Free Beginner’s Guide: How to Design a Logo?

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The logo is the most prominent identity of any business. 75% of customers identify brands through their unique logo designs. However, small business owners, who are new to the start, do not usually have a memorable logo design that can help them grab the attention of customers. They often wonder how to design a logo using logo maker tool but fail to come up with an eye-catching design or result. With proper guidance, they can also create a distinctive logo themselves to convey the brand’s message.

Small businesses have one thing in common, and that is boring logo design. Their logos do not have unique designs and thus fail to make a first impression on the target audience. In terms of quality, these logos are nothing more than a random piece of design work.

Such companies assume that if people repeatedly see a piece of so-called design on products, they will consider it a logo. But business owners need to understand that a logo is not just a meaningless design. It is your brand identity. For example, how do people learn about companies like Pepsi, Coca Cola, Nike, Puma, etc.? The answer is from LOGOS.

For a small business to grow continuously, the first thing to think about is how to design a logo. You should know that good logo design is the first condition for the continuous growth of new business. But, why don’t most logo designs comply with the standards?

The reason may be that new business owners have much less basic knowledge of logo design. Thus, they use the logo maker tool but end up creating a logo that is not meant for their business.

A logo can be defined as a name, trademark, or symbol of an organization or company. It can also be described as a visual sign that helps identify a company, product, or service. While the logo appears to be a fairly modern word, the truth is that whatever represents something has been known as a logo or symbol from ancient times.

Like, flags have been used to identify and represent communities and countries. The same thing still prevails.

But now, the traditional meaning of logos has changed radically. It is not just a token for any entity.

It represents – the identity of a brand, company or organization.

More than that, it has transformed into a unique visual representation of brand values ​​and corporate brand identities. Conveying the brand message is the prominent idea behind logo design today.

In fact, logos dominate the company’s visual identity profile so much that their presence is important everywhere; In all promotional materials. A logo is the first visual image you immediately notice on company letterhead, business cards, brochures, websites, etc., and all online or offline advertising materials.

One of the main reasons companies rely on logos to convey their branding message is that people remember images more than words. We are quickly drawn to things that are visually appealing.

Therefore, a well-designed logo looks impressive to the eyes. Therefore, logos are the first impression of companies. Then, the designer may add a shape or text so that it stands out. Business owners seek creative design to create an emotional connection with their target audience.

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Why does your company need a logo? This is perhaps the most important question that must be accurately answered before designing one of these symbols for your organization. Well, the reasons are many. But, here we want you to think about these lines when you think about the significance of the logo:

  • Create a great first impression
    • In our daily life, we tend to build a certain perception of a person in the first meeting. Often, if the impression is good, we begin to like this person immediately, and for the most part, we keep this perception unchanged for at least a long time. This is the main reason why small businesses need a strong logo.
    • Likewise, the company logo gives this vital first impression to the viewers when they see it in advertisements, billboards, marketplaces, letterheads, business cards, websites, etc. And because of the impact that the code has, people start to form a positive image of your business, which can be a key to its continued growth.
  • Stand out from your competitors
    • Today’s business can only grow when it creates a unique impression on its target customers. To combat serious competition in your field, a premium design for your logo helps a lot.
    • If your logo design looks different from your competitors’ brand logo, people will have the perception that your business is unique too. Therefore, the logo is the starting point to look different. Then, of course, you have to offer great products or services and solve customer problems to be useful to them and stand out from the crowd.
  • Building customer loyalty
    • Customer loyalty is what every business owner aspires to build over the years. But it all starts right from the design of the company logo. As the design is a great image to grab people’s attention, it draws potential customers into the business. But more than that, a great logo helps brands retain those customers.
    • For example, social media icons are very popular with the public and attract a lot of attention. Over the years, they have been nurtured and logos redesigned according to the interests of their audience. Even after the changes, these platforms are still able to regain their trust and loyalty.
    • Such a logo instills a sense of confidence in the customers. The message they received was that this was the right company they were looking for. But, how does a logo help in customer retention?
    • The logo builds the corporate image of the company. Therefore, it indicates that the company is professional, friendly and attractive. When customers receive such messages, they want to return to that company to buy more.

How does the logo define your brand identity?

First, you know exactly what brand. The brand is the emotional picture of the company. Many people assume that the logo is a brand. But that is incorrect. On the contrary, the brand word refers to the intangible assets of the company. This way, the brand is related to the emotional company relationship with customers.

