Tips to Design a Logo

Have you ever encountered a single brand without a logo? No? Because every small or big business holds a logo despite its products or services. A logo is the most significant part of your business that substantially impacts the message conveyed to the customers. You need to design an animated logo that stands out in the market, but how to get one?

No worries! I am here to bring a convenient guide for you that helps you through some versatile tips for designing a logo. This elaborated guide explains everything from describing your brand’s objective to understanding the techniques for making an exceptional logo. So, get ready to learn about how to make a good logo.

So, let’s jump on the first step and start making a conspicuous logo.

1. Identify the Brand

Before starting designing a logo, make sure to know about the brand insights. By keeping it in mind, your logo will reach a specific set of people the target audience, and a particular market. Thus, you can make points about what your business is all about, the target audience, and the purpose of your brand. After noting down these points, start searching for the ideology of the brand to find inspiration.

Knowing the brand personally will help you get details more in-depth so that you will be able to project it wisely in the market. Besides, you must ready all details before designing a logo to get a guide to create a unique logo that reflects your brand.

2. Focus on Target Audience

You should understand what your company offers and who the target audience is, since your logo should communicate your brand’s services. Once you have got an idea about your brand’s core personality, it becomes much easier to design a conspicuous logo.  The tone, message, and channel in your logo should be according to the target demographics of your business.

3. Recognize your Competitors

You should ponder what is going on in the marketing and what the new trends are. It can be analyzed by simply identifying your competitors and analyzing their work. Though you want to keep your logo unique, you should also consider what shape types, font styles, and colors are popular now. It is suggested to only take basic ideas from your competitors than to copy the entire story; otherwise, your logo won’t stand apart.

4. Use Online Resources and Tools

Now that you have taken all the information about a particular brand and identified your target audience, start researching for some online tools and sources. When you start researching, you will discover an immense ocean of information to get motivation and assistance for designing a logo for your company.

Additionally, there are numerous tools and software through which you can practice making logos. These tools are available in both free and paid versions. These best 2D animation software offer customized features to make your logo whatever you want.

Some of the tools are mentioned below:

 ➤Adobe illustrator

It is a paid animation and logo-making software that is generally used by professionals. Adobe illustrator software offers plentiful features including 16,000+ fonts and scale-up/down options while working on some projects. Its basic package is quite affordable which is US$31.49/month and US$239.88/year.

➤Canva

Another software that works online for professional logo designing. Canva simply works by dragging and dropping different templates, styles, and other features. If you could not decide a specific design of the logo, you will get more than 50,000 templates in Canva. Its monthly subscription costs US$9.95/month only.

➤Wix

Besides, if you are aware of designing logo making, then Wix is the best tool for you. It allows you to customize the size, text, color, and font of the logo. If you admire some logo and want to bring diversity to it, you can easily execute it on Wix. The basic package is for US$12.99/Month only and you get high-resolution and professional logo design.

5. Execute Storytelling

A logo is the part of the business that expresses everything about your brand and its services. Make sure to design your logo by keeping the context in mind. Remember that your logo should be capable of representing the services offered by your brand. Also, use the texts and images that match your products. You need to understand the actual meaning of the brand while selecting the theme.

6. Make a Mood Board

A mood board is an ideal option for a visual person to get motivated. You can create a board by cutting it down and giving it a certain shape. Then you can pin pictures on it. Once you have collected all desired images, combine colors, shapes, and illustrations and go rough! Mood boards help a lot in reflecting your brand’s style and get you to the main idea within no time.

7. Choose Colors with Planning

Colors play a significant role in a logo that attracts spectators. Just like the images, colors should also be selected as per the brand to reflect it. You can use solid and bright shades to grab people’s attention, but they should also speak about the spark of your business.

Bear in mind that each color induces an emotion that becomes the message for the audience. That’s why colors should be picked by keeping two things in mind; that attracts customers and matches your brand. Below are some common colors used in popular logos and their meanings.

Red color in a logo denotes passion, rage, and enthusiasm which is an excellent choice for the brands that want to express sparkle or intensity to stand out in the market.

As everyone knows, yellow symbolizes friendly relations, so you can use a yellow shade in your logo to depict friendliness towards your customers. It delivers joyful and youthful energy.

