If you’re about to launch a business then you will need a logo. “Designing a logo- that can only take 5 minutes.” I hear you say – well if you care about your business and the impression it makes then it should definitely take a lot longer than that!
There’s much more to crafting your brand’s visual identity than just writing your company in a box and calling it a logo. A logo is often your company’s first impression, one that can impact a customer’s brand perception, purchase decisions and overall attitude towards a product. If your logo only took you 5 minutes expect that to also be the amount of time consumers remember your brand for.
For those who are about to give their brand a face lift or those who are just starting out on their brand design journey, here are the top tips you will need to bear in mind when creating a great logo.
How will your logo be interpreted?
Your logo is not just an image, it’s an introduction to your brand. The logo needs to reach a specific audience and must reflect your brand’s personality. Your logo needs to reflect your unique brand attributes but also needs to make sense and not be too complicated to understand. While it is helpful to stay up to date with design trends, it’s more vital to stay true to a brand’s personality. Know what your logo means and ensure that it is easy for consumers to interpret in the same way as you.
Colour is key
Colour is one of the most important things to consider when designing a logo. Your colour choices should not be a superficial decision, colour carries meanings and communicates ideas. Again, if you understand your brand’s personality you will know what message you are trying to convey and you can pick colours accordingly by understand their connotations.
Text vs. Image
Custom type helps to ensure that your logo is unique and recognisable – for example everyone recognises Coca-Cola’s famous custom type font. But if you’re not a well-known brand or you do not have a unique name this type can struggle to catch on. If you have a more generic brand name your logo should consist of two things; a wordmark and a symbol. The symbol should be something consumers identify with and the font should be simple and easy to read.
Think about negative space
The age old trick of utilising negative space in a clever way can be a perfect way to make your logo unique. This can be incredibly subtle, for example have you ever noticed the arrow in the FedEx logo? It’s there! Another example is the brand cork and cow who cleverly used colours and shapes to ensure their bull horns logo also looks like a glass of wine.
Be memorable or at least recognisable
Rather than following the herd and using a cliché design, you should instead strive for something unique and instantly recognisable. As you’re designing your logo consider whether or not your design is generic or unique. Will customers remember your logo? Or will they at least recognise it when it is put in front of them?
Simplicity goes a long way
Simple yet powerful logos flood the business world and always prove to be the best icons for standing the test of time. Just think about Apple or Nike’s logo, they don’t use fancy script or bright colours but they are instantly recognisable. The trick is to remain simple without being boring, for example it is the bite out of the apple in Apple’s logo that makes it interesting not the silhouette of the apple itself.
How about something fun?
A fun trend which logo designers have taken on board recently is visual double entendre – which is a fancy way to say two pictures wrapped into one through a clever concept. Consumers love the clever mind games of these logos and enjoy seeing it from two different angles. For example the brand Wine Place takes on the shape of a thumbtack which suggests “location” or “place” but it also clearly looks like an upside down wine glass.
Remember that no matter what logo style you choose it is important to choose a logo that ties into the company’s core values.