Your logo is an essential part of your company’s branding. It helps all other aspects of your marketing to be easily recognizable. It also ties all elements of your marketing plan together and creates a cohesive message for consumers. However, you only reap these benefits if your logo design is spot on. A bad logo design can turn people away from your company and even discourage consumers from buying your product or service. How do you avoid a “bad” logo design? We’ll outline some logo best practices, as well as things you want to avoid.
Tips for creating a dynamic logo
Define your audience
To make your logo dynamic, you need to know your target audience. Are they young, middle-aged, older? Are they business buyers or consumers? Are they local, or do you want to appeal to a broader market? What about how they spend their time, energy and money is relevant to understanding them? When you know your target audience, you will better choose a logo design and colors that will grab the attention of your preferred customers.
Start your design in black and white
Color works to make your logo eye-catching and create a mood. But color can also distract from your design and hide some critical errors, such as illegible print or a fuzzy design. Print your logo in B&W and scrutinize it before it’s added to your marketing materials.
Disconnect images from the text
When you consider logo design, keep your images separate from your text. Not only will this make your logo easier to read, but your image will instantly become a shareable icon, which can bring you even more brand recognition in social media.
Avoid unnecessary words
Simplicity is a basic tenet of any type of design. In logo design, it’s crucial to minimize what consumers must digest in the few seconds they will be focus on your logo. Use as few words as possible to convey your meaning and message.
Plan your logo to be scaled
You may create your logo to fit your letterhead, your website header or the sign outside your store, but your marketing department likely plans to use the new logo in all these places and more. You need a logo to look as good on a billboard as it will on a consumer’s mobile phone.
What not to do in logo design
Don’t use too many colors
How many colors should a good logo have? No more than three. Two is better. More than three colors will distract viewers and make your logo more difficult to read.
Don’t use drop shadows
Drop shadows are designed to add depth and interest to a graphic. But, with logos, the effect more often makes the logo foggy and more difficult to read. Drop shadows also do not reproduce well on non-print media, like T-shirt or billboards.
Don’t pick the wrong font
Choosing an ineffective font is one of the most common errors in creating a logo, as is choosing the “wrong” font. Fonts may look creative and intriguing on a page, but they may be too busy or too hard to read in your finished product. To test your logo font, look at it from a distance and see how it looks when it is merged with the other fonts you use in your marketing materials. If you still like your font choice, you’ve picked a winner.
Don’t copy other brands
Company logos are everywhere, so it’s easy to get an idea in your head that really came from someone else’s logo. We understand, but to make your logo — and your brand identity — distinctive, it’s important to make your logo different from others.
Don’t follow trends
Following trends gives your logo a short shelf life. If everyone is uses yellow graphics or a certain font, those logos will look dated when the trend moves on to a different color and font. Avoid this trap.
Designing a dynamic logo doesn’t have to be impossible. Make the most of your logo by following our list of dos and don’ts. For more information on logo design, contact ER Marketing. We’ve been helping companies like yours get the most for their marketing dollars for more than 20 years.
