Get Started With Logo Design: The A To Z Guide - 2023
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Get Started With Logo Design: The A to Z Guide
When you decide to launch a business, you first need to prepare the appearance of your brand with which you will be presented to potential customers.
The branding and design of your business are vital because the right one will lead to success and bring many new customers.
The logo is the central part of your brand’s name and design, so the first thing that people remember is its logo.
Therefore, it should be very detailed, catchy, and appropriate to the brand’s style. Even from the business history, we still remember top brands with their logos.
A logo is usually text and images or symbols that help customers identify a business or brand.
Logos help users differentiate between brands, allowing them to be remembered easily and build online communities around them. A well-designed logo shows what a company does and what its primary purpose is.
Logo design talks much about the company’s branding and the visual part, which is crucial for every brand to be distinguished in a market.
A logo is often used as part of a company’s advertising strategies, products, banners, etc., to be easily recognised. The great logo must match the brand colours, style, and also purpose.
As we already mentioned below, a logo is crucial for a brand’s name and identity. There are five main benefits of having a great logo for your business.
A logo may quickly get customers’ attention and represent a company’s basic principles engagingly and memorably.
If you have a solid logo to speak for your brand, it can work for your company’s benefit, as people have short attention spans, which prompts consumers to judge your organisation based on its appearance.
As the saying goes, first impressions last. The same goes for logos.
A great logo can impress people strongly, and they will then remember you everywhere and recognise your brand easily. This is one of the reasons creating a potent logo should be at the centre of your user acquisition and retention strategy.
If you are new in the market and want to become recognisable as soon as possible, you should use so many online and offline tools, campaigns and events to reach that result.
You can even put logo stickers on the streets, walls, and buses, which will significantly impact your brand’s identity.
A well-designed logo will make your brand recognisable in the marketplace and help customers never confuse it with the other companies.
Also, having a great logo can help you use your social media accounts more productively for brand recognition and promotion.
Use your logo as the critical point of your social media campaigns.
Whether you find Facebook influencers for cooperation or run ads, make sure to include your logo in every piece of brand content so that your brand mark will become more recognisable over time.
Every company should strengthen its brand as much as possible, and your logo may help you achieve just that. It also underlines your brand’s distinct identity, causing consumers to recognise and remember you.
After remembering, the customers will undoubtedly come back to you. This, however, won’t happen in itself: later on, you should follow branding strategies and public relations trends to promote your products appropriately to spread the word about your brand.
For every business planning out a marketing strategy, the key aim is to improve the results of their existing promotional efforts.
Logos can be helpful here as well, as they can assist you in promoting your company and positively impact your company’s sales.
If your logo is recognisable, people will remember it and find it on banners, products, and advertisements.
So, differentiating from billions of logos and brands is very important for brand marketing and should be at the centre of your advertising strategies will be very effective because of your brand’s unique and typical logo.
Dare to be unusual with your logo since it tells customers why your brand is different. Sure, your city may have many book shops, but yours is the only one dedicated to sustainability, and your catchy and thematic logo should reinforce that message.
Avoid going for a bland, generic logo that would fit both a shoe company and a cheese one. Go for a brand logo that can showcase its message and purpose, most importantly, its values.
According to research conducted by FactoHR, 50% of C-executives believe that company values improve the company’s profitability.
Your logo shows your customers that your company is as unique as the product you offer and that you’re not similar to your market competitors.
Don’t forget to showcase your uniqueness on every marketing channel, from social media to email marketing campaigns. All you need is a bit of creativity with your strategies.
One way you can do this is by using an email design-builder to have professional and good-looking emails with your company’s logo and represent it to clients and customers properly.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and there is the truth: people remember images better than text.
A logo is a combination of pictures and symbols, it’s more memorable than text, so it becomes the first thing about your company that people will remember.
A memorable logo that stands out will then help the customers find your brand more accessible and faster.
Your logo will become more recognised to a broader spectrum of consumers as you grow your audience, and this familiarity will promote the notion that you are trustworthy and approachable.
If customers like you, they’ll come back for more, and the first thing they’ll look for is your logo.
A logo is the primary visual part of business and brand, so usually, customers recognise and remember brands through their logo.
It’s not that easy to create a logo appropriate to your company rules and style and be memorable and unique, but it’s entirely possible.
There are several significant elements you can use to create a unique and complete logo design that will be the face of your company. Let’s take a look at them.
Simplicity is essential. We can often find recognisable and straightforward logos with minimal graphical symbols when we think of famous companies.