A classic and one of the commonly-used colors that expresses serenity, reliability, and maturity.

Green is a tremendously cool and versatile color that works outstandingly for a brand. This color is suitable for all kinds of companies who want to develop a connection with nature.

When you hear brown shade in a logo, it might sound awkward for you, but it actually represents a rough masculine vintage feeling.  It provides your brand a unique, handmade, and mature appearance.

If you want your logo to appear modern, trendy, and luxurious, you should add black color in your logo. For instance, if you keep your logo simply black and white, it would remain sleek, simple, and trendy simultaneously.

White is the symbol of cleanliness and neutral shade. Moreover, this shade can combine with every shade and gives a cool feel.

8. Select Smart Fonts

It is not advisable to focus on colors only, but you should also watch what style of font you use. Usually, many people do not concentrate on the font style and size while designing a logo and pick the design randomly. A typeface is very important for a logo that is used to target the clients towards your services.

Display fonts are decorative that are tremendously stylish and catchy. With the display fonts, the typography becomes stronger when you join one word to another in a sophisticated manner.

Serif fonts are small strokes or lines that are attached to the end of the larger lines or strokes of a symbol. These fonts are classic and have been used in logos from decades. It is considered as a good symbol of tradition, elegance, and trust.

Moreover, script fonts are also highly in-demand for logo designing, these fonts give the impression of cursive handwriting and deliver the effect of signatures. These fonts usually feel more genuine and authentic specifically in logos.

9. Use Shapes in Logo

After colors and fonts, shapes are an excellent way to make an outstanding logo. You can put any suitable shape in your logo and insert a brand name or any text in it. It will provide two fundamental benefits; your logo will appear more sophisticated, and the text will look sharper to the viewers. Moreover, it has been analyzed that the company’s name inside the box or any shape looks more professional. Picking shapes with stimulating textures and shades takes your logo to the next level.

Lines are the most basic and obvious shapes that are and can be used in every kind of logo. The use of vertical or horizontal lines in a logo brings an impact on the viewer’s perception. The vertical lines are the symbol of superiority and power. Whereas, horizontal lines are denoted to the sense of calm and peace.

Circles are very common shapes in most logos. However, approximately 20% of the world’s brands have used circles in their logos. This shape signifies unity, commitment, strength, and conveys a positive emotional message.

Other than circles, another most popular shape used in logo designing is square. Squares are used to portray balance, professionalism, and strength. See how some top brands have beautifully used square shapes in their logos.

Although triangles are less popular than squares and circles_ but they also make a logo quite fascinating. When you use a triangular shape in your logo, it depicts the idea of dynamic power, constant development, and a sense of hierarchy.

10. Try to Avoid Clichés

Numerous trends and styles have been introduced in logo designing over some decades. But I personally love those styles that fit every trend and era. Notwithstanding, one of the most fundamental and crucial elements is to understand the pros and cons of your brand’s logo and you can make it trendy.

11. Keep Simplicity Priority

According to many professional logo designers, you should keep your logo as simple as possible. Many experts pay more concentration to keep the logo simple than embedding everything on it. When you hear ‘simple logo,’ it doesn’t mean that you should leave your logo without color or image; it means you should limit your color selection and avoid inserting long texts or multiple pictures in your logo. For instance, your logo comprises a lot of shades, texts, or complicated shapes; it won’t appear attractive to the customers.

12. Be Unique and Clever

A logo helps in distinguishing a brand from its competitors sharing the same floor. However, it is vital to stand out from the rest. Therefore, make sure whatever you design is unique and distinguished from anything that is already there in the market. Yet, you should always keep your eye open and make sure that you have made a unique and creative logo that doesn’t match other brands. Designing a clever logo means going out of the box.

13. Get Everyone Involved

Inspiration plays a significant role while designing a logo. Although you should get a second or third opinion before creating a business logo. However, if you have designed multiple logos, you should also involve a group of people to get their remarks. It helps you understand the target audience. Then, select the best logo from various options, that reflects exactly the identity of the brand and the requirement of the user.

14. Consider Customization

Customized logos help you ensure that you have created a unique logo. When you often see a logo, you try to explore which typeface has been used in a certain logo. Despite the simplicity, there is a great chance that your logo gets famous due to customization.

