Simple and On-Brand: Making a Solid Logo

Your brand logo is, in essence, the face of your small business. It’s a seemingly small element that conveys multitudes, from your industry and USP, to your brand personality and ethos. Creating a logo is easy, but creating a good logo is hard. It requires time and consideration to get right, and your logo will go through several iterations before you find the right fit for you. Read on for some useful tips to help you create a logo that works for your brand.

Brand name or brand picture?

When you create your logo, you have complete artistic license. And while that sounds liberating, it can also be paralyzing when it comes to choosing a type of logo. Do you choose a stylized version of your brand name? Or do you opt for the cool, effortless branding of a picture without words? The latter works for many brands, most notably Apple. The tech brand’s name is rarely seen alongside its iconic fruit logo, simply because it doesn’t need to be. If you do opt for the latter, it should tie in with your brand name or image. The World Wildlife Fund’s logo doesn’t reflect its name in the slightest, but the panda is synonymous with the organization’s conservation efforts.

Takeaway tip: opting for your brand name as a logo is perfectly valid, as long as you stylize it to really make it your own. Choosing an image gives you more creativity, but ensure it has a strong link to your brand. This gives you a coherent brand that your customers will understand.

Strive for clarity everywhere your logo is present

Your logo won’t just be present on your website. It’ll be used across your social media, email marketing, print media, even your product packaging (where applicable). These various mediums require different resolutions and sizes, from thumbnails to banners. This is especially important in a mobile-first world Consequently, your logo should translate well across different platforms while staying recognizable, and the key to that is simplicity. While a complex, highly stylized logo might look good in and of itself, when it’s shrunk down for a social media icon it loses its legibility.

Look at the example of the London 2012 Olympics, below:

It was understandably met with resounding criticism from the public upon release, somewhat. It’s untidy enough at full size, 2012 barely legible in a mass of spiky purple shapes. When reduced to a smaller size, the image becomes even less clear. Essentially, size matters, so bear this in mind as you create your new logo. Strive for a clean, simple logo design. Stick to two, possibly three colors maximum, and avoid excessive shapes.

Takeaway tip: if you’re struggling to create a simple logo, instead create smaller channel-versions of your logo. Select one aspect of your logo, such as the first letter of your business name, and turn it into a separate logo in its own right whilst retaining your brand colors.

Eschew the generic to make your logo stand out

Consumers are bombarded with marketing messages on a daily basis, logos plastered across everything from the sides of buses to sports team uniforms. Strive to make your logo different. Of course, with so many small businesses sprouting up from self-starting entrepreneurs, made available by easy online store builders and a plethora of affordable marketing tools, this is no small task — but it’s not impossible. Most startups fail the logo test by rushing it at the start of their business journey. In their eagerness to build a brand, startups end up creating generic, insipid logos that get them nowhere — don’t fall prey to this and take time to create a solid logo.Create a mindmap around your brand, picking apart basic elements of your business and expanding upon them and exploring its physical and semantic associations.For example, let’s say you’re a children’s clothes retailer. What do you associate with that? Childhood, play, and wonder are all intangible things that one might think of when considering your brand. Think about its physical associations too: a baby’s crib or children’s toys are tangible objects that relate to your industry. You can expand upon these further still, creating a visual link between your logo and your brand as a whole.

Remember: your logo stays with your brand forever, and rebranding is a hassle, so don’t rush this stage. Take the time to get it right now.

Takeaway tip: create multiple logos and be critical. Your logo might be one small change away from being perfect, so don’t be afraid to delve into the nitty-gritty. And a second pair of eyes is always useful, helping guide your creative decisions.

Use clever colors for striking, ubiquitous branding

Your logo is the touchpoint that brings together every aspect of your brand. It represents your industry, your ethos, and your brand identity. It shows your customers who you are and what you’re about. The best way to tie all this together is through color. Color is a powerful visual element that conveys multitudes. Yellow for example is bright and affable, reflecting a friendly, accessible brand that customers feel comfortable with. Snapchat and Denny’s use yellow throughout their branding, indicative of their genial community vibe.Black on the other hand is slick and minimalist, common in cool tech brands or high-end fashion houses such as Chanel:

For Chanel, monochrome is the new black. Combined with a simple, minimalist logo, it effortlessly conveys the sophisticated exclusivity associated with the brand. The colors you choose will form an essential part of your overall branding. They will be reflected throughout your marketing and online presence, across your website, social, and email marketing — so pick wisely!

Takeaway tip: have a branding ideation session to identify those emotions that you want your customers to associate with your business. Next, do some color research to select one or two colors that reflect that, and work them into your logo.

The eyes are the window to the soul, and your logo is the window to your brand. It speaks volumes about who you are: your industry, your personality, your history, and more. Take the time to create a smart, considered logo