As time passes and our society changes, many businesses have to constantly change their branding, which includes the image everyone knows them by — their logo.
Creating a good logo is one of those things that businesses know they will need to do, but they don’t always know how to begin. After all, some of the most famous brands in history have famous logos to match, and if you want to be on their level someday, it all starts here and now!
Are you curious about which elements of a logo you need to really make your design pop? For people new to the business, it may seem like it’s easy to put together a logo design, but there are actually many things that need to be taken into consideration for your logo to do its job well.
Keep reading as we discuss the main elements of a good logo that you’ll want to keep in mind before you get started!
Balance and Strength
Regardless of whether your logo is going to be just an image, an image with text, or just text, it has to be usable as an icon. You should be able to tell what it is in small or large sizes, on different products, and more.
Strength comes into play here because you want to ensure that your customers (and potential customers) can easily tell what your logo is no matter where they might see it. It should be easily recognizable and easy to see.
Additionally, you need to ensure it is balanced in that it can be used in a lot of different ways. The logo has to be easy to use so that it can really get your brand’s name out there.
Unique
As a new business (or a business that is finally growing into its brand), you need to make sure that you stand out from the crowd. While it may be helpful to look at some of the main components of your favorite logos, you should never base your own logo on what someone else has done.
For one thing, this will make your logo less likely to be remarkable in any way. Additionally, you don’t want to have customers confused about what your business does versus another business that has a similar logo. This can lead to a loss in potential profits!
You’ll look more high-class if you have a logo that is totally your own. Work hard to ensure that you have something that no other brands can take from you to stand out against the competition.
Memorable
The main goal of a good logo design is that it sticks in a person’s head. It doesn’t need to tell someone what your entire brand is, what your company does, or even what types of products you have.
It does, however, need to be memorable to the point that a person that sees your logo will always remember what your business is after they’ve learned it once.
Think about a shoe company. It wouldn’t be very memorable if their logo was of a literal shoe. People aren’t going to really remember a logo like that because it doesn’t send a message and isn’t very special.
Instead, brands like Adidas and Nike have used shapes and markings to showcase what their brand is. This is part of what making a memorable logo really means.
Vector-Based
If you’re considering doing bitmapped graphics instead of vector graphics, we’re here to tell you that this is not a great idea.
The first issue is that as the font gets larger, the more obvious all of the errors are going to be. The second issue is that it isn’t going to look as professional overall because the cleanliness won’t be there in the finished product.
Vector-based graphics are good for offering increased flexibility so that you don’t just have to rely on JPGs for your signs or banners. Unless you want a logo that looks fuzzy and blurry, always ask for vector graphics over any other option.
Shapes
You may think that the shapes you choose for your logo should just be whatever fits best in your logotypes, but there is actually psychology to this that is important to understand.
Shapes are a building block in basically all types of design. The human brain is capable of easily picking out shapes and categorizing whatever they see as something specific in the environment.
Circles will commonly represent something that is continuous, mysterious, or feminine. Squares and rectangles are a little more bold, reliable, and edgy.
As you can see, if you’re a software company, choosing a circular shape for your logo’s graphic element may not be the right move. You instead want to choose a shape with hard edges because people will associate this with trustworthiness and dependability.
There is a lot more that goes into this than just choosing between squares or circles, however, so make sure to do your research before choosing this element of your logo.
Simplicity
What’s one of the best things about Apple’s logo? It’s extremely simple.
As soon as people see that apple with the cutout, they know that they are looking at an Apple-branded product or advertisement. The simplicity here is key because people take one look at this logo and know exactly what it is they are looking at without having to do too much thinking.
It is easier for people to remember things that don’t require a lot of brainwork. Another example here is McDonald’s. When people see the golden arches, they know exactly what it is without even having to see the building!
Keep in mind that your customers and the general public will appreciate and understand your logo better if it emphasized simplicity over complex intricacies almost always.
Appropriateness
One thing that often gets forgotten when creating a logo is what your audience is going to actually want to see.
Should your logo be serious to reflect what type of business you’re in? Does it need to be a little more whimsical to showcase what sort of clientele you work with?
You always want to think about the message that is being sent with all aspects of the logo, but you also want to think about who will be seeing it. If you know who your target audience is, you have to then consider what sort of logo they will have positive reactions to and how you can make your logo work within that mindset.
Meaningful
Your logo is meant to help you represent your brand, your identity, your mission, and much more. It’s the general “face” that people see that showcases what your business is truly all about.
As such, the logo needs to derive the meaning of your brand in its image. You have to be able to show what your brand represents through your logo. This sounds difficult, and it can be because a lot of people try to make a logo without really knowing what their brand is all about.
For this reason, figuring out your brand and what message you want to send to the public is crucial before you start to develop a logo.
Timeless
When designing a logo, don’t go for whatever is trendy right now. It may help you in the short term, but in the long term, a timeless logo is going to perform better.
Your logo should have a base that can slightly alter and change over time, but it should generally remain the same. You should always plan to get at least a few years out of your logo (but hopefully more!) if you want it to have the best impact over time.
Consider brands like Coca-Cola. They have used the same branding for years and years now, and they have one of the most recognizable brands in the whole world!
Mood-Focused Colors
The colors of your logos are more important than you may realize, and it might help to do a little research into color psychology before you start the design process.
However, some main things to keep in mind are that not all colors will work with all backgrounds. You need to ensure that everything is not only easy to see, but it should also be generally pleasing to look at. Color combinations impact the overall tone of what your brand is all about in these logos.
For instance, having a neon pink on an off-white background is likely not going to look very good in practice unless you choose very specific shades of these colors. Pantone colors are best to ensure that colors are consistent across all mediums as well.
Think again if you’re planning to include more than three colors in a logo. Too many colors in a logo increase your production costs and can also take away from the overall impact.
Flexibility
Logos will need to be used in a variety of situations, whether it’s on a billboard, on the television, on an online banner, or even in an email message. You have to be able to use your logo in different situations, and this comes back to having a logo that is flexible.
In some cases, such as LinkedIn, this may mean having variations of the exact same logo. LinkedIn sometimes will have their whole name typed out, but in some situations, they may just have the little blue square with the word ‘in’ inside it.
You may have never noticed this before, and that’s because this brand has done such a good job of making that part of its main logo as well as any variations that need to be used.
High-Quality Fonts
Different fonts convey different messages. For instance, when you use a font like Comic Sans, the message is likely going to be considered a little less “serious” than with a font like Times New Roman.
In addition to this, you need a font that is easy to read. There is nothing that will kill a positive response to your logo faster than someone literally not being able to read what it says!
Consider other aspects as well, like letterspacing, word spacing, sizing, and general cleanliness, before you land on a specific font type.
Symmetry
When you have your logo’s graphic elements and typeface figured out, the next stage is figuring out how to make these things fit together naturally. This is usually called a lockup.
You need to select components that complement each other rather than fight for attention. If you have a graphic that is clean and simple, your typeface should be clean and simple to match.
Make sure that you’re paying attention to how all of the elements within your logo work together, especially in the final stages. This will help you determine whether or not it is going to have the influence that you want when other people see it.
Pay Attention to the Elements of a Logo
There are so many parts of a logo that the untrained eye doesn’t even notice.
However, even though people don’t know all about how logos come into existence, the elements of a logo should still be impactful. You want people to see your logo and automatically think “that looks like the company for me” when they’re shopping around.
By following the information provided here, you’re going to be well on your way to creating a logo that does wonders for your business.
Did you want to get more insights into creating a successful brand? If so, check out more of the posts in our Business section next.
Leave a comment