- North American Vexillological Association, says flag designs should be simple enough that a child can draw them from memory.
- Your logo is not your brand—you build that separately—but it will become the face of your brand.
- It will appear on your website, your products, your marketing, your in-store signage, and just about any other place where people interact with your brand.
- In this guide, we’ll walk you through every step of the process to create a business logo from scratch—from choosing a color to hiring a designer—with the help of real in-house graphic artists.
- A logo is a symbol that represents your brand and your brand’s personality through the simplest image possible.
- Logos embody your brand in the minds of your customers.
- Without one, they have nothing to latch onto.
- Here’s why:
Humans learn from visual cues:- If there’s something about your brand you want your customers to know, science says images are more effective than words in communicating it.
Logos let you create branded swag:- Branded swag can be handed out at trade shows, given as gifts to potential clients, and even sold in-store.
- Good conversation can be forgotten a lot quicker than the branded pen a client finds at the bottom of their swag bag.
Logos provide a visual base to draw from for graphic design:- Brand consistency is a key element in developing a lasting impression.
- By having a definitive representation of your brand at its most base level, you’ll have something to draw from when designing other marketing elements.
Logos help you stand out from the competition:- Certain symbols or icons are associated with certain industries.
- Think of how many medical supply businesses use variations of a red cross in their logos.
- When there are a lot of businesses competing for the same market, distinguishing yourself is the key to getting noticed and remembered.
A logo provides many advantages, so it’s not hard to understand why nearly every business has one.
Going logo-less looks unprofessional.
It comes across as illegitimate, even untrustworthy. - Here’s why:
Whether you choose to design a logo yourself, hire a designer, or use an online logo maker, the process will involve the same 7 steps:
- Develop your brand identity
- Look for design inspiration
- Choose colors that reflect your brand
- Pick a font
- Create several rough versions
- Get feedback
- Polish your winning design
- “
Brand Identity” is a catch-all term for the visual elements of your brand: - everything from your brand colors to your logo to the way elements of your brand are designed.
- These visual elements work together to distinguish your brand in the minds of your customers.
- Before you start sketching designs for your logo, you’ll want to have an idea of your brand’s identity.
- To start, ask yourself these questions:
- Why did you start your business?
- What values are important to you as a company?
- What sets you apart from the competition?
- Your brand’s distinguishing features
- what’s most important to you?
- what will be most recognizable to your customers
- lie in the answers to these questions.
- Before putting your pen to paper, before choosing your colors and aesthetics, ask yourself
- Who you are?
- Don’t worry if you can’t answer these questions right away.
- They’re a step-off point, meant to be pondered.
- But once you’ve thought about it, you’ll be in a better position to create a logo that effectively sets you apart.
- We started out by creating a “
mind map” for our brand values. - Mind mapping is a visual brainstorming technique.
- You start with a central idea (your brand, in this case) and diagram your thoughts by connecting keywords and related concepts around that central idea.
- Mind mapping can be done alone or in a group and is a great tool for refocusing your ideas or creating new ones.
- In brand development, it’s perfect for coming to a consensus around a coherent brand identity.
“
Mind mapping” is a great technique for developing a coherent brand identity.
- It’s good if you have an idea, but sometimes the problem is having too many ideas at once.
Analysis paralysis occurs when you have so many ideas you get stuck over-analyzing them and become unable to make a decision.
- Think about what made your favourites so memorable.
- Logoed:
- Logoed’s simple, single-page scroll lets you browse a frequently updated collection of stunning logos.
- Logospire:
- This vast collection of user-submitted logo designs will help get your creative juices flowing.
- Brand New:
- Brand New is a blog that covers designs and redesigns of new and notable brands across all industries.
- LogoLounge:
- This blog lets graphic designers upload their latest logos.
- LogoLounge is perhaps best known for publishing a series of books showcasing artwork that’s been featured on the site.
- Logo Design Love:
- Graphic designer David Airey curates this design blog reviewing logos and marketing designs from all over the world.
Design-related hashtags: Many social media communities use specific design-related hashtags for showcasing their graphic design work.
- Instagram is especially good for this, given the visual nature of the site.
- Next time you’re browsing the ’gram, check out some of the more popular design hashtags:
- #logo
- #logodesigns
- #logodesigner
- #graphicdesign
- #graphicdesigner
- Studies have even suggested that color can affect your users’ mood, making it crucial to their buying decision.
- Your logo’s colors will end up on your website, in-store signage, social media feeds, marketing emails, and every other place where a user interacts with your brand.
- There’s no color that’s universally “better,” but each color does say something different.
- You want to make sure you’re saying the right thing.
Brown:- An earthy tone, brown is often associated with all-natural ingredients, homemade goods, and freshly baked treats. Given its the color of tree bark, sticks, autumn leaves, and rich soil, brown can also give an outdoorsy aura to your brand.
MadeGood uses brown heavily in its packaging and marketing to invoke a sense of earthiness and memories of homemade baking.
Orange:- Like a roaring fire, orange radiates warmth, energy, and passion.
- The color of sunsets, it also tends to invoke summer—especially when paired with lighter blues and soft greens.
Lumi’s orange-focused juice packaging brings to mind sparkling refreshment on a hot summer day.
Yellow:- Orange’s high-saturation sister, yellow, also gives off light, energy, and warmth.
- But if orange’s warmth is a glowing fireplace, yellow’s is the intense heat of a midday sun radiating over baron dessert.
- Yellow tends to invoke happy feelings, but use it sparingly.
- A little yellow can add a touch of optimism to a dependable brand, but a lot can be maniacal.
Perfume retailer Happiness Abscissa (Ha) uses yellow to add a feeling of optimism and joy.
Green:- A color with two personalities, green can invoke an organic aura that brings to mind lush rainforests, eco-awareness, and a sense of calm.
- And yet green just as easily becomes the color of money, greed, envy, and nausea.
Dog-food brand v-dog uses green to express its back-to-nature approach to dog food.
Pink:- A softer, gentler color, pink has at different points in history been viewed as both masculine and femine.
- Though contemporary customers will likely associate pink with femininity, it more broadly brings to mind kindness, romance, and love.
Mignon’s soft pink logo creates the feeling of being loved and cared for.
Red:- Bold and unforgiving, red tends to stand-out, which is why it’s become such a dependable color in branding.
- Like pink, red tends to invoke romance. But whereas pink’s romance is tender and gracious, red’s romance is passionate, loud, and carnal.
Kim Kardashian West’s KKW Beauty uses a bold, red tone to give the brand a passionate edge.
Purple:- The Rasputin of colors, purple is a shadowy, mysterious stranger with an almost magical magnetism.
- Given that purple dyes historically have had a reputation for being rare and expensive, there’s no mystery how purple has come to be associated with wealth, excess, mysticism, magic, and indulgence.
The aptly named bedding brand Purple makes heavy use of the color to create a sense of futuristic luxury.
Blue:- The color of a clear sky, blue tends to invoke feelings of trust, ease, and peace.
- That said, blue has also been shown to be the least appetizing color.
- Try to avoid it if you’re selling food.
Reliable blue is the perfect color to create a sense of comfort and security for Quad Lock’s line of protective phone cases.
Black, Gray, White:- Sometimes the best color for your brand is no color at all.
- Shades of black, white, and gray tend to invoke a sense of calmness, balance, or clarity.
Schoolhouse pairs shades of grey with soft muted colors to give its home decor brand a sense of calmness.