We can say that your gut feeling about the company is its brand. Thus, branding is all about relationships. This is why people don’t buy products, they buy brands because they have forged an emotional connection with the brands. In other words, a brand is a company’s promise to customers.

Now, what is identity? Identity is the visual representation of the brand as a whole. Since it is visible, you can see it. So, what is brand identity? It’s about how people perceive your company’s brand through colors, lettering, logo, etc.

Thus, a brand identity is a set of unique visual elements of a company. A strong brand identity means that visual elements are constantly present in a company’s marketing and promotion efforts. All that people can see with the help of design elements is the brand identity.

We can say that the color, design, lettering and logo creates the brand identity of a company in the mind of the consumer.

Brand identity is created using these elements

  • Logo or Wordmark
  • Selected colors (color palette)
  • Standard Typographical Solutions
  • Consistent photo style
  • Many graphic elements

But how do you design a logo for your brand identity? The logo contains all the visual branding elements like colors, lettering, layout, grid, etc. of the company. A well-designed logo definitely helps to build the desired perception of your brand among the target audience.

So, when designing a logo for your brand identity, get the right answers to these key questions:

When thinking about how to design a logo, study your closest competitors. Like all businesses, you also have many competitors in your area.

Find more about them to find out their marketing strategies and how to get customers’ attention. Remember that both of your competitors participated in the same set of target audience.

The first thing to check is to do a good research on your competitors’ logos. Next, make sure that your logo design looks completely different from your logo design. This is the key to building your own distinctive brand identity.

By using this logo, you are conveying the message that your products or services are unique and different from those of your competitors. This is why people buy from you.

So, use colors, letters, icons, and other elements in your logo that others haven’t incorporated yet. When people first glimpse your logo, at the same time they build the perception that you have something different to offer. This is how a good logo design helps customers see that you stand out in the market.

What are the characteristics of a suitable logo for companies? Well, the first quality of a great business logo is that viewers can instantly recognize it even in a logo crowd. It also conveys the brand message quickly.

Most importantly, it looks professional and fits perfectly with the brand identity. This banner can be scaled down and reduced to any size depending on the advertising needs.

How good should a logo be:

  • It should be a distinctive and unique design.
  • It should be a memorable creative piece.
  • You can resize the logo to any size and it still looks well proportioned.
  • Your logo should express your brand identity.
  • The logo is a timeless design, which means it stays more or less the same for decades.

Ask these questions to see if your logo is well designed:

  • Can you figure out the meaning of the logo in just two seconds?
  • Is it a unique design that people have never seen before?
  • The logo is completely different from the logos of your competitors?
  • Can your target audience remember it?
  • Is the logo design simple so that customers can remember it?
  • Your logo is a versatile design that can be used in all the visual elements of your brand?
  • Will the logo design stay the same for years, without the need for a major redesign?
  • Does it give an aesthetic sense to the viewers?

If your answer is ‘yes’ to all of these questions, then we can say that your logo is a good design and will work in your business. Otherwise, you need adjustments.

How do you choose your logo design?

What should the general appearance of your logo be? This is perhaps the most difficult question to answer. If you make the wrong decision at this stage, you will not be able to make the desired impression on the target audience. To figure out what your logo should look like, consider these tips:

Brainstorming

Sit down with your design team or the professional designer you’ve hired for this position. Ask them to give their opinion on what the logo looks like. But follow the basics of brainstorming. If you don’t have the team, then brainstorming for one person is perfectly fine too. Here are some tips:

  • Talk about what your brand needs from a logo and what your brand values ​​are.
  • Discuss the colors and lettering, if any, you will definitely want to incorporate into the design.
  • Let everyone come up with their concepts, inspirations, themes, icons, etc. without interruption. This way, you have all the ideas coming from your team. Then discuss these ideas and identify a few.
  • Finally, you may have one or two ideas left after the brainstorming session.
  • Choose one idea that you can develop into your logo

Do you have some inspirational slogans in mind? If so, you can design after this logo. But your logo should not be a copy of the original. Inspiration should motivate you to create something equally impressive. You can also share your inspirational designs with your team while brainstorming.

