What is a logo?
A logo is a visual mark representing a company or a brand.
It is the “face” of your brand, using your colors, typography, and imagery in order to convey your brand identity. You see logos everywhere, ranging from your clothes, water bottles, signage, social media, anything you can think of.
Importance of a logo
When a logo is well-designed and done right, it catches your eye easily. You don’t have to look it up or ask someone what the logo is. It’s important to have a logo in order to be recognizable and for your customers to remember your business. Without it, your business will be lost in the crowd.
When people see your logo, it will trigger an emotion or feeling about your brand. McDonalds’ golden arches is one of the most recognizable logos in the world. When we see the bright yellow M in the distance, we immediately recognize what it stands for. People have created an emotional connection to McDonalds enough for it to occur whenever they see the logo, and majority of the time, it is a positive response. Studies have shown that children ages 3-6 have started to recognize brands, especially Disney. The reason? They all had created an emotional connection tied to that brand.
Design Principles of a logo
Design principles are the basic guidelines for creating an effective logo. These practices focus on creating a functional and distinctive logo that connects well with your intended audience and functions across every type of media you work with.
Simplicity: Simplicity is what helps your logo stand out against others. You want people to remember your logo.
Memorable: Your logo must be legible. If you have too many elements, colors, and hard to read typography, it will be forgotten.
Appropriate: Your logo must be appropriate for the correct audience. It needs to match the brand’s personality and the industry it’s dedicated to.
Timelessness: Your logo must be able to remain relevant and stand the test of time.
Versatility: Your logo needs to be able to adapt and land anywhere. It will be on every touch point you think of, like your clothes, business cards, your website, etc.
The different types of logos
Wordmark:
What are logo variations?
A logo variation is several versions of your logo that allows your brand to have flexibility across the board and to be recognizable in different ways.
Primary Logo: This is the main face of your brand. All your other logos will branch off from this logo.
Secondary Logo: This an alternate logo from your primary, the placement will either be horizontal or vertical. This is used in places where your primary logo cannot be used.
Submark: A smaller version of your primary logo that can be used in smaller contexts like social media platforms.
Favicon: If you’ve ever wondered what the small icon is in your browser’s tab, that is called a favicon! It’s a small mark representing your brand.
What elements contribute to a logo?
A logo design has several elements that tie it all together to communicate what your brand is all about. Here are some contributing elements that help create an effective logo:
Colors: Colors are essential to a logo! They create an emotional connection to your customers and reflect your brand.
Typography: Selecting a font for your logo will reflect your brand’s tone and personality. Most brands use custom typefaces and others create unique one-of-a-kind fonts.
Imagery: If you decide to have a combination mark or a pictorial mark, it’s important you select imagery that represents and communicates what your brand is about.
What makes a bad logo?
If your logo fails to represent your company or brand, it is a bad logo. Poorly designed logos fail to connect with its audience and lack memorability. We’ve all done this before where we have turned away from a business because their logo wasn’t promising and felt like a scam. Here are some logo design mistakes to avoid:
Complexity: If your logo has too much detail and clutter, it will be difficult to recognize, especially when it comes to scalability. Your logo may look great when it’s enlarged, but it may not look as great when scaled to a smaller size.
Poor typography selection: If you’re using too many fonts in your logo, it will often clash and become unreadable.
Outdated design: While it is fun using a trendy style for your logo, when the trend fades out, your logo will be out of touch.
Color choices: Using too many colors in your logo will create an unprofessional look.
Bad imagery/theme: Logos help set the tone for your company. If the imagery doesn’t represent your brand, you will have created a wrong impression for your audience.
When to consider a new logo or logo redesign
Some companies keep the same logo for years, while others have frequently changed their logo in order to stay relevant. Oftentimes, they undergo logo redesigns to keep in touch with new, modern trends or to signify a new shift in their values. These changes can help create a stronger connection between the company and their audience, if it is done correctly.
When it comes to a logo redesign, you have to consider a few things. Here are a few examples of when you may need a logo redesign:
Stuck in time: If your logo looks like it’s stuck in the past, it may be time to update your logo to something more modern and new.
New brand identity: As your business continues to grow, your old logo might not reflect your business’s vision. Having a redesign on your logo will align with your new values.
Less is more: When your logo is too detailed, it’ll be difficult to remember. Lessening details will help your logo be more memorable.
Appeal to a new audience: If you want to reach out or focus on a certain demographic, you want your logo to appeal towards them specifically.
Adaptability: If your logo is struggling to adapt in other spaces, like an icon on a watch or on a website page, having a new logo with different variations will help with scalability.
You blend in: If your logo is starting to look similar to your competitors, you want to be able to stand out to be remembered.
What is a brand?
A brand is how the company visually represents itself in physical and social media when all the strategy behind it comes together. It is the emotional and experiential connection that occurs with your customers.
Brand strategy is what helps build the foundation of a company or brand. It’s the unique identity that helps the company stand out from its competitors. The brand strategy process includes the company’s mission, vision statement, their core values, core beliefs, and more. This process also includes creating the logo design, which includes the colors and typography.
Is a logo considered a brand?
No, your logo isn’t considered a brand. These two terms are often used interchangeably, many believe these two terms are the same, but they are two different terms!
A brand is the marketing behind your company that creates its unique identity towards your target audience. A logo is a visual symbol that represents your company or brand, without it, your brand would lack trust and professionalism. It’s a small yet essential piece of your brand story.
Why are logos so expensive?
“You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.”
You may be thinking, why does a logo cost so much? We understand fully that the cost may be frightening to some, but we have to consider the process, time, and talent devoted to creating a great logo. There is more to designing a logo than a few sketches and a design program like Canva.
We have to take in consideration that before the design process begins, the design team has to do research. This goes into understanding who the client is and their values, and who their audience is, looking into who their competitors are, and much more. That way, we can make sure that when the designing of the logo begins, we’ll stray away from looking similar and ensure that your company stands out.
The cost isn’t just about the design, but the strategy, research, and experience behind it all.
Can’t AI make my logo?
Yes, AI can make your logo for free.
However, what AI lacks is design thinking. Design thinking requires emotion, strategy, and storytelling. AI is unable to make your logo memorable and puts no effort into generating a connection with your target audience. It will create a logo that does not represent your company or brand, it will only create what you specifically tell it to make.
AI programs rely on pre-made templates and existing photos and illustrations in order to make your logo. This results in your logo being unknowingly similar to another company that may be a few blocks from you, which makes it difficult for distinction or trademark infringement.
However, if you’re just starting your business and don’t have a budget, using AI is a starting point to get moving. It’s great to use for brainstorming and summarizing ideas for your business. However, you must keep in mind that your logo is where first impressions begin. If you’re allowing a machine to create your logo, it may come off differently to your customers.
Conclusion
Now that you have an understanding of what a logo is, we both know that having a logo is essential to your business. You need something to represent your brand!
Logo design isn’t about putting together something nice and pretty, it’s the path that paves your brand forward towards success. If you’re just starting your business or considering it’s time to update your outdated logo, there’s no better time to do so than now.