Your brand is the identity or personality of your business, product or corporation. It tells your customers what they can expect from you and distinguishes you from your competition. It is important to have the right face for your brand from the very beginning as it will be a lifelong and continuous imprint in the minds of your consumers. The brand you choose should appeal to your target market.
What is a logo?
A logo is a symbol or design that is adopted by a business or a corporate organization to identify it and its products or services.
Branding basically begins with logos, which set the stage for the rest of your brand. Logos are essentially the face of your brand – creators of first impressions. They can consist of symbols, fonts, visual representations or a combination of two or three of the aforementioned. Logos are usually placed everywhere – on letterheads, business cards, websites, etc. – and so it will be worth your while to get the initial design right.
A great logo should identify you, make you stand out, and drive customer interest and sales towards you. Designing your own logo may be cheaper but it is always best to get a professional to do it for you. Learn more about professional services here. Cheap may prove to be expensive in the long run. Investing in professionalism can greatly help drive traffic to your business which will cause you to reap the benefits of that investment.
Consider these factors when selecting a logo for your business
Personality
What personality do you want to portray? Your brand personality will determine, for instance, the fonts and colors you will select for your logo. If you are looking for something fun and playful, script fonts and bright colors like red or orange will represent that well. A good example of this is Coca Cola. Colors have different symbolic meanings and produce different feelings. Choice of color shades is also important as different shades of colors communicate different feelings.
It may amaze you to learn that the fonts you use on your logo can actually affect your profitability. An article by Samantha Harrington in ‘Forbes’ magazine talks about how many companies link their brand’s font directly to profits.
Legibility and Simplicity
Your logo should be easy to read; your choice of font will play a great role in this. A simple logo, for example, Nike’s swoosh, makes it easier for prospective consumers to process and remember the brand. There are images and logos everywhere and people are bombarded with them daily. Be a minimalist. The best logos are simple. The simpler the design, the easier it will be for it to stick in the minds of your target market. This ties in with the next factor.
Memorability
People should be able to remember your logo after one quick glance, making you the choice pick before your competitors. Simplicity, as already mentioned, is key in accomplishing this. Meaningfulness behind your logo also results in memorability. If you are using icons, allow them to speak. Any icon can become memorable when it is taken from the literal to the figurative. Your prospective customers should be able to instantly read the purpose behind your logo. Your logo should also be outstanding. People remember things that stand out. Make your logo different.
Recognition and Peculiarity
This goes hand in hand with memorability. Your logo should be easily recognizable upon sighting. As soon as someone spots it, they should be able to instantly relate it to you or your product or services. Your logo should also be unique so as not to be confused with other brands. If consumers confuse you with other brands, there is a high chance that you could lose customers to those brands. Examine the logos that your competition is using before you design yours. There was a website called LogoThief that was quite a handy tool – it could be used to analyze the originality of your chosen logo design. Unfortunately, it seems to have been pulled down.
Longevity
You will definitely want to pick a logo that will last throughout the ages but it should also be open to small tweaks to incorporate the changes that your business or company will undergo. It has been said that a good logo should last at least ten years. In order to design a logo that will have staying power, you should avoid making it too trendy and using too many design effects such as gradients and shadows. Design trends usually last for only a few months to about a year. Avoid trendy but still be contemporary.
Simplicity also plays a role in longevity. Simple things never go out of style. Consider the Mercedes Benz logo. Made of a three-pointed star surrounded by a laurel wreath, the company’s logo has mostly remained unchanged for a little over a century. Yet wherever you spot it you immediately think of reliability and first-class performance.
Versatility or Flexibility
Whether big or small, your logo should maintain its proportions so that it can be used anywhere, from large billboards to small business cards. It should look great both on paper and in digital media. It should also still maintain its perfection when printed in black and white. What if they decide to photocopy your brochure? These are things one needs to seriously consider. It may actually help to design your logo in black and white first. The three-striped Adidas logo is an example of a flexible and versatile logo. Your logo should be designed with multiple end users in mind, remaining intact no matter the color or texture of background it may be printed on. Having a clean or legible font will also make it easier to reproduce your logo across different platforms.
Conclusion
Your business or corporation definitely needs a brand and it all begins with the logo. A great logo is the result of a great concept coupled with great execution. Keep the above factors in mind while developing your logo and you will definitely end up with strong brand equity.
