Fresh from the Press

Picking a logo that your customers will love and feel comfortable with is always going to be difficult, with your customers having different tastes and preferring different styles, so your logo design will have to please the most amount of people (and not just you).

So, following a few basic rules will help you get back on track and that will also ensure you have a final product that your customer will love too and come to do business with you over your competitors.

The Steps

The first step you need to consider is what your brand or company trying to convey – are you known for first rate customer service, or are you offering premium services?

You need your logo to convey what you can are actually offering the customer that is unique to you and your business as well as trying to convey what you actually do. For example, if your sell nuts and bolts, but your logo has a toolbox in it, then your customers may think you sell tools instead of fastening devices.

The second step would be, always be open to ideas. If you’re having trouble creating a logo that attempts to get across your brand or are drawing a blank with your own ideas, then don’t stress! This is very simple to overcome, don’t feel like you have to keep everything to yourself as sometimes other people see things differently to you and will often give you great ideas.

And the final step would be, don’t go over the top with the logo. Sometimes when you’re creating a logo over a long period of time you begin to overdo things – perhaps at the risk of losing focus on what you are trying to convey in your logo.

If you feel like at some point the logo looks good and would appeal to your customers, take a break for a while and come back a few days later. This will give you some perspective and some fresh eyes allowing you to see the potential flaws in the design.

Logos Have Personality

All logos have a personality that they bring to the table, sometimes it is a cheeky little logo that conveys that the company wants to portray that they are friendly and approachable. Other times, they are professional and corporate which would appeal to those in the similar mind set.

For example, the Asda logo is green writing. Whilst simplistic and minimal, it speaks volumes about the company behind it. Their choice of green, for example, symbolises safety and friendliness, something that is emphasised in the uniforms of their staff. The font is clean and simple, which matches the perception of their stores.

Matching up the personality of the logo with the company that matches it is very important –sometimes more so than choosing an appealing logo design.

An experienced logo designer, such as those at GB Logo Design, we can match the design and personality of the logo to your own brand to help you convey the information and message across to your customer in the first few seconds of them seeing your logo.

Presented here are some of the most common design mistakes for customers wanting a new logo designed (or even an old one redesigned)

It Won’t Work On…

Your logo has to simply work on all mediums required of it – including social media, your website, stationery and every conceivable use for a logo. It may even need printing on staff uniforms depending on your industry and business.

To circumvent this, ensure your logo should be relatively simple and yet recognisable as your “brand”.

It Isn’t Clear What You Do

A logo design must communicate what business you are in and what services/products you offer.

Failure to do this will only result in wasted time for everyone, including yourself. Although you don’t have to fall into the clichéd lines of your industry, you can do a lot of communicate the services you offer without having to resort to clichés.

For example, a mechanic’s garage wanting a new logo may go along the lines of having a car in their logo, or may work a set of tools into their design, or may infer they work on vehicles some other way, like including the words “Garage” in their logo type and going with something more abstract.

Becomes Invisible

Another pitfall is your logo may, at some point, be placed on a white background – if the logo is very light coloured or even white, how you can ensure that it is still seen.

One possibility is the put your logo on a solid block of colour, like the NHS logo which has become an integral part of that logo (so much so that the specific shade of blue is used in the NHS branding notes! http://www.nhsidentity.nhs.uk/all-guidelines/guidelines/primary-care-trusts-old-guidance/nhs-logo).

Another way to combat this would be to add a coloured stroke onto the logo which outlines the logo itself and may serve as part of the design itself.

The Small Print

The logo has to be remarkable at all sizes, including on massive billboards, but equally has to look good when shrunk down to a tiny scale.

Does the logo design lose clarity at small scales? Is the shape still recognisable at such small print sizes? Shrink your logo and find out!

Hard to Read

Your logo must be able to be red in under a second. Imagine if you showed your logo to someone for a second and then hid it again, would they be able to tell you what it said?

The logo is competing for attention in a busy marketplace and must immediately be readable to your chosen audience.

Including Everything And The Kitchen Sink

Do you find yourself including every element you feel should be there such as an icon, company name & tagline? There are times and places where all the elements should be included, for example on letterheads and stationery, but other times, such as social networks, using only the icon or icon and company name would be the better option.