Here are some tips to assist you in designing a logo that is powerful, memorable, and expressive of your company’s mission and identity.
Express Your Company’s Personality – It is vital for a potential customer to learn something about your organization just by looking at your logo. A logo can also provide a clear and consistent image of your company.
Colors are an important component in helping to accomplish this goal. Consider implementing blue into your color scheme as blue communicates trust.
Make It Pop – The most effective logos are ones that come alive and jump off the page (or wherever they’re displayed). Make sure your logo is bold, memorable and pops. At the same time, your logo needs to look professional and make sense for your business.
Don’t be afraid to test your logo with existing and/or potential customers to see what their feedback is. What you think works might not resonate with your customers.
Keep It Simple – Don’t over think your logo design. Keep it simple and clean. Attempting to do too much will only confuse your target audience and blur your message. A confusing logo is forgettable and useless. Sometimes less is more.
Make It Flexible – A logo is typically displayed on a variety of media. Legibility across each channel is critical. It should be able to work in both color and black and white. Also keep in mind that your logo will likely be viewed on both smaller and larger objects, such as business cards or posters.
Make A Statement – Many logos also include a tagline, which is a statement of the products or services you provide. This tagline separates your organization from others. Some well-known taglines include Subway’s “Eat Fresh” or Nike’s “Just do It.”
Like the design of the logo, a tagline should be short and to the point, yet memorable. For example: Creating & Maintaining Beautiful Landscapes.
Research Your Logo – Research the meaning behind your logo before you finalize it, as it may convey a negative message to those from other cultures or demographic segments of society. And of course, make sure another organization is not using the same or a similar logo design, especially if they are a competitor.
Now Use It – Use your logo everywhere, both online and in print. Put it on all of your marketing materials including business cards, letterhead and even envelopes. Include it in your email signature and on your website, and use it in all correspondence to reinforce your company and encourage repeat customers and referrals. Once you have a solid logo that makes an impact, it should be synonymous with your company name.
Protect It – Provide clear, specific guidelines to anyone who will be working with your logo, and insist on approvals for any use of it.
Be clear as to how the logo should be used, in what form and on what media.
Let people know not to distort your logo, and ensure that they use enough clear space.
If you find that your logo has been used incorrectly, fix it right away.
Be Consistent – A logo is not something that should change regularly. Doing so confuses your target market and causes more harm than good.
Melissa Crowe is the vice president of marketing services at VistaPrint, an online supplier of graphic design and printed products to small businesses and consumers. Please visit Vista Print for more logo ideas.
