What do you think of when you see the golden arches or the swoosh? You instantly think of McDonald’s or Nike! That’s how powerful a logo can be as the face of your brand.
A logo isn’t the brand itself, though. That, you will have to build separately.
If you are wondering about how to design a logo that suits your brand and business best, then there are some things you need to keep in mind. Keep reading to find out what they are.
Think of What You Want Your Customers to Know
If you are a green juice company, you will want to indicate that to your customers, perhaps by adding spinach or a glass with green juice in it, to your logo. This is simplifying it to the utmost, but you get the point.
The logo acts as a visual cue for your customers so they know what you stand for. Every great logo out there tells the customer something about the brand.
What do you want your customers to know about your brand and how can you include that in your logo? This is the first thing to think about when designing a logo. This shouldn’t take you too much time since you probably have a good idea of this already.
Mind mapping is a great tool to use here. This is when you visually brainstorm by putting down ideas from your entire marketing and brand strategy group. Start with a central idea (your brand), and then connect keywords or central concepts around that idea to see what comes up.
This should free up the right side of your brain to explore and intuit creative ideas that wouldn’t have popped up otherwise.
Think of the Colors You Want Your Logo to Include
Brand colors are usually the last thing a business owner thinks about, but they can be as essential as the logo itself. Maybe you have haphazardly chosen some colors for your website design already, so you could use the same colors for your logo.
But if you can take a couple of days to go through some color palettes online, or think about what colors suit your brand best, that would be ideal. It would help you create a logo with aesthetics that would appeal best to your audience.
Think Simple Rather Than Overdone
The simpler the logo is, the better. Of course, this doesn’t apply to some brands that have been around forever and have a rather garish or overdone logo (think Starbucks). But when you are first in the design process, you want to keep things simple.
Create your logo with simple strokes and fewer colors so that it doesn’t overwhelm your audience. Also, your audience is more likely to remember a logo that’s simple yet eye-catching.
Think of a Font that Represents Your Brand
Maybe you didn’t think you would have to pay attention to the font you use for your logo, but a correctly chosen font can convey a lot of information to your audience at a glance. A simple font, like the one used by Google’s logo, indicates the simplicity yet veracity of their business model. A cursive font, like that used by Coca-Cola, conveys its aesthetics and charm.
Think about what you want your font to say about your business, whether you want to go bold and strong or wish to be serene and graceful. Try several different fonts to see which one appeals to you and your audience.
Always Create Many Different Versions at First
Once you have decided on the colors, fonts, and visual cues you want your logo to convey, you can start building several different rough versions of the font. It could be as simple as picking up a whiteboard marker and drawing it up by hand or as complicated as hiring a graphic design company to draw some versions out for you.
This is an important step because the logo will look quite different when you draw it out in the real world than what it looks like in your head. You will see better how your chosen logo will need changes and revisions once it’s out on paper and visible.
Pick the Winner by Asking for Feedback
Once you have the different versions of your logo at hand, it’s quite easy to ask your employees, friends, or business acquaintances for feedback on your logo. You might think that your logo design is the best thing since sliced bread, but when others look at it, they may or may not agree.
Don’t get too enamored with or attached to your logo design. The logo design process will have growing pains associated with it.
You will realize through the process of designing your logo what your brand means not only to you but also to your audience. It will teach you a lot about your business that you never knew before.
That’s why it’s important to take your time to do this, even if you are in a bit of a hurry.
How to Design a Logo – Think of Your Customers First
Even though you put your customers first in every other aspect of your business, you probably don’t think that your logo design requires you to do the same. But it does.
Your customers are the ones who will be interacting with your logo the most. They are the ones who will be using your logo to find your retail store in a maze of other stores or using your logo to identify your brand among many others.
That’s why you can’t learn how to design a logo without putting your customers at the center of your branding strategy conversations.
If you are searching for help with your logo design or brand strategy efforts, contact Red Stone Studio today!