A complicated and mixed-up logo is confusing for the audience and challenging to remember.
Simple logo designs are always harder to make because you need to combine much information in a few symbols. But simple is better because it’s eye-catching, easy to understand and remember.
The best logo will contain a few significant elements which will talk about the values and goals of the company, making communication with customers easier.
Simplicity, discussed in the previous point, is a crucial part here as well. It leads to being memorable and easily recognisable.
After seeing your company’s logo, people should remember the specific symbols of your logo design, even for a brief time.
You should connect the icons of logo design with the company’s activity and ideology.
Using a company’s name in a logo, a few icons or words can recognise the brand. Because too many symbols together may create a mess, your company’s main message can be lost.
A memorable logo should be easily recalled and remembered after just one glance. It’s also crucial in increasing customer engagement with your brand, as they feel the connection even after a brief exposure to your logo.
Your logo will be used on many different products in different types and sizes, both online and offline. Overall, your logo should be flexible and easy to recreate for appropriate situations.
The logo should be visible both from a huge banner and from a small business card. It means that it should be flexible for different size formats of products, for example, t-shirts, cups, brochures, etc.
Moreover, you will also use it in digital campaigns such as email marketing. Of course, text content and email authentication security are essential, but your logo will keep users engaged.
So, you need to make sure your logo is relevant from both the visual point of view and size.
But during size changes, the logo must maintain its completeness and idea.
It’s also essential to consider the textures and patterns that the logo should be sewed on, so designers should think about all the nuances that make a logo flexible.
There are thousands of ideas of logo design with many colour and symbol combinations. And from that, you should create a unique one that will capture customers’ eyes and hearts.
For that, you need to avoid obvious formulations of phrases or standard logo designs.
For the unique logo design inspirations, it’s a good idea to look around you, research logos, or take a look at other brands. Try not to copy them but use some style or colours for inspiration.
Too much similarity with others will make it difficult to distinguish your brand and remember it.
So your logo must be your “business card” and appropriate only to your brand, which will be recognisable and associated only with your company; it shouldn’t be confused with other brands.
Colours have a significant impact on human psychology and perception. This is also known as colour theory, something that designers need to consider when creating a logo.
This is essential for them to choose the right colours appropriate to its ideology and be pleasant to customers.
Colours can reflect a brand’s message. But it would help if you were very careful by choosing a colour for your logo because people can feel different emotions by seeing specific colours.
In any case, don’t overshoot about colours. Choosing two or three colours for logo design will be enough. Take into consideration the mix of colours: pick the ones that look good and form an eye-catching combination.
The right chosen colours may have a positive impact on your business’s success.
Many famous brands are well-known due to their colours, and by seeing a particular colour, people remember that brand. For example, companies that create tech products often tend to have blue logos.
Your logo needs to be relevant. It doesn’t mean that it must reflect your whole business, but it may have relevance, at least with a particular industry.
In short, you need to make clear what your business is about.
A great logo stands for something more than just an excellent design. It is responsible for the purpose and message and what the business offers to customers of its brand.
That should be relevant with your logo: target your audience and speak to them about your brand slogan. Relevant logos contain appropriate colours, fonts, and graphics and speak about the brand’s purpose and identity.
A great logo should be timeless and have a long life expectancy. But it also should be up to date, so you’ll sometimes need to change it to look fresher.
Suppose you have good brand recognition with a memorable logo, then after the change. In that case, it will remain recognisable, and customers will still have the same emotions and memories about the brand.
You need to find the perfect combination of trendy and timeless design. However, remember that trends come and go all the time, so don’t try to chase a new trend every year, redoing your logo constantly.
When creating logos, thousands of combinations of symbols and images are used, and each of them is considered a specific type.
There are many types of logo designs, but few of them are widespread.
In this section, let’s look at the main types of logos and understand which one will suit your brand the best.
Lettermarks or monogram logos are usually made as a result of a combination of letters and initials. Many famous brands are using their initials in logos, and this makes recognising their brand easier.
Especially when companies have long names, it’s helpful for them to use letter mark logos to shorten their name and make them easier to pronounce and remember.
The font is significant in monogram logos because you only focus on the letters. If they are written with the right font, they will be eye-catching and memorable, and also, they will look good in every size and texture.
People love abbreviations: they are easy to read and keep in mind, so using them in your brand logo will make it both recognisable and straightforward—for example, BMW, BBC, NASA, etc.
Brand marks, also known as pictorial marks, are usually created with graphical symbols and icons representing the brand’s ideology.
