The Do's and Don'ts of Logo Design

Human beings are visual learners. Images and colors make ideas more memorable, and a logo is crucial to a client's first impression of your company. Once you define your company's purpose, you will need to market yourself to your clients and demonstrate the need that you fill. A logo is a great visual aid to help your audience members remember your brand identity, but it can be difficult to choose an initial set of colors and images. Even if you have never designed a logo yourself, there are a few basic tips and tricks of the trade that you can use to create a logo that captures your brand's unique personality.

Do: Choose colors that align with your brand and mission. 

Color is essential to creating a logo that resonates with your audience. After all, there is a reason that human beings have favorite colors. Color psychology tells us that colors evoke different emotions. Red has been linked to passion and excitement, blue tends to evoke feelings of wisdom, reason, and calm, black can be either noble or mysterious, and yellow can invoke joy but also a sense of danger. It may be worthwhile to do some research on your target audience in order to find out which emotions they associate with certain colors. Think about your brand and mission, too. Are you selling a product that you want people to be excited about, or are you selling a service that aims to bring a sense of calm and wisdom? 

Don't: Choose more than three colors. 

When designing a logo, it's important to choose only a few colors that will resonate with your audience. Choosing too many colors can feel overwhelming to your audience unless they're placed strategically. If you do choose to design a logo with more than one element and color, it may be helpful to consult a color wheel just like the artists do. You might want to choose three colors on a monochrome palette-three different shades of blue, for example-or two complimentary colors and a tertiary color. Even if you're unfamiliar with art terminology, a good rule of thumb is to start with one color for your logo. Choose a second and third color to use for call-outs and accents in your ads and social posts. As long as these three colors complement each other and are generally pleasing to the eye, your audience won't look away. 

Do: Make sure your logo is consistent with your brand across all platforms.

When designing your logo, think about what message you want to send to your audience. For example, if you're aiming to reach a young audience, you might want your logo and brand to have a youthful, excited energy. If you're appealing to an audience that is suffering from a particular problem, you want to present a solution in a way that's believable and easy to understand. You should also ask your design team to create multiple versions of your logo to fit your website and each of your social media platforms. Each profile picture and webpage header should have an appropriately sized logo to optimize your audience's experience.

Don't: Center your logo around current trends or competitors.

While it might seem strategic to create a logo that mimics one of your competitors or a current trend in your industry, you want to keep the longevity of your brand in mind. Don't incorporate new slang or acronyms in your logo. You want your logo to be memorable both now and twenty years from now. Rebranding and changing your logo every few years could negatively impact customer loyalty. Your clients want to feel like they know your company or organization, and that will only happen if they recognize your logo. 

Do: Use a logo maker.

Don't worry if your art and design skills aren't the best. If you're just getting your small business off the ground, you will want to make sure you have a brand identity and a logo-even if you don't have budget for a full team of designers and artists. Fortunately, you can find logo maker websites that will generate a custom logo complete with colors, images, and fonts.

Don't: Create a logo that's too complex.

Your logo is intended to be a quick visual aid that helps your audience identify your company. Think of your logo as the visual version of your company's elevator pitch. If your logo isn't readable, has too many components, or too much text, you will confuse your audience. You want to be able to print your logo on business cards and t-shirts so that your clients can identify it at a quick glance. This is why so many companies use bright colors and simplistic, geometric shapes. Your logo should be symbolic of your company without the unnecessary details.

Conclusion

While you and your team members are the heart of your company or organization, your brand is more than that. As you grow and develop, your company will take on its own personality that aligns with the product or service it provides. Your logo should capture your brand's personality, and these do's and dont's will help you do just that.