Logo Design Principles

Logo Design Principles

Logo design is an important part of a business. A logo is a business or organization’s first impression. Design, especially the logo, affects customers purchasing and overall view. Good logos don’t have to adhere to standard industry icons. Apple doesn’t use a computer for its icon.

Brands have to stand out from their competitors and a unique logo is a great way to do that.
Understand what the brand does and what it represents. Logos represent a unique and individual business but it must evoke a feeling or some kind of emotional association. Design must reach out to the demographic audience. Question the product. What does the brand represent? What does it offer to the customers. How would customers view the product? Use these questions to form an ideal image in your mind and build from that.

Be creative and different when designing. Create something different. There’s nothing new under the sun but try to make something new and noticeably different. A logo helps consumers identify the business. It should stand out from the others and be readily identifiable. Don’t rely on simply using stale industry associated icons for a logo.

Many industry wide logos represent their particular industry and it doesn’t set them apart from their competitors. Look at some Fortune 500 companies logos and see how many utilize their classic industry icon. Nike’s icon isn’t a shoe.

If using classic industry icons make it stand out and cleverly use design to create something outside the box. Evian bottled water uses a mountain range in their logo to convey the image of cold and clear drinking water even though their name spelled backwards is naive.

Logos and brand names can be one and the same, or not. Icon-based logos are usually associated with the business after the customer has become accustomed to the brand. Names of businesses tend to be better for smaller or lesser known brands. At least to start with.

Coca-Cola uses massive marketing campaigns and spreads its branding over every facet of our lives. Most companies aren’t going to have the same budget that Coca-Cola has at its disposal, but they can benefit from using their brand name in the logo.

Logotype branding is useful if the business has a unique name. Common names would benefit more from a logo mark instead. Bob’s Apple Sauce Co might do better with a logo icon. Avoid using gimmicky fonts for the logotype. Try modifying existing fonts to better suit the company’s vision if possible. Simple fonts can also have great impact. Many large retailers use simple fonts like Helvetica in their design structure and have remained largely unchanged for decades.

Colors play an important role in design. Color plays an important role in psychological evaluation by the viewer. Bright colors grab attention but they may or may not accomplish what the logo is intended for. Bright colors are more visible but also convey urgency or dire situations.

Use color to show the desired outcome of what you are trying to tell in the story of your logo, which will be decided in only a brief glimpse most of the time. Blue is generally a calm and relaxing color that brings a touch of trust into the design. This is why many banks use the color. Blue wouldn’t be the best color choice for an energy drink though, would it?

“Keep it simple,” is a good mantra to have when designing logos. Simplicity says more. Less is more in logo design. Overcrowded logos appear to most viewers as a jumbled mess of disorganization. Design that is too busy is hard to convey a crisp and quick image of what the company is.

Different media types must be used in modern marketing so logo design must look good across all platforms whether it’s paper, laptop, or mobile phones.

Simplicity also transcends time better than complex logos do. Media is constantly changing, as is design itself. Creating something that isn’t dated immediately is important. Simple design more often flows from one period change to the next as opposed to a design that revolves around gimmicks or popular culture at the moment.

Logo design doesn’t always take off immediately. Marketing also takes time to build brand recognition. Making edits to logos simply because of a lull in interest from the consumers isn’t always good while branding is being created in consumers. Changing a logo too quickly can disorient customers. Work on marketing before changing logos that seem like they aren’t producing the desired effects.

Have confidence in your finalized design. If the logo was designed with sound fundamentals stand behind it. Explain why it will work. Also, a logo is not the center of the universe. Marketing, customer relations, and user experience play a huge role in the success of a business. Bad customer service and experiences cannot be patched up with a great logo.
Logo design plays an important role in the success of a company but it isn’t the only influence. Sound business practice with a fundamentally designed logo is the best option.

Make a logo that stands out, is simple, and says the right thing. Evoke feelings and associate memories with the brand in your logo design elements. It’s a win for everyone from the designer, to a business owner, to their customers.