Obtaining a stellar logo for you business is under appreciated by many entrepreneurs, and is often overlooked. Your logo is your business’s identity, and if it’s good, it can work wonders for marketing. Here are a few tips on logos that never fail:
- Limit your fonts – Logos that use more than two fonts look tacky, unprofessional, and lack a sense of unity. If your logo is supposed to be your brand’s identity, having too many fonts would make it look bipolar.
- Make your text really speak for you – Think of how you would like your business to be represented, and choose a font based on your business’s personality. Thin, elegant fonts are formal and feminine. Bold, sans-serif fonts are powerful and masculine. Brainstorm adjectives that describe your business, and make sure your fonts convey the same message.
- It’s a good idea to limit yourself to one or two main colors. The more colors you have, the harder your logo will be to reproduce on merchandise.
- Keep your competitors in mind. Make sure you don’t use the same color(s) as your major competition. Some brands (like Coca Cola) have trademarked their brand colors and it’s actually illegal for competition to use the same colors in their logo. Using the same – or even similar – colors may confuse consumers.
- Your logo won’t always be in full color, so make sure your logo will still be effective in black and white.
- Use solid colors. If your logo relies on gradients, it can’t be printed in black and white.
- Keep the graphics in your design simple. We at Engines of Creation learned the hard way on this one. Intricate logo designs don’t scale down well, and are extremely difficult (not to mention expensive!) to place on hats, shirts, etc. Even on a computer screen, intricate logos at smaller dimensions will lose detail.
- Simple logos are effective because they are easy to describe, often make a bold statement, and best of all, they are easy for people to remember.
- Simple doesn’t have to mean boring. A single, unique shape is much more exciting than a cliché graphic, such as a globe or a recycling symbol. Try working your graphic elements into your company name for a fun twist. (Hint: Use negative space wisely!)
- Make sure that whoever designs your logo gives it to you in vector format. Vectors can be magnified indefinitely without losing quality. This makes it possible for your logo to be placed on trucks or billboards without any problems – and without having to re-create it.
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