Consider your audience

Describe the social, educational, economic, cultural, etc. elements that make your audience. Next, put yourself in the shoes of those people you want to sell your products or services to. Think about what might be the most important things for them in life. Consider other things from the audience’s perspective to get an idea of ​​what your design should look like from their angle.

Thinking outside the box

The only feature that distinguishes global business logos is their unique design ideas. A different theme or idea is the key to getting customers’ attention and gaining their appreciation. You should come up with an idea that people find attractive and unique.

Use Mood Board

It is a tool that gathers all your design ideas in one place so that you can visualize them all at once. All those pictures that inspire you, color combinations, graphics, illustrations, other logos, etc., should be on the board. But separate each element from the other on the board.

You can use the Pinterest Mood Board. On this site, you can put all the materials together to summarize your ideas on logo design in one place in a jiffy. It ultimately helps with a quick visualization of what could come out of all that bulk material for your logo.

How do you find the right types of logos?

There are many types of logos to choose from when you want to learn how to design a logo. But designers generally choose among the main types of logos. For your brand, choose the one that fits your overall brand values ​​and aesthetics and matches your company name.

Here are the main types of logos:

Lettermarks [also known as monogram emblems]

If your company name is long and people find it hard to remember, prefer the letter sign. This type consists of only the initials of the company name. Think HP and CNN logos. But only such logos or monograms fail to give any hint about the core business of the company. Therefore, avoid choosing such a logo if your company is new.

Wordmarks [also known as Written Logos]

Use this type when incorporating your company’s full name into your logo design. This way, you will personalize your logo as you use a lot of typography. Consider Google and Facebook logos as great examples of word design. Prefer such a logo if your brand is already a well-known name.

Pictorial Marks

Picture tags are also known as logo symbols that people can easily identify. To create this genre, choose something streamlined that uniquely relates to your brand. Consider the example of the Apple and Target logos.

Abstract Logo Marks

These types of logos mostly come in geometric shapes, which usually don’t relate to your brand directly. But such logos have some abstract thought process that can represent your brand image. Choose this design to create some mood in the design. Pepsi and Adidas logos are well-known examples of abstract logos.

Mascot Logos

Mascot logos are usually preferred over other logos to add some fun as an element of your branding image. Cartoon characters and fun colors are often the main features of these logos. Choose such slogans when your audience consists of children and families. The Kentucky Fried Chicken logo is a popular example of a business mascot symbol.

Combination Mark

This type of logo combines the elements of a symbol and a text logo, resulting in a design that people can instantly recognize. The icon comes with the brand name as well, making these logos versatile designs. Burger King and Lacoste logos are perfect examples.

Color is one of the most important elements of logo design. If you do not intend to create a black and white logo, then colors will play a major role in the success of your logo. Colors are responsible for making that vital first impression to convert viewers into buyers of your products or services.

Most importantly, colors are known for their ability to evoke our emotions. Somewhere, our subconscious state of mind has colors as the dominant component when we think or buy something. Marketing and advertising experts benefit from this state of mind. They use colors to evoke the desired set of feelings and emotions from us when we see a design or an object.

For example, we all know that the color red at traffic lights makes us stop. We stop because we are conditioned. Similarly, red also generates some excitement in us, which is why it is the color of celebration in many cultures.

Therefore, graphic designers use red wherever they need to evoke passion, warmth and love. This is how the designer integrates the brand message through the use of colors in the logo.

How do you choose the right logo colors?

Because of their unique power to evoke our emotions, colors are also known to convey multiple meanings. Color meanings are complex. This is because the meaning of colors varies a lot across cultures and regions.

When you incorporate colors into your logo, make sure you know the emotions that color in general can evoke. Here is a list of some of the colors:

Red

Red is the color that expresses passion, excitement and anger. You should choose red if your target audience is young and loud.

Orange

Orange was used mostly to express the energy of youth and hope. It’s also a fun and lively color.

Yellow

Yellow evokes youthful energy, cheerfulness and friendliness.

Green

If you’re looking for a versatile color that matches most brand identities, green fits the bill. But definitely use this color if your brand wants to portray nature as a design element to represent growth.

Blue

The blue color has a calming effect on viewers. It also signifies maturity and trustworthiness.

Purple

Mauve is the color of luxury. It is also a color of mystery and femininity.

Pink

If your brand deals in products related to women, then pink is the perfect choice for your logo, it comes in different colors like rose, pastel pink, neon purple and millennial pink.

