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A good logo is important for a business because it is going to give the first impression to the customer. A logo can convey the values of a company, tell a story, and can even help people trust your brand. If you have a logo that doesn’t convey the right message to a potential customer, then it is putting the business at a disadvantage. A simple thing like a logo can make a customer choose your competition instead of you.
We have some creatives who contributed to some tips to help entrepreneurs when it comes to creating perfect logos. Below are ten key elements that they came up with that will prove to be very important for a good logo, whichever industry you are in. If you are getting started with a new business or looking to review your current logo, then the elements below that we created with the help of TurboLogo will go a long way.
1. Strong/Balanced
In simple terms, a logo is an icon that can be made up of graphic symbols, text alone, or both of the elements. It is important to ensure the icon has been balanced to have a maximum impact on the viewer.
The best logos are the ones that have a strong/balanced look.
2. Simple
It is important to employ simplicity. You will have a harder time printing and reproducing a complex logo. Viewers can also have a harder time recognizing and identifying the logo.
Take a moment then start thinking about some of the popular brands you know. There is a good chance you have thought of companies such as McDonald’s, Target, Volkswagen, Apple, etc. What is common between the logos of these companies? They can be recognized easily whether they have been printed in black and white, grayscale, or color.
3. Memorable
The work doesn’t have to tell the viewer what it is you do. Have you seen a car manufacturer with a logo that has a car inside it? How about a shoe company with a shoe in the logo? Having a picture of a shoe on a shoe will look silly. The viewer is not going to remember when it is such a literal interpretation.
When thinking about the design, go with a logo that is going to communicate the essence of the brand without even having to include the name of the company (Nike has Swoosh). If you want to succeed, it is important to have a unique logo and should also be informed by the deep understanding you have about the brand.
It can be a good idea to walk the line between designs that are abstract and obvious. There is a good chance an obvious logo is already being used by more than one company – and this is not going to be memorable. Going with one that is too abstract can easily end up losing the message. The best approach is a logo using visual elements to embody the brand of your business.
Viewers tend to remember a unique logo that made them think a little (but not too hard)
4. Flexible
A good logo is one that can be identified easily even if someone is 100 meters from the billboard it is on or a small business card. This is why it is important to have a logo that can easily scale in terms of size.
The first thing you need to do is know how the logo is going to be used. If you plan on using the logo on uniform shirts, then it is important to go with a simple design that is not going to lose impact in that medium. If you are going to use it online or print, then you can have the chance of using a more complex design because online and print provide sharpness.
The logo design you are going to choose needs to work well in black and white too. What this does is to make sure that your logo is going to show up well in different backgrounds – dark, light, or multicolored.
It is important to consistently use the logo on all the marketing materials you have. Ensure the logo is flexible enough to fit the different marketing materials you are going to use.
5. Appropriate Colors
There are two important factors you need to put into considerations when it comes to colors to use in the logo – cost and brand appropriateness.
Appropriateness
Different colors send evoke different emotions. This is why you need to choose a color that is going to send out a message that will benefit your brand. Do those colors strengthen and reinforce your brand identity? (e.g. blue is usually used in communicating loyalty, trust, and freshness. This is why it is common to find blue used in banking and fiancé. Green is usually used in representing nature, life, and purity). If it is not going to do it for your brand, then you should consider a different color.
Cost
The more the colors involved, the higher the costs of printing the logo. If you are planning to use more than three colors for the logo, think again. You can ask the designer to give you a version that has fewer colors and also a version of black and white. You can use a wide range of colors when it is a logo on the web then choose the restricted color version when you want to print it. The most important thing is consistency. This is why you will always be advised to use the same logo across the different media.
Color Gradients;
Gradients can provide pleasing effects when seen on computers, but it is very hard to do the same when it is offline. You can use gradient if it is a web-based business. If the medium you plan on using is physical, then a color gradient is never a good idea.
6. Timeless
When designing a logo, then keep in mind you want long-life expectancy. There might be changes over time, but they should be minimal. When you have a consistent brand, it is going to help in building strong customer relationships. This is why the best logos usually change very little while remaining vibrant and fresh whenever you see them.
What do you need to do to make sure that the logo is going to serve the business in the long term? You should stay away from logo design fads. When you use them, you are going to anchor the logo in the specific time period it was designed in, and will end up feeling outdated after a short time. Choose a logo that is going to be consistent even when the business grows. For inspiration, check out logo.com
7. Unique
A logo needs to be unique because this is what will make it stand out from the rest.
This is why you need to avoid fads or concepts that have been overused. There are thousands of fonts out there, billions of color combinations, and an unlimited flow of design ideas, you don’t have any excuse to go with a common logo.
Some common logo clichés you need to avoid include “wooshes,” “swooshy people,” and “pinwheels.” Try researching some logo clichés in the industry you are in – then stay away from them. When you choose a boilerplate logo, the logo ends up looking low-budget and viewers are not going to give it a second look.
8. Quality Typography
The font is very important. When choosing typography for a logo, it should be able to reflect the brand identity and be easily legible.
Do not use fonts that are hard to read. Can the font you have used be read at smaller sizes? Is the word spacing/letter spacing properly adjusted?
When you eliminate fonts that should not be used, look at the remaining options then choose one that will best represent the brand. What is it that the brand is trying to communicate? Is the brand dignified or playful? Old-fashioned or modern? Go with a font that is going to communicate the traits that are relevant to the brand.
A font like Serif typefaces will send a message of old-world reliability, dignity, and elegance. This font is easy to read when printed. Many brands choose sans serif fonts because they look clean and can be easily read on screen. The font is versatile – it sends a message of power, stability, or whimsy depending on how you execute it.
9. Branding
The logo has to derive meaning from the brand and not the brand deriving from the logo. The best brands in the world are not known because of the logo, but because of the vision and the people, the logo is representing. When thinking about the logo, ensure you have thought about the brand and the direction that the business is planning to take. When planning the logo, make sure you think about the product and services provided by the business.
10. Vector is Best
For your final files, asked to be given the vector-based graphics. When the logo is increased or decreased in size, the vector images are going to retain the quality, while raster images end up getting pixelated when you resize them.
For ease of use, the final files are going to be PNG and JPG files, but it is important to have the vector Al files and/or EPS. You will have more flexibility when you have the vector files.
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