The icon might be simple but with the purpose, representing the company and company values.
Those logos might be simple and easy to remember, and if people recognise your company after seeing the logo, then your work process of creating the brand’s visual part is on the right track.
But if your brand is new and less recognisable, it’s not a good idea to make a brand mark logo.
As your company is not that popular, the icon will not help in any way to remember your brand’s name. If you can put the part of your name with the logo symbol, it will be a better option.
An abstract logo is a geometric form that is associated with your company. Abstract logos represent your brand ideology, and one image may contain the whole idea and purpose of the company.
You can make a unique and unrepeatable abstract logo that will be typical only for you. You can send your brand’s emotion and main idea through abstract logos using images and symbols.
It’s not only about using specific pictures or symbols: you can also create an ideology with some abstract icons around your brand name.
It will express something unique about your company and emphasise your individuality.
It allows you to create such a logo design that will be both minimalistic and meaningful. Sometimes it gives not a specific message but a hidden meaning about its history, products, or purpose.
Mascot logos are created using illustrated characters. Those characters can be real people or imaginary ones who are considered to be ambassadors of a brand.
They are often cartoonish and colourful, give the feeling of being a part of a family, and are responsible for a warm atmosphere created around the brand.
The mascot logos create a critical part of your business and get involved in something meaningful.
You can create your brand’s marketing strategy around the idea that a particular character is a spokesman for your business. The mascot logo will make your brand more alive and friendly.
As people love to communicate with each other, they will consider your brand as their friend. Some good examples of mascot logos are from KFC, Pringles, etc.
A wordmark logo is similar to a lettermark which is a logo that uses the brand’s name with different fonts. These types of logos are the best choice for those companies that have a short and distinct name.
Logos of Coca-Cola and Google are good examples of this. When the name is memorable and catchy, you only need to design it with the proper font and colours to create strong brand recognition over time.
As the focus is on the words (your company’s name,) the choice of fonts, colours, and style must be proper.
Wordmark logos can help create a straightforward logo design and make your brand’s name more recognisable and readable. The choice of typography will be appropriate to your brand’s style and ideology.
A combination mark is a logo containing both a wordmark or lettermark and an abstract image or mascot. You can mix them in different ways: mascot with lettermark, abstract image with a brand name below, etc.
With this type of logo, you can make the brand’s recognition process faster as there will be images and short text to remember, and it can be easier for customers to remember.
This type is especially effective for those who have started their business recently. The combination of images and text will help your audience recognise your brand by remembering some of the details of your logo design.
Over time you can use only one part of your logo (image or text) as the brand recognition phase will be done. Great examples of famous companies that use combination marks are Doritos, Lacoste, Burger King, etc.
An emblem logo, one of the old types of logo design, consists of icons, letters, badges, and crests. Sports clubs, government agencies, universities, the auto industry, and others often use these logos.
It has some traditional feeling due to its styling and details included. One of the most popular brands that have an emblem logo is Starbucks.
Emblem logos are considered to be very memorable. They look professional and give some vital spirit to your brand. It gives a feeling that your brand has a history of a thousand years.
But, unfortunately, emblem logos tend to be not so flexible. After resizing, the logo will not look that good as in the standard size.
Because there are so many details in emblems, they will lose their appearance and meaning while being reduced.
Minimalist design gives an elegant and luxurious impression to your brand. This type of logo can be very aesthetic and complete, making your brand memorable and good-looking at the same time.
Minimalist logo designs are challenging to create because combining a brand’s idea, style, purpose, product direction in one single icon or short text is difficult.
However, with enough effort, it is possible, and the final results are worth it.
Making a proper logo design for your brand is an incredibly creative process. Every designer has their steps for making a logo, but some general steps to create a beautiful and flexible logo for your business.
First of all, to start a logo creation process, you need to brainstorm, which is sharing all ideas, getting feedback from employees, and discussing them.
Assemble your team and everyone involved in the branding process to think of possible options for your future logo.
Write down all suggested ideas, even the ones that seem to be not a good fit at first. Then use meeting notes and write down fresh ideas or combine some ideas to decide on the final result.
Moreover, generating relevant keywords as adjectives to describe your brand will be a great addition to the brainstorming process.
Doing some research before starting creating a logo design is always the starting point. Research is the process of being acquainted and analysing the market in detail.
During this process, you will see thousands of logo options that have already been created, and that may give you some inspiration or the right direction on how to generate ideas.
