Why should you make a standout logo? Your business brand logo is essential because it can be described as the face of your company. Learning how to make your logo standout is important because your logo is your first introduction to your customers; that is why the design of your logo should appear professional and impressive to get the attention of your target audience.
Designing your logo for the digital age
Successful logo designs work across all sizes and different media. We live in a world where almost everyone has their own digital devices, such as smartphones and computers. Most companies and logo designers today work harder and pay attention to improving their logo designs to impress their audiences.
So what should you consider when creating a logo? Here are some powerful tips for designing your logo effectively.
1. Show the personality of your brand
The personality of your brand is the emotional characteristic that connects your brand name to your consumers.
If you are thinking of the personality of your brand, you should first reflect on who you are (your brand), what you are selling, and who are your target audience or your customers. You could also start by thinking about your business story and how you would describe your product or service.
You could ask some of these questions about your brand to yourself, is it…
- for males or females?
- for the young or for the mature?
- classic or modern?
- formal or humorous?
- astounding or boring?
The answers to these questions will help you perceive your brand’s personality.
2. Your logo should reflect the nature of your business
Your logo should reflect the nature of your business and what your business represents. The nature of your business is the industry or sector where your business belongs, for example, publishing, IT, food, beauty, fashion, etc. The image and color that you use should align with the product or service that you offer. When your logo’s design aligns with your business, your brand identity is created, and your business can be easily distinguished in the market.
3. Decide on the color
Deciding on the right color palette of your logo is crucial. Not only do colors add pizzazz to your logo, but there is also psychology involved in every color. Colors help you connect your brand to your consumers in a psychological way.
Color is a powerful communication tool that affects and influences humans’ moods, actions, and reactions. Our reaction to a certain color is deeply rooted in our previous experiences or customs. However, there are colors that have a universal psychological meaning. For example, warm colors such as red, orange, and yellow suggest passion, anger, and excitement. On the other hand, cool colors like blue, green, and purple suggest calmness, wisdom, and sometimes sadness.
Here are the common colors used in logos and their effect on the emotions and psychology of humans:
Red. A popular color choice in branding. It evokes confidence, youth, and power. This color is loud and playful, so if your brand is more on the conservative side, you might not want to include this in your color palette.
Yellow. Happiness, youth, energy, positivity, cheerful, friendly. This color is bright and intense that quickly grabs attention, and sometimes is perceived as strong for the eyes.
Orange. Playfulness, energy, warmth, excitement. Like red and yellow, this color grabs attention. People often describe this color as uplifting, bright, and happy.
Pink. Femininity, love, romance, sexuality, warmth. Pink is mostly described as a feminine and girly color. Since pink is a feminine color, it evokes gentleness, nurture, kindness, and compassion.
White. Simple, sophisticated, calm, pure, clean, innocent, clarity. This color is most of the time taken for granted because of its neutral color. You can use white as your secondary color on your logo to provide color contrast.
Black. Strength, intelligence, power, sophistication, mystery, boldness. This color symbolizes seriousness and professionalism. It also conveys a sense of authority, respect, and power.
Green. Health, Nature, Wealth, Tranquility, Harmony. If you want your brand to portray security, naturalness, and freshness, then use green color.
Blue. Loyalty, wisdom, calmness, trust, spirituality, respectability, sophistication. Lighter shades of blue are often used in the logos of medical industries because they evoke trust, healing, and calm. Corporate companies often use deeper shades of blue because it evokes professionalism and confidence.
Purple. Royalty, luxury, high quality, creativity, mystery. If your brand conveys creativity, sophistication, and royalty, then purple would have to be your top choice.
4. Keep it simple
A simple logo should be easily recognized at first glance so that the mind will be able to process the image and drive emotional reaction quickly to the logo. When a logo has a complicated design, the cognitive process will take longer before the mind understands it and generates a reaction.
Not only a simple logo is more memorable, but it is typically the most attractive because it is easy on the eyes. Just take a look at the logos of famous brands. Also, a simple logo is a timeless logo. It will still look good after how many years.
5. Get creative with negative space
The negative space comes from the terms used in photography “positive and negative space.” The positive space is the actual subject, while the negative space is the background.
Negative space or white space is an evident space around and between an image or a subject. It is a blank or unmarked background that holds the elements together and makes the logo standout. This is by making the logo’s color appear brighter and deeper.
Imagine taking a photo of a pen as a subject on a table cluttered with different things. Will you be able to concentrate and focus on the pen? Are the other things on the table relevant to your subject? Having too many elements in the frame raises the level of distraction.
A great example of using negative space around and between an image or subject is the FedEx logo.
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Notice the space between “E” and “x,” and you probably notice the clever way FedEx uses the negative space to shape like an arrow.
6. Should be scalable
Your logo design should work well, large or small. It should be scalable or able to adapt to any size. Also, your logo should remain legible when printed on a small business card or appear on a mobile device. It should also look sharp on a huge poster or billboard. Your audience should recognize your logo and be memorable. A simple logo works well when it comes to scalability.
How would you know if your logo is scalable? Try to shrink or zoom out your logo into a tiny size on your screen. Is your logo legible? If not, you probably need to simplify the design. You can remove unnecessary elements such as shadows, textures, background, and other graphical elements.
7. Use abstract shapes
Abstract shapes make your logo unique and standout. It makes a brand appear fresh and authentic. But before you decide to use abstract shapes, you should bear in mind that those quirky shapes should represent meaning to your brand.
Using the right shapes for your logo design can help send your audiences the right message about your brand. You can convey the hidden message and feeling behind your logo as shapes represent ideas and feelings. For example, circles represent harmony and wholeness, squares represent stability and reliability, and triangles that are pointing up represent direction and power. Abstract shapes can be a combination of shapes in order to produce an image or design, just like the Instagram logo below.
8. Choose the right font
Choosing the right font for your logo is crucial as it communicates your brand identity. Also, the font of your logo is what people will associate with your brand. Every font has its own meaning, personality, and impressions. But with hundreds of fonts to choose from, how would you know which font is best for your logo? Here are some tips.
1. Know the basic font types and what association each font will evoke in the audience. For example:
Serif
Classic, polished, tradition, refined, conservative.
Sans-Serif
Modern, simple, clean, geometric.
Slab serifs
Masculine, vintage, rustic.
Script
Casual, refined, feminine, elegance.
2. Avoid using too many fonts. Using one to two fonts is your best choice. Using too many fonts will make your logo look unprofessional and unstructured.
3. Choose traditional fonts over trendy fonts. Fonts that are popular today may be forgotten the next day. Trends are short-lived. That is why choosing traditional and classic fonts is your best choice.
4. Make your own font by combining your chosen font with your logo design. You can overlap, combine, or remove characters to customize your font.
9. Balance and proportion
Balance and proportion will make your logo appear whole and cohesive. Keep your logo balanced and in the right proportion by keeping the size, weight, and color equal on each side. One common problem in a logo design is when an element dominates the other.
For example, your logo is composed of two colors: dark and light. The dark color will dominate the light color because it is weighing heavily and heavy to the eyes. The imbalance may look odd in the eyes and may leave a bad impression.
10. Take your time designing your logo
A simple logo should be easily recognized at first glance so that the mind will be able to process the image and drive emotional reaction quickly to the logo. When a logo has a complicated design, the cognitive process will take longer before the mind understands it and generates a reaction. Not only a simple logo is more memorable, but it is typically the most attractive because it is easy on the eyes. Just take a look at the logos of famous brands.
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