What is a Logo and what makes it "successful"?
A logo is an essential branding tool for any company. It's a symbol that represents the company and what people associate with your business. When it comes to designing your own, it may not feel easy to choose. Which design will be the most accurate, attractive, and memorable? Which symbol will represent your product, team, and values best?
Spoiler alert: there won't be a single possibility.
Actually, any branding agency or marketing agency will come up with a different proposal. That doesn't mean that all of the other ones didn't get your brief correctly; nope, it will simply mean that each and every design will be unique and according to the creative touch of the Art Director or Designer. And as each agency has its own touch, your only role here will be to select the right team to execute your craziest ideas!
Knowing that: a logo should have a few key elements to be effective. It should be simple, memorable, timeless, and relevant to the company's industry. A good logo should also be versatile enough to last in time and work on different types of media in various sizes. Web 2.0 companies, like Google or Facebook, have a logo with specific colors and lines that make them stand out from the competition. You associate their distinctive green, red, yellow, and blue with their company! Apple, Inc, for example, currently owns one of the most recognizable logos of all time. The apple created for its products is simple and timeless but expresses its values and mission. Have we lost you already? Let's keep going!
What Makes A Great Logo Design?
6 Important Things You Should Know
Your logo is the essential branding element of your company. It needs to be memorable, simple, not to overwhelm your target, and clear enough for your audience to understand what you do. Obviously, it needs to work with the overall branding strategy.
Here are six things you need to know about designing a memorable & timeless logo:
- First, it has to be memorable. You want your audience to remember at least your name, colors, and your company's shapes, because that also says something about you.
- It has to be clear. Only Apple can sell tech products and have an apple as a symbol, but we're not Apple (yet) so please, be clear. People have to understand through your design what you do. If you still want to keep it minimalistic, make some references to your industry!
- It has to follow your marketing strategy. Make sure your logo works with your company's branding strategy: it must be consistent with your marketing strategy to follow a certain logic, overwise you'll lose your target audience.
- Use colors that have a meaning for your audience and your business: colors have a meaning and a different one in every country. For example, blue for high tech (so cliche), black usually for luxury products, green for food or Agri tech, etc. If you still want to stand out and use some bold non related colors, at least, pick colors that have a meaning for you. It can't just "look good".
- Please keep it simple! The simpler, the better! Most of the most famous logos are simpler ones. You don't need to overdo it; great typography, nice colors, spacing, and a light creative touch, and you're all set.
- Don't copy others: you're smart enough to know that copying your neighbor is not a great idea! Go back to who you are and what you do, and you'll find ideas. BUT we know about the trend called "blanding" it means branding and blending, companies that tend to look alike (see bellow), still, try to find your own codes and own identity! It will always help!
The 6 Basic Steps of Creating a Powerful and Memorable Logo Design (yes, we like the number 6)
It is important to remember that a logo is not just a symbol or an icon. It's the face of your company. A good logo design will convey your company's values and make it easy for people to identify you. Ideally, it will be so good-looking that people will directly tell themselves, "oh wow, that's interesting," so how can we achieve that?
- Know Your Audience - The first step in creating a powerful logo is knowing your audience. What do they like? What's their age group? What colors do they prefer? Knowing these things can help you create a better logo design that will resonate with them.
- Know Your Company - The second step in creating a powerful logo is knowing your company, what it stands for, and its values.
- Know your values as an entrepreneur: You may not agree with us, or you may, but your company is a reflection of who you are and the people working with you. When designing a logo, ask yourself: "What do I want to share with people?"
- Then, and only then, Research: When researching for ideas, try to keep a few things in mind: the codes of your industry, what do your competitor do, and what would be the most attractive design to you and your audience.
- Sketching: Sketching is essential in creating a robust logo design because it helps you figure out what style you want to go with and how you want your design to look. Try a few sketches, and try it on people.
- Refining: After sketching, comes refining, which includes making adjustments such as color scheme, typography, or layout of your design elements.
How original can you be when it comes to designing a logo?
Of course, a logo design must be original. To do that, you need to understand your brand and what it stands for sincerely. The design process starts by identifying the type of logo you need - text-based or symbol-based, for example. The next step is defining the meaning behind your brand and how it should be represented visually. Once you have figured that out, you can start sketching out different ideas and get feedback from others on what they think would work best for your company.
Designing a logo is one of the most creative tasks for a designer. It's not easy to come up with an original design that will be remembered by people and won't look like a knockoff.
You can use many different types of logos as inspiration when designing your own logo: Geometric shapes, Typography, Abstract shapes, and Images.
Because we care deeply, and we know that not all of you have the budget to hire a professional logo designers, we have gathered all of the tools you may need to create a logo that you can find right here. But obviously, we're also available to design yours!
Cheers!
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