There are also many websites for visual inspiration, such as Pinterest, Behance, Dribbble, etc. You can do research there and get some creative ideas for your logo design.
Before all that, be sure of what you are looking for; just do target research and save some time and energy. This step will also help to avoid copying competitors and create something new and unique instead.
Research doesn’t mean finding the ready versions and using them. It helps you see what’s in the market and web design trends and use these new ideas and inspiration to create a unique one.
Most professional graphic designers firstly do some sketches of the logo by hand before creating the digital versions.
Sketching allows one to be more creative and reproduce ideas quickly from mind to paper.
Visualising ideas will help clarify them and allow making some changes to them. Through sketching, designers can find a solution in what form to reproduce the idea of the logo.
Another benefit of sketching is that it can help visualise some symbols, icons, and ideas generated during the brainstorming process.
It also makes digitisation easier because you already have the “skeleton” of the logo, and you only need to import it into a computer.
Choosing colours for your logo is a crucial step, and you need to be very cautious about it. Select your colours properly and don’t overuse them. Try to keep it around two or three colours.
Pick the colour or colour combos that will be appropriate to your brand and will emphasise your uniqueness. For example, if you’re selling electric skateboards, brighter colours in neon shades must be the best choice.
Also, consider the effects colours have on people: specific colours can negatively affect your logo design, but others can make it look more professional and trustworthy.
Keep in mind that you will place your logo on banners, clothes, brochures, etc., and make sure that it has a clear colour and will still have it after being put on different textures and resizing.
Use colours that will be pleasant for clients and easy to remember.
The choice of shapes and fonts is very individual and depends on the brand’s industry.
If you have an official company or an organisation, choosing sharper angles for your logo’s shape is preferable. And if your company belongs to the entertainment industry, the shape can be softer.
But it’s not a cliche. You can let your imagination free and improvise with different shapes and choose the one you think is appropriate for your brand.
Make sure that all the logo details (text, shape, etc.) are in a proper space from each other.
The choice of font will speak a lot about your business. The logo with text will stand on many banners and TV, so first of all, it needs to be clear and readable.
Give a preference to classic or modern types. Focus on the style of logo and branding, choose the font which will be appropriate to those.
Don’t change the font too often. It will create a feeling of mistrust among customers, and also, they will forget about your brand soon.
Once you’ve done sketching and choosing the final version of the logo, you need to digitise it.
Many software design platforms allow you to turn the idea into a digital design that you can use on every step of your marketing strategy, from video podcasting to digital flyers.
The digital version of a logo is mandatory because there are so many situations that you need to represent your logo on the computer or the phone in the digital era.
Digitalisation makes it possible to make some changes to logo design or complete it by adding more details.
The colours and fonts that have been chosen before may look more natural and clear on the screen, so you will be able to understand whether you chose the right colour or if it needs to be changed.
Don’t forget to look at your social channels to check your users and customers wants and needs, and then improve your social media management strategies.
You can also use modern intelligent analytical tools to learn more about service quality and fix it for comfort.
It’s possible to improve the user experience on the website by using tools that reveal customers’ behaviour.
For this, you can consider using an interactive heatmap tool to find key insights about which part of your website users are attracted more.
To sum up, the process of making a logo is a fun and creative one, but, on the other hand, it’s a very responsible step for business development.
As the logo is considered the central visual part of the company, following these steps can help you create a logo that will succeed and become the natural face of your brand.
As we’ve gone through the steps you need to take to develop your logo, let’s have the financial part covered as well.
When you start creating a logo for your brand, it’s crucial to realise that you need to allocate a budget.
Depending on your needs, the price of your final result may be different. And if you are doing this for the first time, it may seem a little overwhelming.
But this is a crucial step to take initially, to be realistic about the results you will get in the end, to avoid being disappointed.
From creating a logo that costs mere dollars on logo-creation platforms to branding agencies charging thousands of dollars, the range of budget you can spend on creating a logo is a wide one.
As a new business, you may not be able to dedicate considerable resources. However, keep in mind that you are investing in the future, so make sure every dollar you send is used properly.
When developing your branding, it’s rare that you only need to create a logo. More often than not, you’ll have to get a whole visual identity that matches your new logo and your brand message.
The critical elements of your brand you need to consider when creating a visual identity for your brand are the logo with different colour variations, visual brand identity, including brand colours, and your brand guidelines.
When considering your budget, here are several things you can do:
1 – Consider your other expenses
If you are a business, you probably have many essential expenses to cover, from marketing spendings to product purchases and salaries.
