What Is a Logo and What’s Its Purpose?
A logo is a symbol that represents your company, brand, or organization in the same way that a person’s name represents who they are. Your logo clarifies what your brand stands for and helps potential customers identify you with confidence in your product or service. While it may seem evident that creating a logo is one of the first steps when you’re starting a new business, you may not be aware of precisely what goes into that process and how important this step is.
A Logo Tells People Who You Are
A logo tells people what you stand for, but it also helps people remember your business. Think of it as an abstract symbol that stands in for your entire company. A great logo is simple, timeless, unique, and easy to associate with your brand. People see logos every day, and they should be able to identify who created that product or provided that service quickly. Great logos are iconic, which means they can easily be recognized even when they’re small or viewed from a distance. The Nike swoosh is one of many examples of an iconic logo—it can still be identified as Nike even at tiny sizes or when worn on clothing. It’s instantly recognizable, even if you’ve never seen it before. When choosing a logo for your business (or having someone else create one), ensure there’s some meaning behind it. Don’t just pick something random; instead, choose something that’ll make sense to anyone looking at it, whether they’ve been following your company closely or have just heard about you once. If there’s no meaning behind why you chose a particular shape or color, why have anything beyond your name?
A Logo Should Represent Your Business
If you’re starting a new business, your first order of business should be developing an identity that resonates with your customers. Your logo is one of your primary marketing tools, so it needs to have several characteristics: It should stand out from competitors, which means it needs to be unique. However, logos also can’t be too different because they need to look like they belong together as part of a single brand. And just like any other visual aspect of your company (from website to packaging), your logo must reflect who you are and what you do. Here are some tips for designing an effective logo: Use simple shapes. The fewer elements in your logo, the easier it will be for people to remember—and remember, we want people talking about our product! Avoid using super trendy fonts; these change quickly, meaning your logo will soon become outdated. Instead, stick with basic fonts that stay popular year after year. Make sure your logo stands on its own without any words attached to it. You should never have to add text over the top of a picture or icon to explain what it is or what it does; if someone doesn’t know what your image represents after looking at it for five seconds, try again! Think of colors in terms of moods rather than definitions.
Avoid Over-Designing Your Logo
A logo isn’t everything, but it’s almost always something. It can be an integral part of your brand strategy or just an add-on that could help represent you to your audience. For example, it’s hard to think of Starbucks without its siren logo, McDonald’s golden arches, or Nike’s swoosh — each emblem is imprinted in our minds as we shop for their products. So when you design your company logo, please don’t overdo it. A simple image with a well-defined type will do more for you than an overly elaborate design. Your goal is to create brand recognition that connects with customers emotionally — not confuse them on a visual one.
How to Pick a Great Logo Designer
The process of choosing a great logo designer for your company takes time, but it doesn’t have to be painful. Here are some tips for how to pick the one you’ll love.
1) Work with designers who aren’t afraid to push boundaries. You don’t want someone playing it safe—you want someone willing to go above and beyond to create something that will make people take notice. Great logos stand out because they’re unique, meaning a good designer won’t limit themselves by thinking inside a box. Creativity isn’t just about coming up with cool ideas—it involves following through on them as well. Make sure any candidate you consider is willing (and able) to bring your ideas from concept into reality before signing anything yourself.
2) Look for portfolios filled with examples in your industry. Every designer says they can handle whatever project you throw at them, but there are always exceptions. A great logo designer will have examples to show off their prowess in your niche or industry so that you know right away whether or not their work aligns with what you’re looking for; if theirs doesn’t match yours, it might be best to move on. An ability to do one thing doesn’t mean an individual can do everything else!
3) Decide early how much money you’re willing to spend, and tell everyone involved, so there are no surprises later on down the line. Budget is almost always a concern when designing logos (and designing anything in general). Still, it’s also one of those details that can get overlooked if left out of initial conversations. You want your designer and logo company to know right away what your budget is so they can build something that works within it—and so you don’t have any unpleasant sticker shock once things get rolling.