Before you start designing your logo, you need to understand some basic rules of logo design. Here, we’ll teach you the 10 essential rules to follow when designing a logo.
Define your business (and target audience) before you start.
Before you even think of beginning the design process, take the time to get to know your business. Think about what you do and why you do it. What defines you? And more importantly, who are your customers? Get inside their heads: who are they, and what makes them tick?
Once you handle both of these things, the next step is to start researching your industry and audience. If you’re working with an agency or intrepid freelancer, this is something they’ll likely be able to help with—but if not, there’s a wealth of information out there that will help inform the way forward.
Find an appropriate style for your brand.
You have to select the style of your logo carefully. It must suit the business. Instinctively, you know that a logo for a law firm should be conservative and conventional, while a daycare center’s logo could be fun and playful.
Be aware that good logos are also appropriate to their intended audience. The public face of your business is likely to carry on throughout all your marketing efforts, so make sure that you’re showing the right face to the right people.
You want to use a design style that is consistent with the nature of your company or organization. For example, if you run an accounting firm, it makes sense to use typefaces with clean lines and sharp edges—the same goes for other formal businesses like law firms or banks. If your company produces toys or candy, you need an eye-catching logo that resonates with children and their parents.
Make sure it’s obvious what your logo represents.
When designing a logo, make sure it’s obvious what your logo represents. Use simple shapes and symbols that are easily identifiable. Avoid abstract images: the last thing you want is for someone to have to stop and think about what your symbol means and miss out on the message you’re trying to convey.
Instead, originally use recognizable symbols to allow customers to understand the meaning behind your design immediately. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be creative with your choices. Think about how FedEx used an arrow as part of their design—it’s an everyday shape that is instantly recognized by most people but also adds a unique twist to their design by using two negative spaces within the letter E.
The same concept applies if you plan on using words as part of your logo. Don’t write things like “it’s nice” or “fun times”—these words only obscure the meaning behind your brand identity. Instead, use company names and slogans that help people understand who you are before they even think about reading them!
Please keep it simple and make it memorable.
The world’s most memorable logos have one thing in common: simplicity. Take a look at the logos for Apple, Nike, Google, and Starbucks. These companies’ logos are all bold and simple, yet they manage to convey their brand’s personality with just a few lines or a simple typeface.
If you want your logo to be as easy to identify as these famous brands’ logos are, keep it simple and make it memorable. Don’t worry about creating an elaborate design that won’t mean anything to anyone unless you explain it; instead, focus on creating something unique and recognizable by carefully choosing your typeface and colors.
Make sure the logo looks good in both colors and black and white.
Going back to basics, a logo’s most important thing is to look good in color and black and white. A logo’s identity isn’t about the words that comprise it; it’s about the way those words look when they’re printed in color and when they’re printed in black and white. That means that you should make sure it looks great in both contexts whenever you create or redesign your logo.
One of the most common mistakes people make with logos is relying too much on typography to express their brand personality. Many companies think they need a fancy font to stand out from their competition, but what happens if their logo doesn’t translate well? What happens if it doesn’t look great in color? The result can be an image that looks modern but isn’t timeless—like a cheap knockoff of Apple.
Try to make a timeless logo.
Putting a current trend in your logo is just asking it to look dated in a few years. Rather than using trends, use an icon to represent your brand that is ageless and not rooted in a specific time or place. The best logos stand the test of time.
Your logo should be able to last at least ten years without looking dated. If you’re going to spend money on a design, it’s worth investing in something timeless rather than trendy. Remember: what may seem modern today will look old tomorrow, which means you’ll need to rebrand every time things constantly change—and that gets expensive fast!
That said, try not to let nostalgia cloud your judgment either; it’s important not only how long ago something was created but also how long before its style fell out of favor with popular culture (which will vary depending on who you ask).
Don’t use too many different fonts or colors in your design.
Picking too many different fonts will turn your design into an eyesore. Instead of a professional-looking logo, you’ll have a confusing mess: “no one looked at this before we put it on our business card.”
Not sure how many fonts are too many? Just remember that most companies only use two fonts in their branding: one for the company name and another for any supplemental text (like slogans or taglines). When it comes to colors, less is more.
Try to stick with no more than three colors in your design. Any more than three colors and things get messy — and usually not in a good way. If you need help creating a color palette that works well together, you can use Adobe Color to create something beautiful without being an expert designer. The best way to determine whether you have the right number of colors and fonts is to ask someone else what they think about your logo design. Start by asking friends and family members who are not designers if they can understand what your brand does just by looking at it, then take their feedback as objectively as possible — even if it hurts!
Use negative space in your logo design.
Negative space helps define the elements of your logo and creates a secondary meaning. The FedEx logo is one of the most famous examples. Between the “F” and “E,” you can see an arrow pointing to the right, which symbolizes forward-thinking. Another example is from Tostitos, where there’s a face between two chip slices if you look close enough.
A good way to check how effective your use of negative space is is to flip it upside down or inside out. If you can still read it, that’s a good sign because it means it’s balanced enough for viewers to recognize it from different angles even if they’re viewing it.
Cross-marketing your products or services with a brand logo design is an awesome way to spread the word about your business.
Adapt the logo design to work across different media.
When designing a logo, it is necessary to think about how the design will look across different media. You need to make sure that your logo still looks good when printed on a business card or sign and that it remains legible in smaller sizes, such as on a website. It would be best to consider how the logo would look in color, black and white, and greyscale. For example, If you need a modern, minimalist jewellery logo design ask experts on google or research the agency in your area.
When you are happy with the scaled-down version of your logo, take it one step further by turning it into black and white. This will help you see whether your original design stands up without the use of color. When I create logos for clients, I always send them both options to see which one works best for them – although there are times when clients choose both! Once you have sorted that out, make sure that your client is happy with it!
Try to avoid using clip art or stock images in your logo design.
“Clip art is something you can find on every website, magazine, and newspaper. It’s not as if there aren’t any internet-based sources for stock images either—there are several sites that have mountains of clip art to choose from, each with a tagline about how much time and effort went into creating the image.
“If you’re starting, it’s easy to assume that the artist who created the image has spent more than five minutes on it. Maybe even ten or fifteen minutes. Maybe more than an hour!
“This is not necessarily true. The artist may have spent only a few seconds staring at his screen and pressing down randomly on square buttons. And why not? It’s so much easier to use clip art than draw your logo! Get your company logo design online today.
Conclusion
There is much to consider when designing a logo, including the color scheme, font type and style, sizing, and more. If you follow these ten essential rules when designing a logo, you will have an easier time creating a logo. You will ensure that it is appealing enough to catch your target audience’s attention.