Considering these expenses and taking them out from your overall budget will give you an idea about how much resources you have left.
2 – Adjust your expectations with your budget
Nike’s logo was created by a student and cost the company mere 35 dollars. However, not every company can rely on being this lucky.
In the age of digital business, when millions of brands try to make it, unique, high-quality logos are becoming more and more valuable. And, of course, you, as a brand, wish to have one.
What you need to realise, however, is that more often than not, you get what you pay for. Therefore, the final look of your logo will depend on the budget you are ready to invest, not to be disappointed in the end.
3 – Decide on the range you can allocate.
If you are unsure about the exact amount you are ready to spend, setting up a range, even a wide one, is an excellent place to start.
This will give you a clearer idea of where to look for solutions and what to expect. For example, if your range is $30-$500, two of the options you may have are online logo builders and a freelance graphic designer.
This step may seem less obvious and is often neglected by many brands until they face a problem. While using online logo makers simplifies the payment.
Working with freelancers of international outsourcing companies, the lack of platforms in different countries, slow transactions, and data breaches can hinder the payment process.
Another common problem is the tax issue, resulting in the employees receiving less than expected or spending more.
This is one of the reasons many businesses now switch to alternative payment options like cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain-backed currency Ethereum works great for instant international transfers, for example. Litecoin and Bitcoin are other popular solutions.
If you decide to go with them as a payment option, consider using a portfolio tracker always to be aware of the price of your crypto assets, as well as how much you need to transfer.
Budgeting is an essential piece of the logo design puzzle as it allows you to visualise your financial capabilities.
Whether you want to go with something simple and hire a junior specialist or want your logo to be done more professionally, it will cost you. So, make sure you’re ready for what’s coming.
Creative graphic designers of Inkbot design studio will help you make a professional logo design for your business or startup.
With significant experience in the industry, Inkbot design helps business owners worldwide develop unique and on-point branding to grow their business and earn their rightful place in the market.
It means you can apply the created logo design on your business cards, stationery, website etc. and show the world who you are and why they need to choose you. The created logo will be associated with your brand forever.
You will adequately plan your brand’s logo design to achieve the desired goals in the final result.
First of all, you need to tell the designer about your company’s goals, style, purposes, etc., so they can help you make your ideas become a beautifully crafted yet practical reality.
Making a logo with Inkbot design can be very easy and fast, creative and skilled at the same time.
Representing your products under the well-designed and professional-looking logo will positively impact your business and create a significant identity in the market and among customers, thus generating leads and boosting sales.
Before you start working on your logo, it will be wise to do some deep research on your own to understand the colours, fonts, shapes, and other elements that logos consist of.
Use Google Trends API to discover and analyse current and past trends in branding and design.
This research will take you in the right direction as you’ll develop an idea of what you want the outcome to look like, and the designers will understand what you want for your business.
The designers will conduct their research too, after getting some information about your company.
However, the final result will be based on the information from the source, the company itself, as hearing the ideas from the client will help work directly and effectively to reach the desirable logo for your brand.
Using Inkbot to make your logo will allow you to pick the best tools for designing a modern logo that will match the latest digital trends and fit your brand’s needs.
There are many software programs for designers that Inkbot uses to pick the right program and tools for creating the perfect logo for your business.
The choice of the right program or tool will be crucial for the final result.
That choice will be on the designer’s “shoulders” because they are skilled in that program and know the ways and proper tools to create a logo that you will like and relevant to your brand, and what is vital that the customers will like and remember it.
Before making a logo with Inkbot Design, choosing the logo you want to have is very important. This will make the creation process more targeted and productive.
You can alter the type later in the creation process, but the primary “skeleton” and the main idea will help you construct the logo and achieve an outcome you’ve imagined.
Choosing a logotype will speak a lot about your brand and general style, leading the way for your business growth.
Moreover, the professionals of Inkbot design are ready to change the logo for your company until you are satisfied with that.
The budget will be fixed and comfortable for you. No hourly rates and extra responsibilities; everything is easy with Inkbot Design.
We cannot overestimate the importance of logo design. Whether you invest considerable resources into your logo creation or go with affordable online tools, you need to remember that the result will be the face of your brand for the years to come.
It will represent your brand on all platforms and be the first thing people remember about your company.
Therefore, it’s vital to learn about the steps to logo creation that you need to follow and how shapes and colours affect the perception people will have about your brand.
Then, use this information to develop a logo that will help you create the right impression about your company.
