What comes to mind when you hear about famous food or coffee joints like Mcdonald’s and Starbucks? Their logos, right? That’s because logos are the most distinct features of the companies.
A logo is one of the most critical aspects of brand identity as it creates an image customer can relate to and differentiates you from your competitors.
Thus, the design process must be well-thought-out from the colour selection to the font styles and the text to make an impact on the target audience.
This step-by-step guide can help you design a logo for your brand:
What is a Logo?
A logo is a design or symbol that identifies an organization or company, its products, or services.
It’s the face of the company and the medium it uses to communicate what the company is selling.
A logo also creates the first impression about a company and differentiates the company from competitors.
How to Design a Logo
Whether hiring a professional logo designer or using an online logo generator, here are a few steps you must follow when creating a business logo.
1. Understand Your Brand
To design a long-lasting logo, you must build a solid foundation by defining your brand. What are you selling, and which emotions and values do you elicit when customers view your logo?
You could begin by defining your target audience, their personality and how you want them to feel when they see your logo.
These questions can help you determine your brand and develop a story that resonates with your target audience:
- Who is my target audience, and which brands do they prefer? This question helps you determine the messaging to include in the logo and its design
- Which words best describe my brand? The question helps you develop a list of attributes that represent your brand best and what you want to be known for
- Where is your logo most likely to be seen? Here, you want to think about areas where your customers have the potential to interact with your brand. For example, an online consultant is expected to use their logo online; hence their landing pages, website, and social media channels should have a logo
- What’s the name of the company? The company name can help you decide if you need a slogan describing what your company does or develop a catchy phrase
2. Find Suitable Wording to Add to the Logo
Logos can be descriptive or non-descriptive. Brands that use the latter exude an aura of simplicity but convey little information to their customers. As such, it’s best to use descriptive logos.
According to a study published in the Journal of Marketing Research, 60% of companies use non-descriptive logos, while only 40% use descriptive ones.
Even so, customers preferred illustrative logos. Thus, you want to put effort into developing words that best describe your brand and finding out if the text conveys that message effectively.
3. Select the Type of Logo
The next step is to choose the type of logo for your brand. Logos take on different designs, and each has its strengths and characteristics. Selecting a variety that aligns with your brand’s values and goals is critical.
- Wordmarks: These are text-based logos, often called logotypes. Brands like Disney, Google, and Coca-Cola are excellent examples of Wordmarks. They use font selection, colour, and typography to convert the brand name into a logo
- Letterforms: These are one-letter logos that only use the company’s first letter’s name. Brands that use letterforms design another version of the logo showcasing the full business name
- Emblem: This logo integrates texts within a symbol or icon to create a unified image. Emblems have a formal look that gives a sense of strength and cohesion; hence, they are most suitable for institutions. Havard’s logo is an excellent example of an emblem logo
- Pictorial mark: This is a graphics-based logo that uses an image to represent a brand. The picture makes it memorable and impactful. Starbucks and Target’s bullseye use pictorial mark logo
- Combination marks: The logo combines words with images, allowing you to create various variations of the logo and use it for different purposes while creating a clear and cohesive language. It’s pretty popular among brands in other industries due to its versatility. Dropbox, Taco Bell, and Dove are some of the examples of brands that use combination marks logos
4. Develop Sketches
The next step is to develop sketches that tell your brand’s story best. Keywords that describe your brand can help you establish initial logo ideas.
You want to keep the sketches simple and avoid using generic symbols like globes or stars.
Be sure to refine the logo as much as possible to develop a deep, meaningful, relatable design that ties back to the brand’s core values.
5. Develop a Layout for the Logo Design Platform
Use the final sketch to develop a logo layout. The layout shows how the design elements relate and are organized to bring the logo to life.
The idea is to align each design element properly to create a visually balanced logo. A good rule of thumb is to leave adequate whitespace between the elements to avoid creating a cluttered look.
6. Select a Suitable Color Palette
Then, select the colours to use on the logo’s letters, symbols, or shapes. Colours shape your audience’s perception of your brand and help convey the brand’s message better.
Understanding colour psychology can help you choose the right combination for your logo.
Red, for example, exudes an aura of ambition, while yellow creates a sense of warmth. Green, on the other hand, is associated with formal spaces.
Logo generators, logo templates, and other tools can help you try different colour combinations if you aren’t particularly creative.
7. Identify a Suitable Font Style
Then, choose a font style that resonates with your brand, target audience, and industry. Consider using a relevant style even when the company name is displayed without a logo.
Sans Serif and Serif font styles are the most common choices, with the former evoking a sense of modernism and sophistication.
You should avoid using generic font styles like Comic Sans and Times New Roman, as they’re less impactful.
8. Test the Logo
You want to test out the logo a few times before launching it. Share it with internal and external parties and collect their feedback to identify improvement areas.
You want to engage your customers at this stage because they’re the primary focus when designing a logo.
They can share how the logo looks, how it makes them feel, and if the colours and message resonate with them.
A focus group is also handy as it provides valuable insights before launching a new logo.
9. Launch the Logo
The last step is to launch the logo and add it to the proper materials, from your website to business cards to social media platforms.
You may add it to marketing merchandise like t-shirts, shopping bags, caps, and pants to showcase the new logo.
Create as much buzz around the latest development as possible to ensure everyone knows about the changes.
If redesigning the logo, it would help to display both logos together for a few weeks or longer to help customers understand the changes.
Parting Short
This guide will help you design a logo for your brand. Whether you’re a professional logo designer, an entrepreneur cutting costs, or a beginner in the logo design space, this simple guide helps you learn how to design a logo. Remember to carefully research, think about your brand’s message, and select the colour, font styles, and wording. All these variables determine the outcome of your logo. Contact us for more tips or help design your brand’s logo.
