How to Create an Impressive Logo for your Business

A logo is simply a mark, symbol, or name that represents a business and the products and services that it offers to its customers. When used effectively, it can grab people’s attention and make a strong first impression. As a result, it enables the business to build brand loyalty and separate itself from its competitors. For a business, it can be used to inform people of what you are and what you do.

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1. Understand the Brand

The most important step is to understand the brand that the logo will represent. The purpose and mission of a brand, including its tone and feel, go a long way in determining the type of logo you make. A logo creates a memorable association with the brand. It is therefore a good idea to think over the things you want your company or product to be associated with.

Consider all the descriptive words you want your brand to represent. For example, if you’re selling jewelry you probably will think of ‘gems, beautiful, luxurious, one of a kind, feminine, elegant and regal’. This is called a semantic kernel which is a great asset to the designing process of the logo when choosing proper fonts, colors, and visual effects.

2. Create a Logo that reflects the Nature of your Business

The wordings used in your logo should communicate what your business is about. Use words that stir up the intended emotions and aim towards building a sense of trust and connection to your customers. If the logo has both images and typography, try to create one whose visuals are aligned with the wordings and messaging being passed across. The best logos make an immediate statement with a picture or illustration, not words. For example, with a business name called “Lightning Bolt Printing,” the logo must convey the business benefit of “ultra-fast, guaranteed printing services.” A lightning bolt image could be manipulated to suggest speed and assurance.

3. Use Colors Effectively

As simple as it may seem, color can be very essential in driving the buying decisions of potential customers. Color adds meaning to a logo and can trigger people’s feelings and determine how the public perceives your logo.

Colors inspiration for a logo

When used consistently in your digital marketing efforts, it can greatly boost brand recognition. For example, many financial institutions use blue for its perceived portrayal of security, assurance, and dependability. Red on the other hand communicates feelings of aggressiveness and may show the vibrant nature of a business, like entertainment. Pick your color(s) based on the feelings you want to your consumers to experience and action you want them to take. Always consider the human psychology, culture, trends and context of your business.

A logo sketch on a notebook

4. Use the Best Font

The font used in a logo may speak volumes about the ‘personality’ of the business brand. Pick a font that speaks further about your brand. A grave mismatch between what your font and the personality your logo is trying to convey may send the wrong signals to potential customers. For example, for painting artists, the most appropriate font to be used in their logos would be a colorful font with “bright” shades of color. This is because artistry is generally associated with stylistic fonts and bright colors. Another example is a logo for a children toy companies. The best choice would be a handwritten typeface to connect with young kids who are their target audience.

5. Settle on the most Suitable Type of Logo for your Business

There are wide varieties of logos that a business can choose from. Here are a few:

  • Pictorial logos like Nike’s “swoosh” or WWF’s panda. These are perfect if you plan to go global or evoke a certain emotion without translation.
  • Monogram logos like CNN or NASA, are great for startups and the businesses that have a long name or have several owners.
  • Wordmark logos like Lego or Samsung are the simplest types and get good recognition for statups.

Emblem logos like Converse or BMW are the traditional type. They help you build the image of a trustworthy, reliable company. Remember to keep the picture in the emblem print-friendly without much detail.

6. Practice Simplicity

One of the most important aspects on how to create an impressive logo for your business is simplicity. Just a single font type and one color can go a long way in making your logo effective. The message is what is key and using too many colors and fonts may take away from the message. A simple logo has huge chances of being engraved in many people’s minds as opposed to a complex one. For Nike, a simple ‘swoosh’ has always been enough. For Apple, it is a simple ‘half-bitten apple’. Whichever logo your business chooses to use, keeping it simple works best.

7. Your Logo should be Scalable

A great logo ought to be easily scalable. For example, when your logo is designed to appear on larger platforms such as billboards and posters, it should still look great. The design should still be impressive. Once your logo looks odd and loses its sense of proportions when scaled up to have a larger size, rethink the design of your logo. The Nike logo again serves as a perfect example. Whether it is displayed on a shoe, a tee shirt, or a giant billboard, it would still look great regardless and would not lose its sense of proportion.

8. Using and Protecting Your Logo.

Once you’re ready with a logo that captures your company’s mission at a glance, make sure you trademark it to protect it from use by other companies. For your business in the U.S, apply for a trademark at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site.

business goal

When the legal protection is in place, use your logo everywhere you can. Use it on business cards, stationery, letterhead, brochures, adverts, in your Website and any other place where you mention your company name. This will help build your image, raise your company’s visibility and lead to more business.

To create a memorable and effective logo, knowing and understanding your brand is very crucial. As a business, you should create a unique and simple logo that is scalable and speaks clearly on the personality of your brand. The right logo can be a very effective tool in creating brand awareness about your business and help you build loyalty, trust and be the preferred choice among your competitors.

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