Logo and brand design is imperative to any business. It acts as the face of your business and should represent your business and appeal to your target customers. It should be something that you are proud of and want to show potential customers, first impressions are everything and your logo is often the first thing that your customers will see and make an opinion on.
It’s hard to capture the full story of your business within a single mark, but you can capture the essence of your business and set the tone of your business within a logo or brand identity, and really attract and appeal to your customers. However, unfortunately you can also go the other way and have a logo that just doesn’t work and puts potential customers off, by not looking professional or giving off the wrong tone.
If you are looking to create your own logo then there are some big dos and don’ts when you begin.
Do’s of good logo design
Do Research
You need to do research around your target audiences interests and habits. This will help give you an understanding of what your customers are attracted to so you have a creative direction for your eye-catching logo design.
Also research into your competitors, see what they are doing as you do not want to design something similar to them and you might spot an opportunity that no one else is doing/using.
Do Test Fonts & Capitalisation
Fonts are more important than you think. Formal, casual, handmade, expensive, are all just some feelings that can be portrayed within a font. Also experiment with a font in caps or lowercase, traditionally, the font in caps is an indication of power where lowercase gives off a more informal vibe. Pair lowercasing with creative typography for an authentic handcrafted tone. Also, using a thinner font when adding your tagline will give the brand name more emphasis.
Do Choose Your Colours Wisely
Considering colour psychology when selecting your design colour palette will help you understand the feeling and emotions consumers associate with specific colours. Current statistics indicate the current most popular colours used in logo design are blue and red. Blue is known for its calming effect which builds the feeling of trust, while red has been proven to give the sensation of passion or motivation.
One thing to look at when it comes to your logo and brand, is your competition. Try and select a colour that stands out from your competition, be different so you don’t blend in.
Colour is a crucial element of logo design as it adds dimension to the logo and also affects the tone that your logo will give off, so make sure you try your logo in different colour variations and think about if the colour will appeal to your target customers.
Tip: always ensure the logo is prominent when tested in black and white, grayscale and with a limited colour palette.
Do Keep Size And Variations In Mind
Your logo should be versatile, adjustable and recognizable even if the scale of the logo has been modified. We now have so many places that our logo will be seen, business cards, laptop screens, mobile phones, big billboards, clothing… And your logo should be able to work small or big, printed or digitally, on a small badge or the side of a van.
Now you might need to have one logo, but in different compositions to suit its use, for example, just the mark without the text, then another with the mark, text and strapline, or the mark to the left of the wording or the mark stacked above the wording.
Make sure your logo is designed as a vector, this will allow you to shrink and expand your logo without losing any quality.
Do Keep it simple
Always keep things simple. Simplicity is key. Don’t try and cram lots of ideas or points within the logo, as it will end up looking complicated and confusing. Just stick to one theme.
If you think of all the biggest brands and their logo marks, Apple, Microsoft, Nike, McDonalds… All very, very simple logo marks, as they are easier for us to see and digest quickly, they become more recognisable and iconic.
A good test is a child should be able to draw your logo easily.
Don’ts of good logo design
Don’t Add Too Much Detail
This carries on from keeping it simple, but it is so important we needed to add the opposite to the don’ts list too! Too much detail has a tendency to be cluttered and confusing at first glance. This could be detrimental to your first impression on a customer. There’s also the factor of needing size variations of your logo for different forms of advertising which could prove difficult with a very detailed logo.
Don’t Keep Updating You Logo
Consistency is key. Continuously updating your logo or rebranding could cause confusion for your audience and ultimately result in a loss of brand trust. You want logo and brand consistency, so create some variations of your logo, whether than be sizing compositions or colour variations, and then stick to them.
Don’t Follow a Trend
While it’s always a good idea to see if your brand is staying current, when it comes to designing your logo we recommend keeping your brand personalised and simple, rather than trendy, as following a design fad could mean your branding is at risk of becoming outdated.
Every business needs to make a good first impression, they need a logo that they are proud of, a logo that becomes an ambassador and symbol for what you do and who you are. If you follow our dos and don’t tips above, then you should be well on the way to creating that logo your business deserves. Hopefully these tips have helped but if you are struggling to create a logo and need some help we are here. We have created hundreds of beautiful logos for businesses across the whole of the UK. So get in touch with us and we are sure we can create you a logo you will love.
