Producing an eye catching, instantly recognisable logo is the key to a successful brand. The identity of a brand can be built solely on its logo. What do you think are the best practices for designing a winning company brand identity?
Here are the key points to follow when designing your company logo.
10 Best Resources for Designing a Successful Company Logo
1. Understanding the brand
Before jumping straight in take the time to think about the service you are providing and three core values of your brand. What is the dominate and key message that you want to portray? A successful logo must clearly communicate this to the consumer.
2. Colour is Key
Colour conveys meaning to a consumer. Certain colours are associated with certain emotions. So the first step is choosing a colour palette that conveys your intended message.
For example, it is no coincidence that the 2 colours within the McDonald’s logo are thought to evoke excitement and hunger. Yellow is associated with happiness whereas red is thought to increase appetite. When placed together they clash producing a feeling of excitement, hunger and speed as well as grabbing the attention of the eye.
“When selecting the colours for your logo it is crucial that you know what the colours convey. If you want to convey a calm, clean, tranquil message then colder colours such as blues and greens should be chosen. Whereas warmer colours are thought to evoke feelings of excitement. For more information on this search ‘psychology of colour’,” explains John Reade, a Design blogger at 1Day2write and Writemyx.
3. Bold but Simple
In order to create an instantly recognisable, memorable logo it is important to keep it simple. The most well-known logos are those that are simple yet striking. For example, Nike, Apple and Pepsi are successful due to simplicity and ability to stick in your mind.
4. Keep it Positive
You want to draw your consumers in so producing a positive, welcoming logo is key to securing this. Ensure you find a balance between an upbeat, positive message without it looking too childlike.
5. The Names in the Brand
If just starting out, then incorporating the name in the logo is going to be much more effective at getting your brand known.
Quick tip: Avoid using only upper case. The brain recognises the shape of words before it has time to process the words themselves. If only uppercase is used it removes the shape and makes the word a block.
6. Custom Type
If you do follow the route of incorporating the name within the logo, then one way of ensuring your logo is original is creating your own custom typeface. This will really help give your logo its own authentic, unique feel as well as stand out from the crowd.
Quick tip: Ensure it is readable. If it is illegible then it is not going to be successful.
7. Negative space is your friend
Creating a subtle, hidden image is one way to really make your logo stand out (as well as get it talked about). For example, in the FedEx logo, which most people see nearly every day, there is a hidden arrow within the negative space. Once you see it you can’t unsee it!
8. Keep it timeless
There is no use creating a logo that follows the latest trends as in no time at all it will look old fashioned. “Keeping it bold and simple will help prevent this. A perfect example of timeless company design are road signs. Road signs were designed nearly 50 years ago! However due to their simplicity they remain timeless,” says Laura Bosworth, a Brand manager at Brit Student and Australia2write.
9. Consistency
In order to create a successful brand, you want a company logo that can be used consistently across all media platforms. Therefore, there is no point producing a logo that looks great on screen but then blurred and distorted when printed.
10. Think of the message
Having a message behind your logo gives your brand a background story. It helps the consumer really connect with the logo, it shows you have put some thought into your design (even if you have thought up the message after!). Again Apple is a great example of this with the apple having a ‘byte’ taken out of it.
By following these 10 simple steps you are well on your way to creating a successful, memorable logo.