Brown

Thinking of a brown logo design? Combine this color with the sturdy, handcrafted, vintage, unique, and vintage look of the design.

Black

Black is mostly an option to create a modern and luxurious look for your logo and brand identity.

White

White is the right choice if you want to give your logo a simple, modern and clean look. Since it’s a neutral color, it works great with other colors.

Gray

Gray evokes feelings of maturity, class and seriousness. Use a dark gray to give the logo a mysterious feel but use a lighter shade to make it look more manageable.

You can combine two or more colors to get a better effect on your logo. This way, you can convey the brand story.

How do you choose the right fonts?

Another key element to pay attention to when thinking about how to design a logo is the writing style, which is sometimes called a font. Many types of lines are traded today. But we can mostly classify them into four categories:

Serif Fonts

Serif fonts are fonts that have small or small ‘feet’ at the end of the character. The edges pop out and slightly extend from the letters. This gives these lines a somewhat old-fashioned look.

Therefore, designers combine these fonts to give the logos a classic, classic and elegant look. Most brands that want to give the impression of a more formal environment, such as the Defender logo, often have Serif fonts.

Sans-Serif Fonts

Sans-serif fonts are mostly used to express a relaxed versus a formal environment in, say, Govt. Organizations. So, use sans serif fonts to show that your brand is consumer friendly.

These fonts give the logo a sleek and elegant look. Most modern brands have sans-serif fonts as well to give the logo a minimalist look.

Script Fonts

Script fonts look similar to handwritten characters. You can choose from a large variety of text fonts such as calligraphy and simple text. You should prefer this font to give your logo a more individual style.

Display Fonts

Display fonts are decorative fonts that you can design to capture the viewer’s attention.

Consider combining two fonts to give your logo a unique style and design.

What is the ideal logo size or web banner size?

Business owners should also know the ideal logo size for their website. They do all the business online through their website. Therefore, the size of the website banner is very important to grab the attention of the visitors immediately.

Logo Size Basics

  • Logos are measured in pixel dimensions. This means that you will encounter dimensions such as 500px by 500px.
  • Vector files are the main files – vector files are essential for scaling, editing, and sending. This way, it can be converted to any format like JPGs or PNGs.
  • Logo sizes come in horizontal, square, and vertical versions. It can be conveniently placed on different locations and backgrounds.
  • To display your logo online, use a PNG file. That makes sure of fast download times as these files are lossless compressed files.

The perfect logo size for your website

After your logo design is finally ready, now is the time to display it on your website.

For a web page, the optimal banner dimensions are 250 pixels (width) x 100 pixels (height). But you may want to customize the size according to your own needs for web page layout.

For a horizontal layout, the commonly used dimensions are:

  • 250 px x 150 px.
  • 350 px x 75 px.
  • 400 px x 100 px.

For a vertical (square) layout, consider this dimension:

  • 160 px x 160 px.

Do’s and Don’ts for Logo Design

While designing your logo, you should not make some common mistakes and instead stick to the proven tips for creating great logos to target your audience.

Do’s

  • Research your market and target audience.
  • Be different from your competitors in terms of logo design.
  • We strive to create a unique logo.
  • Create the logo first in black and white in the drawing stage.
  • Then, if satisfied, fill in the colors.
  • Keep the design simple but unique.
  • Pay attention to consolidation, spacing, and negative space.
  • Make sure the logo is large and legible.
  • Choose fonts smartly to personalize your logo.
  • Choose colors to convey the desired brand message.
  • Get feedback

Don’ts

  • Don’t use cliched items like stock photos, traditional icons, icons, or other things.
  • Avoid too much detail.
  • Don’t make logo design too complicated. Simplicity is the key.
  • Don’t be too trendy because trends are changing soon and you will be redesigning the icon.
  • Avoid imitation imitate.
  • Don’t be too literal. For example, the doctor’s office logo has a stethoscope.
  • Do not use more than one, two colors or two stripes.

At the end

When you think about how to design a logo, there are some basic basics that you must adhere to in order to create a unique design. First, you have a clear need for a logo and why you should carry your brand. Next, learn the importance of the logo to your brand identity. Research your market and industry to identify your target audience for excellence. Choose the right colors, fonts, and elements to convey your message to customers. Select the ideal logo size.