Points to remember when designing your new business’s logo.

A logo is very important to any business and an essential of successful branding. It’s like the photo in your id book. People do not identify you by reading your id number, full names and surname or country of origin – they simply look at your photo.

So as all of us are not Pulitzer-prize winning photographers – here’s a couple of things you should remember when designing your logo.

Lot’s of things in life come in threes and so do logos.
There are three main types

- Text logo design: A logo consisting only of text

- Symbol logo design: A logo consisting only of a picture

- Combination Logo design: Combining text and pictures

Once you’ve decided on a logo design type experiment a little – make at least 20 or 30 rough sketches of different logo’s and get a feel for each one. Soon you will identify with designs that you think suit the idea you have of and for your company and you can then start singling out a specific design and add the finishing touches.

Balance is very important when designing a logo – make sure that the colors, graphics, size and shades on your logo are balanced on both sides – “weight” them evenly. A lopsided logo is a no-no..

In logos size does matter. Your logo will be displayed in various sizes, on billboards, in magazines, on your business cards. So make sure that if your logo is enlarged or scaled down it will still be legible and will not lose definition. Take care when using intricate designs that will become no more than an ink-blot when scaled down or text that is spaced so far apart it reads as a stutter when enlarged.

The color used in your logo is probably one of the most important aspects of effective logo design. Study your color wheel and find out which colors compliment each other. Do some research of the emotions invoked by different colors and also make sure the colors you use suit the product or service you provide. Also remember that your logo will certainly be copied in black and white at some stage – make sure it’s still recognizable in black and white and grayscale – remember balance here – if you take away the color and the logo turns to dust then color was too heavily weighted.

K.i.s.s (keep it simple, stupid). Logos are the photos remember – the snapshot by which your company is identified. Take some time and browse some popular logos. The most effective designs are simple with clean lines and no more than three colors – think Coke, Nike, Mc Donald’s.. . Go easy on effects – they are great design tools but do not necessarily belong in logo design. Think of how you feel when you have to work in a cluttered kitchen compared to how you feel when your kitchen is clean, tidy and simply organized – apply this to your logo design because your clients will.

The above are only some basic points to effective logo design. A good logo really is a very important branding tool and will have a major impact on the success of any new business. If your budget doesn’t not allow for a full design from a professional at least spend some money on getting some advice from a professional – your Logo is your id photo and everyone knows that the camera never lies!