9 tips for choosing a logo design

A logo is an essential element in building customer confidence. It is he who helps to express himself and remain in memory. The client may not remember the name of the company representative and all the arguments in favor of purchasing services from you, but a properly designed emblem will complement the impression and can help turn even a second visual contact with a business card into a lead.

In this article, we’ve compiled the most important tips on how to create a logo to help you forge your own path in the tricky world of branding.

What is a logo

In order to better understand each other, it is necessary to remain in the same information field – both for the client and the agency.

A logo is an element of corporate identity that is necessary to identify and convey the essence of a brand. To establish a unified brand identity, both clients and agencies can benefit from using the best free logo maker, ensuring seamless communication and effective branding.

Its functions are almost the same as those placed before the identity:

• Image formation;
• Detachment from competitors;
• Protection of uniqueness, since business registration is often carried out graphically – using a logo;
• Quality assurance – the presence of a logo among consumers is associated with the reliability of the company;
• Brand identification.

Logo Design Tips

Author: Mahjabin Afrin

Find out who your competitors are

In the 80s of the last century, the emergence of Apple marked a real revolution in the computer industry. Apple is now one of the leading brands in the world. Before starting to develop the concept of your future logo, take the time to research your target market.

Study and compare the logos of competing companies. In the course of such research, you can discover trends and traditions that are typical for branding in this market – typical colors, fonts, approaches to visual images. This will help you play on visual associations that the audience is already familiar with.

However, remember that the most recognizable logos in the world have become so precisely because their authors refused to follow the trends and chose to go their own way.

Ask the Right Questions

The role of strategy in the process of brand building is constantly increasing. Regardless of the size of your project, strategy development always starts with asking the right questions.

According to experts, you should ask six questions about the brand you work for. Here they are: Why are we here? What do we do and how do we do it? What makes us different from competitors? Who are we here for? What do we value the most? What is our individuality?

The logo is just one element

People interact with a brand through a huge number of touchpoints, and the logo is not always the first touchpoint. Keep this in mind when designing your icon. Try to create a versatile and flexible design. Pay attention to how the logo fits in with other branding elements, from packaging to communication style with the target audience.

Consider using a unique handwritten font

For more than a century, The Coca-Cola Company has made only a few minor changes to its iconic logo, proving that handwriting can stand the test of time.

Sometimes none of the standard fonts just fit, and handwriting looks perfect. The most striking example of such a visual image, which has gradually changed over the course of a century, is the Coca-Cola logo.

Unlike its eternal rival Pepsi, which seriously revised its visual image at least 7 times, the Coca-Cola company has practically not changed its logo since the end of the century before last. If Coca-Cola were to abandon their signature font in favor of a strict sans-serif (as Pepsi did in the 60s of the last century), it would cause a real uproar.

Experiment with random letter combinations

Monograms aren’t just used on gowns and wedding invitations. With the right approach, the initials of the company can form a concise, but at the same time interesting logo. Great examples are the emblems of two fashion houses – the intertwined letters C and S of the Coco Chanel brand and the dollar sign peeping through the initials of Yves Saint Laurent.

The FedEx text logo by Landor regularly tops lists of the best logos of all time, thanks to a cleverly hidden arrow.

Sometimes, even in a simple font, you can find interesting “random” combinations that will give your emblem a new interpretation. A classic example is the FedEx logo, designed by the professionals at Landor. The arrow between the letters “e” and “x” instantly turns an unremarkable text logo into a real masterpiece of design. Apply different fonts to your brand name, look for interesting details and combinations, and you might get lucky.

Back to basics

While still a student, Carole Davidson received just $35 for the iconic Nike symbol. A surprisingly simple symbol that can be sketched with a few strokes of a pen has become one of the most recognizable emblems in the world. The first golden rule that all professional logo designers follow is simplicity.

Think carefully about the concept of your future logo, but do not overdo it. Don’t complicate the logo just for the sake of aesthetic effect. The logo should be easily recognizable and easily scalable. Think about whether it will look equally good in the footer of the website and on the facade of the building?

We recommend one effective method for you: remove elements from your emblem until it becomes as minimalistic as possible. Will your logo still be recognizable if you sketch it in a few quick strokes? What are its most characteristic features? In other words, the simpler the logo, the better.

Learn the psychology of figures

The yellow triangle, red square and blue circle have become the visual symbols of the Bauhaus Design School. In this print called Bauhaus Revisited, Marco Ugolini shows how the psychology of shapes can be successfully applied to logo design.

However, there are a few visual clichés that are already on edge and are sure to put a wry smirk on the face of any professional designer. For example, discard the lit light bulb as a symbol of new ideas or the globe as a symbol of international reach.

But the psychology of shapes and figures is not as simple as it might seem. The yellow triangle, red square and blue circle are often used as symbols of the highly respected Bauhaus Design School. This combination of shapes was designed by Wassily Kandinsky, who believed that shape and color could overcome cultural and language barriers.

According to Kandinsky, bright, cheerful yellow successfully complements the angular sharpness of the triangle; cool, soulful blue blends perfectly with the circle; and the earthy, instinctive red harmonizes perfectly with the square.

Get to know the color wheel

Color theory is based on the color wheel. This tool, invented by Isaac Newton back in 1666, allows you to make different combinations of colors. The standard wheel is based on the RYB color model and has 12 colors.

The primary colors are red, yellow and blue. The secondary colors (green, orange and magenta) are a combination of two primary colors. Finally, tertiary colors are created by mixing primary and secondary colors.

There are other color schemes: with split complementary colors (uses two colors that are adjacent to the complementary color of the main color); rectangular (4-color scheme with two pairs of complementary colors); and square (4-color scheme with colors located at equal distances from each other).

Use color to control mood of customers

Your choice of colors can either take your logo to the next level or make it fail. This effect is explained not only by aesthetic reasons, but also by the psychological associations that colors can cause. We briefly touched on this topic when we considered the theory of the Bauhaus.

In short, the warm colors of the spectrum (such as red and yellow) are bold, cheerful and energetic, while the cooler shades (blue and green) radiate calm and restraint. These features are actively used in branding: companies turn to certain colors to evoke certain feelings in customers, as well as stand out from the competition.

That’s all! We hope that the tips we provided will help you create the perfect logo for your brand. Good luck!