Take a moment to think of some of your favourite brands – what is the first thing that comes to mind? We are willing to bet that more often than not it will involve their logo. A strong logo is instantly recognisable and helps your business to stand out not only from competitors but from other companies too.
Despite how simple many logos appear, they are often the result of any number of carefully calculated decisions and choices. Whether you’re an experienced designer, or a business owner looking to create a strange brand, the same principle of logo design will apply.
To help to create a truly unforgettable logo, here are 10 things to consider when designing your logo:
In order for your business to be successful, you need to understand who your target audience is. Contrary to what you may think, your business isn’t relevant for everyone – even the largest and most successful brands on earth on Earth have a target audience, which means that you need one too. Everything you do should be done with them in mind because it’s their money that you’ll be counting on to succeed.
When designing your logo, consider your target audience and the message you want to send to them, and use this to inform and guide your design decisions. Starting with your target audience will help you to get on the right.
The next thing to consider is how your logo will be used. Will you use it to brand your products? Will it simply be on your website and other marketing material? This will help you to decide how your design your logo because it will need to be usable for the formats that you need.
Now that you know your target audience and how you’ll use your logo, look at your competitors. Have you ever noticed how different companies offering similar products (like sports, fast food, or car brands) have similar logos? This is because they’re trying to target similar people.
If you’re struggling for inspiration, then perhaps your competition can point you in the right direction. By no means should you create a copy of their logo, but, if their logo is effective, try to understand why and implement these lessons as best you can.
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Aside from appealing to your target audience, your logo also needs to reflect your brand identity. If your brand personality is more serious or formal, your logo probably shouldn’t contain a lot of bright colours. Conversely, if your brand is bold and bright, a sleek, simple black logo probably won’t be a good fit.
It’s essential that your logo reflects your brand first, rather than it being the other way around (more on this later).
This may seem obvious, but you need to ask if your logo catches the eye. You don’t want all this time planning, designing, and coming up with a new logo to have it overlooked by those whose eyes you’re trying to catch.
This is your invitation to be bold and creative with your design – please accept it.
Rushing a logo too soon is never a good idea. If a new logo receives a poor reception, it can cause some damage to the brand that you’ve tried so hard to cultivate. There have been countless instances where businesses have tried to launch a new logo or branding in a rush and it was not received well by their audience. We recommend that before pushing send on the logo, doing some testing amongst your staff or some of your most valued and loyal customers.
A bit of patience can save you some unfortunate bumps along the way. Remember that not everyone will like everything you do, but a positive majority is a goal.
Trends change, which can be unfortunate when it comes to your branding and logo. Some design trends may be all the rage now, but like that phrase, they can fall quickly out of favour at any time.
If you design your logo to reflect your brand identity, then changes will be smooth. You can simply alter the work that you’ve done already to achieve the same goal. Plus, change can be positive – if done correctly, it can breathe new life into your brand!
After reading these steps, we hope that you’ve realised that creating a logo isn’t a quick process. However, most things in life that are important do require time. Your logo will become one of the first things that people associate with your business, so it’s important that you follow the tips we’ve outlined so that you can create a logo that showcases your brand identity and catches the eyes of both new and existing customers.
