you want your logo to be legible in a black and white version as well. There will be times where the logo is printed on newspapers and other documents where color will not be an option, but you still want the message to come through.
5. Be Selective with Fonts
Typefaces are very useful in defining the personality of a brand. Different fonts create very different feels to a logo. If you choose a font that doesn’t truly speak to the voice of your brand it can be off-putting and send the wrong signal to your audience. If possible, it is best to use a font that is created specifically for your logo.
6. Decide What Type of Logo Can Best Represent Your Brand
Do you want the company’s name to be the main feature of the logo? These logos are known as logotype and examples would include Coca-Cola, RayBan, and IBM. These are popular because of the dual as your brand’s advertisement and will tell the name of your company. If you decide you want to create a symbol as the main feature of your logo you may spend much more on generating brand awareness of the company name. Examples would include McDonalds and Apple. You could also create a combination of the two. All styles have their benefits and can each be effective.
7. Keep it Simple & Scalable
Viewers should be able to grasp the message after just one glace. You want to keep it simple and keeping it to one or two colors. With too many colors and details, the design can be confusing and the message can be lost. Great logos are also scalable so they are the most marketable. The logo should be clear on something as small as a pen or as large as a billboard.