Logo Design

Your logo is the signature of your brand, and one of your company's most valuable assets. It is the single element that will symbolize your brand more than anything else. A well-designed logo is one that reflects your business and communicates your message. It needs to be simple, unique, memorable, versatile, and able to work without colour. In order to choose a logo, there are important steps to go through, both by yourself and with a graphic designer. In this post, I outline the logo design process and some important guidelines to keep in mind when choosing a logo that is perfect for you. For the creation of your logo, you are free to choose either a freelance designer, a design firm, or perhaps an advertising agency. Throughout this post, for the purpose of convenience and readability, I will use the term "designer" to include whichever type of business or individual is applicable to your case. Choose a budget First off, you should decide on your budget for your new logo. They can cost anywhere from $300-1500 (USD), and sometimes more. Just remember that you get what you pay for, and a designer's fees will reflect experience, client history, and professionalism. Investing in a logo (and a corporate identity to go with it) is one of the most important first steps you can take when building a brand. A logo is worth much more than the hours it takes to create it. You can find logo banks and contest sites online and get one for around $150. There are even different freelancer sites where people bid insanely low prices-like $50. Just be aware that choosing a logo for a cheap price online can be disastrous. Inexperienced designers may take forever, not communicate well, use clip art images (a definite no-no), and may not provide you with the correct files you need for both print and web use. Locate designers There are so many places you can find graphic designers. Choosing the right designer for you is definitely a lot harder (and we'll get to that in a minute). You can locate lots of candidates by using different methods. Ask around. If you know someone with a great logo, simply ask them who did it. Most of my freelance design work comes from referrals. Search graphic design firm directories such as the one on GraphicDesign.com. Browse design galleries and portfolio communities like The Behance Network. Search for "logo design" and "logo development" on social networks like Twitter, Google Plus, and Facebook. Choose a suitable designer After contacting a number of designers and requesting quotes, make sure you look at more than just the price when deciding who gets the job. Consider the designer's previous logos and the corporate identities they have created around those logos. Look for good design presentations because it shows how much they care about their own professional appearance. Read the descriptions that go with each of their logo projects because a logo may look great and all, but it has to meet the specific design requirements to be effective. More importantly, choose a logo designer whose style of design fits your own preferred style. By doing this, you'll be happy with the logo you end up with, and the designer will be happy because that style is what they're most comfortable with. You can judge the professionalism of a graphic designer by the following points. These don't all have to apply, but be on the lookout for at least a few of them. They are polite, direct, knowledgeable, and efficient communicators. They explain their design process for you and tell you what will be delivered upon completion. They will ask you relevant questions to understand your business. They have some sort of contract or service agreement to sign before starting. They require a specified up-front payment before starting. Their grammar, spelling, and punctuation are at least satisfactory. (As with any industry, bad writing says a lot about a person). One crucial note here: if the designer presents you with a contract or agreement, make sure that the ownership of the logo is transferred to you upon final payment. If there is nothing in writing that mentions ownership, then ask your designer to give you this agreement in writing. It is imperative that you own your logo design so that you can legally use it however you like in the future.

Logo Design

Logo Design - The Supreme Importance Of Creating Corporate Image
The right corporate logo design is an advantage to public image. Logos are the first visual image that grab attention. This is why logo designs have to be professional and strong enough to magnetize the target market.

Professional Logo Designs
Logo design is one area of marketing that should never be left to amateurs. If a logo design looks "homemade", it broadcasts an amateurish business image. Attention to detail involved in all types of design is a professional artistic technique. Spending a few extra dollars to insure that a business logo design is compatible with the business offering and market planning shows a huge return on investment in future business revenue. This is the reason color plays such a large role in the success of corporate logo designs.

Color Magnets That Get Customer Attention
It is often tempting to choose logo designs with unusual or specifically unique color combinations. In the world of color, there is a science to using colors to best advantage. When it comes to logos, the key to choosing the best color combination is compatibility. The colors in corporate logo designs speak loudly and clearly of company name, intent and product or service. A professional logo design consultant will insure the best color combination for a corporate logo design.

Choose colors based upon eye appeal and ability to attract attention. Another factor is endurance. Logo colors need to endure from sales and publicity campaigns to special business events. This is how logos become magnets that draws in new business and embed business names into the marketing or business discipline.

Color Combinations
The color combinations for corporate logo designs depend on the service or product and business prominence. For example, a water filtration company might choose two shades of blue and white to link their product line to the company logo. A consulting firm may choose simple and understated monochromatic colors. Red, black, white and blue are the most widely chosen logo design colors. It's recommended to select no more than 4 logo colors for best results.

Logo

One of the most important marketing tools is an effective logo. It provides an easily recognizable identity for your business or organization. It not only communicates who you are but what you are. Therefore, every business or organization contemplating adopting a logo should know the criteria that make for an effective logo.

The first characteristic of an effective logo is that it has immediate impact. Your logo should catch the viewer's eye and hold the viewer's attention. Consider the logo of Apple Computers; the graphic apple with a stylized bite taken out of it has immediate product and corporate identification with consumers. An effective logo "grabs" attention.

In addition to impact, a good logo must be good to look at. An effective logo should have the look and feel of "art", if a logo is not appealing to the eye it will defeat its purpose - attracting attention and providing effective identification.

Closely related to these first two characteristics of a good logo, is distinctiveness. A good logo must stand out from the crowd. A logo that is too similar to other logos is not only confusing but it could be embarrassing or even costly. In 2003, the Chicago Bears sued another professional football team over a logo that was too similar to the Bears' logo!

This brings us to the next characteristic of an effective logo the logo must create or evoke a positive image. "Branding" is a common marketing principle based on product identification growing out of identifying a product with a positive image and a sense of goodwill.

Another characteristic of a good logo is that it accurately represents the organization or business. If a company or organization wants to project a serious, professional image, the logo must look professional. A humorous or whimsical logo would be counterproductive to projecting professionalism.

A good logo must also be straightforward. It has to be free from ambiguity. If the meaning of the logo is vague, if it creates doubt, or if it is indistinct, it cannot be effective.

An effective logo is also comprehensible. A logo must be legible and immediately recognizable from a distance. The meaning of a logo is so tied to its distinct visual form that recognition, a principle function of the logo, would be lost if it were not comprehensible.

The best logos are the most memorable logos. The Apple Computer "Apple" logo and the McDonald's Hamburgers "golden arches" are great logos because they are memorable to the point of being iconic.

A logo must also be flexible enough to give the same impression yesterday, today, and tomorrow so the logo design survives changing fashion. Originally, Apple designed its logo as a monochrome apple with a bite taken out of it to symbolize the acquisition of knowledge. With the advent of the Apple II and its advantage of displaying color, however, Apple added multi-colored bands to its logo.

A good logo must also copy well. In any business or organization, the use of a logo becomes ubiquitous - it is ever-present on buildings, letterhead, signs, products, promotional items, etc. A good logo will be as effective on a business card as it is on a billboard - small scale and large scale uses. Will the logo still be recognizable printed on the barrel of a ballpoint pen?

A logo identifies a business or organization so it would be counterproductive to change it because it did not wear well over time. Do you remember what we said about "branding" earlier in this article? Companies that have invested vast amounts of money, time, and effort to establish their "brand" do not change it frequently for a reason. Make sure your logo will be "timeless" for the same reason.