15. Make it Scalable

Make sure that your logo design is powerful enough that it grows in the market. Despite large or small enterprise, whatever logo you’ve made, it should appear remarkable and conspicuous. You should include text, images, and colors in your logo that expresses the precise identity of your brand.

Nevertheless, if your logo has lost its sense of balanced proportion and you have added the design elements that look weird, it means your logo won’t sustain in the market for a longer time. Likewise, if a logo needs to be designed on smaller scales, such as for jewelry, the logo must be visible with a clear intended meaning.

Five Common Mistakes to Avoid while Designing a Logo

A logo is the backbone of your company which plays an important role in repelling and attracting customers. This is the reason, every popular brand spends thousands of dollars just to make a logo. But the main point is to create a logo that matches your company’s objective.

Now that you have got to know how to design a professional logo, you must identify some factors that should be avoided.

1.Complicated Designs

Just see the examples of Nike, Facebook, Apple, etc. you will only notice simplicity in their logos. Simple logos deliver clearer messages to the users. Nonetheless, if you jumble a lot of texts, colors, and pictures, it confuses the viewer and never becomes an attractive logo.

2.Designing for Yourself Instead of Client

Some designers often make this mistake while creating a logo. For instance, several designers adopt a logo style of their choice, regardless if it matches the brand or not. However, as discussed earlier, you need to pick the most complementary shapes, images, and colors that highlight the purpose of the company. This is crucial because you need to design a logo for the users not for yourself.

3.Adding Too Many Colors

According to professional graphics and logo designers, you should make your logo in the grayscale form at first. This is because it is the basic color choice in a logo. Once your brand has gained its name you can add colors gradually as per the trend. But remember, adding too many colors makes the logo complex.

4.Unclear Meaning

The logo illustrations provide the audience understanding of the worth, objective, and connection of your corporation with the services. A customer connects to the brand through its logo which is the company’s crucial purpose. For instance, if your company is about fashion, you should pick something trendy, bold, and edgy to make your logo the best fit.

5.Copying Other’s Designs

This is the major mistake a logo designer may make. As said earlier, a logo tends to express the objective of the brand and to connect more people. If your logo matches other’s logos it will definitely fail in the market and the company’s worth will also go down in the market.

What Makes a Good Logo? 

Imagine you have designed a creative and unique logo by going out of the box, but it does not seem that operative, what’s the cause behind that? Well, you see, if there are hundreds of excellent logos, then there are thousands of bad ones as well. Below are given the characteristics of a good logo:

1.Understandability

A logo must be user-friendly that is easily understandable. I have seen many corporations just dump everything in their logos that becomes very complicated. You should always give a brief detail in the logo that the user understands and the message of the brand is also conveyed at first glance.

2.Visual Allure

Other than being clear and easy-on-the-eye, make sure to attract people via logo. Your logo should appear like what users are looking for. Although simpler designs are more captivating and easily comprehensible by people.

3.Brand Relevance

This is of course a simple factor that should be always kept in the logo designer’s mind. Only use such texts and images that relate to your brand purpose. But you should not be over-dependent on the company’s services as you diversify your services, your logo would become less applicable.

4.Exclusivity

Logos that appear similar to other top-notch brands tend to fail in the market because when the users will glimpse the copied logo, their minds will tweak the original brand. These things poorly impact the customers and can leave a mark of plagiarism on your logo. It also upsets the honesty and trustworthiness of your company.

5.Remarkable

Logos should be designed in a manner that remains in the spectator’s mind for longer terms. Since you want more consumers to connect with your services, then make a remarkable logo. Yet, it is enormously hard to play with the client’s mind and make a logo that instantly grabs their attention, but you can see the examples of some great companies with their elegant logos including Starbucks.

These are some of the elements what make a logo successful.

Wrapping Up

Eventually, I would say that great brands do not just occur; there is entire planning behind their success. You need to design your logo with concentration by keeping an overall context of your brand’s identity. Whatever is your company, make sure that the logo is simple, clear, and fascinating, that successfully catches the viewer’s attention

Nevertheless, if you are looking for hiring an affordable and experienced logo designer, feel free to contact Ideas Animation and get an exclusive logo for your brand to stand out in the market.

Other than these logo design tips for beginners, if you know some other creative logo design ideas, share them in the comment section below.