How to Design a Logo Like a Pro

There’s more to crafting a brand’s visual identity than just placing a name in a shape and calling it a day. Your comonay logo is often a customer’s first impression of your business, one that can impact their brand perception, purchase decisions and overall attitude toward you and your business. We live in a society painted with brand logos. Even toddlers who can’t yet tie their own shoelaces recognise many logos or are able to deduce what a company sells just by looking at its brandmark.

Here’s our expert tips on logo design;

1. Be unique and clever

A logo is what helps distinguish a brand from its competitors, so it’s important that your brand stands out from the rest. Creating a unique design isn’t all about avoiding imitation more, about designing something out-of-the-box.

2. Understand the brand

Yes, a logo is an image, but it’s also an introduction to a brand. Your logo must reach a specific audience and when designing a new logo, we keep a firm focus on this. Be wary of becoming inspired by only aesthetics rather than deeper meaning as your logo needs to reflect your business in its entirety as powerfully as possible. Think about what your customers care about and what does your brand aspire to be.

3. Colour is key

Bright and bold colours may grab someone’s attention, but could also seem brash. Muted tones exude sophistication, but could be overlooked. Every colour has a different implication and can bring nuance to your message so, be mindful that the best colours for your brand might not be your personal favourites.

• Red: energetic, sexy, bold
• Orange: creative, friendly, youthful
• Yellow: sunny, inventive, optimism
• Green: growth, organic, instructional
• Blue: professional, medical, tranquil, trustworthy
• Purple: spiritual, wise, evocative
• Black: credible and powerful
• White: simple, clean, pure
• Pink: fun and flirty
• Brown: rural, historical, steady

4. What’s in a name?

Most logos consist of two elements; a word/s and an image. If your company has a unique name, then maybe you could get away with just a word. But, if you have a generic name, then you’re going to need something visual to identify the company by, which can be achieved by using a logo. It’s best to avoid using gimmicky fonts but you could tweak an existing font by adding or subtracting something. Avoid too much negative (empty) space within the logo which may make it look disjointed.

5. Keep it easy and flexible

It’s important to have a balanced combination of simple and quirky or unusual. You want your logo to be interesting but you don’t want someone to have to sit and stare at it for 2 minutes to work it out. In the digital age, where logos will appear on multiple devices and across social media, you must design something that transcends paper. It must look great on different backgrounds, work for apps, icons, avatars and print, and it must be flexible in size.

6. Don’t expect instant success

Logos don’t become instantly iconic, it takes time for them to gain popularity. Success also depends the success of your product or service in your market. It’s important to be patient and not rush to make changes with your new design just because you haven’t gotten the reception you initially expected and, make sure you’re doing everything you can to build your brand with your product or service.

7. Research

Research others in your industry and look at logos of businesses that get your attention. Research will give you inspiration and provide prompts for the brief you give your designer. We’d recommend that you challenge your designer to come up with an alternate design of their own because, often, someone looking at you and your business from the outside will see things you take for granted.

At RED, we like to sit down with you, understand your business and get a feel for where you’d like to take it. This helps us both in designing, or redesigning, your logo and also in determining the best branding opportunities to build your brand and grow your business.