Logos are typically the first thing that people notice about your business. These easily recognizable identifiers literally become symonomous with your brand overall. Therefore, it is extremely important to ensure that your logo is well-made and the best visual representation of your company. Here’s how to create the best logo for your brand.
Step 1: Research
The first and foremost step in designing your logo is to conduct research focused on the industry, its history, and its competitors.
Look at the logos of other businesses in your industry. Do your competitors use solid, conservative images, or flashy graphics and type? Ask yourself how you want to differentiate your logo from the competition.
Conduct research into logo designs that have been successful and current styles and trends that are related to the design brief.
Don’t forget to conduct research on the consumers of that particular industry. What do they want to see out of your company, and how can you represent that in the logo?
Step 2: Design the logo
Utilize your research when it comes to to sketching and conceptualizing the logo. Develop the logo concepts around the brief and research.
A logo must be:
- Simple
- Clean
- Functional
- Memorable
- Enduring
- Appropriate
Focus on your message. What do you to communicate about your company. Does it have a distinct personality-serious or lighthearted? What makes it unique in relation to your competition? What’s the nature of your current target audience? These elements should play an important role in the overall design or redesign.
Use your logo to illustrate your business’s key benefit. The best logos make an immediate statement with a picture or illustration, not words.
Step 3: Reflect
Allow for time to reflect throughout the design process. Take breaks to allow your ideas to mature and get renewed enthusiasm.
Ask for feedback and take all comments and constructive critisism into consideration.
Remember that your business name will affect your logo design. Make it representative of this throughout the process.
What to avoid:
Don’t use clip art. Clip art can be copied too easily, and it comes across as taking the easy way out. Not only will original art make a more impressive statement about your company, but it will set your business apart from others.
Don’t copy trendy looks. If you’re redesigning your old logo, you run the risk of confusing customers-or worse, alienating them. One option is to make gradual logo changes. However, it’s best to choose a logo that will stay current for 10 to 20 years, perhaps longer. That’s the mark of a good design.
Check out Creative Bloq and Entrepreneur.com for more information on creating your own logo.
