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Just like a Russian nesting doll, there is a lot more to designing a logo than meets the eye. A logo can be summed up in just three words: icon, font and color. But the work involved in designing each of these elements is a lot to unpack.
Logo design is like a body – it needs more than just the base or the ‘bones’ to be as fully functional as possible. In my long career as a serial ukbusinessupdates.com, I’ve learned firsthand the value of making sure each logo is designed in the best possible way for the longevity and success of the company it represents.
Ready for an anatomy lesson? These are the crucial elements needed for a great logo design.
Related: 10 questions to ask when designing your company logo
A graphic that matches the brand
You may have decided to go for a simple wordmark or lettermark logo. If that’s the best fit for your brand, go for it, but most brands — more than 60% according to some statistics — use a combination logo, with both a wordmark and an image or icon.
When choosing your image, here are the essentials to ensure your choice is the best for the success of the logo – and the brand behind it.
- Avoid images that are too general and inconspicuous. Standard stock images or iconography can be a good starting point to give you an idea of what you want, but play around with it to make sure it’s the most accurate style for your business.
- Make sure your graphic style isn’t tone-deaf. Tone and messaging are both necessary for good graphic design. For example, if you’re launching a high-tech startup with the goal of a reputation for cutting-edge, a quirky, cartoonish image wouldn’t fit.
- Check for scalability. How well does your image display in different sizes? Make sure it’s a vector image to avoid pixelation issues and possible loss of detail.
- Don’t be a copycat. This calls for extensive market research and analysis of potential competition. Does your competitor use a red star in its logo? Keep it outside of yourself. Copycat or dupe designs almost inevitably lead to unfavorable comparisons.
Related: What are the main elements of a logo?
Prioritize clarity in your font
Choosing your font is the next big part of putting together a great logo design. Font choice is not only integral to the usability of the logo, but also to its overall uniqueness. Here are some keys to look for:
- Readability and readability. You can use these interchangeably, but they are terms that are different but related. Readability refers to the individual letters and words and how easy they are to understand. Readability refers to whether the text can be read in its entirety and how easy it is to do so. These are essential for the choice of font, as there are a limited number of them: alphabet letters in your logo. Check them all for readability and make sure they work together accurately for overall readability. Color choice also plays a role here, both in font color and background, but we’ll get to that later.
- Psychology of Font Choice. In general, we tend to associate certain properties and characteristics with certain types of fonts, such as serif which is considered reliable and traditional, sans serif as youthful and script as creative and unique. This can be used to fit your brand’s message and influence the first impression of your logo.
- Branding potential. How does your chosen font work on other brands? Branding works best as a cohesive whole, reusing individual elements for familiarity and reliability. Count on the use of your logo font in other parts of the brand identity and check legibility and readability against other potential uses.
Make it unforgettable with color choice
The colors you choose can increase the recognition of your brand and make it memorable. Here are the keys to a good color choice.
- Psychology of color. As with fonts, we infer certain properties from colors and they evoke certain feelings and reactions. Different demographic groups also have preferred colors. leverage color psychology in branding can elevate the logo design.
- Avoid using too many colors. Most design experts suggest no more than two or three.
- Careful choice of color affects brand recall. The use of a signature color in your logo and branding may increase brand recognition by 80%.
Related: The role of color in branding
Everything in a row
The details of the logo design vary depending on the company behind the logo, the designer and the design itself. Sometimes inspiration strikes. For others, trying to get the perfect logo design is a long, arduous effort. There is no surefire way to guarantee the success of logo design every time, any more than there is a surefire way to guarantee the success of a new business venture.
But just as experience in the world of entrepreneurship will help us in our next startup, a deeper understanding of good logo design will help us weigh the odds in our favor.
