food product logo design

You want your logo to communicate your brand’s personality. And in order to do that, you first need to understand what your brand’s core personality is. Once you have a clear idea of what makes you unique and what your brand is all about, it will be much easier for you to make design choices that complement and complete that picture.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself, to get to the bottom of your brand identity:

Why did we start this business?

What are the beliefs and values that are important to us as a company?

What do we do better than anyone else?

What makes us special?

If we could describe our brand in three words, what would it be?

What are the three words we would want our customers to use to describe us?

Perhaps you are a conceptual person and like to start off by collecting verbal ideas. A proper brainstorming session can be just what you need to pin down the look and feel you’re trying to achieve. Here are three steps that will help you draw out the best creative logo ideas:

1. Follow the rules of the brainstorm: Brainstorming is about getting all ideas out (even those really really bad ones) and writing them down. Even a horrible idea can spark a conversation that leads to a genius solution.

2. Think like your audience: Make a list of words that describe your brand and how you want it to be perceived. Think like a person in your target demographic and always remember what would be important to them.

3. Get everyone involved: A one-person-brainstorm is fine, but only diversity will make the magic happen. Bring in people from every department or even friends and business partners. The more perspectives, the better.

If you’re a visual person, a mood board may be the perfect tool for you to get inspired. You can create an actual board by cutting out and pinning printed images or make a digital one (Pinterest would be the obvious choice here). Simply collect all the images you feel drawn to—those can be other logos, color combinations, illustrations or graphics, go wild! You’ll see, your mood board will reflect what style and design features you are gravitating towards in no time. Need a good place to start? We suggest checking out the 99designs logo inspiration gallery. 

Now that you have a clear idea of your brand and are feeling inspired, it’s time to start translating that into the design. There are lots of different elements that come into play here, from colors, shapes and graphics to typography. Isolating each component and what it can do for your logo will help you take things step by step, rather than getting overwhelmed with the whole design all at once.

When thinking about your logo, the first thing you want to do is pick the right design aesthetic for your brand. There is no one style that is right for everyone, only what’s best for your brand.

Trendy logos can be fun and exciting, but they can quickly look outdated. A classic style gives you better staying power and can help you reach a broader audience. This aesthetic keeps it simple and doesn’t venture out into crazy color palettes, graphics or fonts. A classic style tells people that you are reliable and down to earth. 

There is a reason why vintage and retro designs have been on trend for quite some time now. They instantly remind you of the past and evoke romantic feelings of nostalgia. A vintage logo tells customers that history is important to you and that whatever you sell is done right. Worn and hand-illustrated logos in brown and beige color palettes fit this aesthetic beautifully. 

Brands often choose a clean and minimalist style to communicate how fresh and modern they are. This style uses a lot of whitespaces, minimal details and simple lines often resulting in sleek, pared-back logos. A minimalist and modern style shows your customers that your brand is up-to-date, cool and knows what counts. 

This is a popular choice for brands with a young (or young at heart) target customer. Fun and quirky style tends to be colorful and cute and often uses symbols or illustrations to create a positive and friendly vibe. Go for a whimsical mascot or a sweet illustration to let your brand’s fun character shine through. 

Handcrafted style transports a clear message: this brand is individualistic and stands for handmade quality. The style works well in combination with other aesthetics, like vintage, to really drive the message home. But it can be combined with minimal and fun styles as well for a simple and sophisticated or a bright and youthful look. 

Lettermark logos can be great to streamline your company logo, especially if your name is very long or hard to remember. Lots of businesses choose to go by their initials, just think of HP, CNN or H&M. These monograms can be great for minimalist logos, but remember that they are not very good at expressing what your business is about. 

Pictorial marks or logo symbols are what we think of when we hear the word “logo”. They are iconographic images that are easily recognizable and represent your brand with an image. You can choose something simplistic or more complex, but make sure to pick a symbol that creates a unique connection to your brand. Oftentimes these are paired with a wordmark (you know, so customers know your name… at least until you’re on par with Apple and Target in terms of brand recognition). 

A combination mark does exactly what it says on the tin: it combines a symbol with a word mark to create an easily recognizable logo. The brand name is either placed next to the symbol or is integrated into the graphic element, like how designer ludibes demonstrates with the Brite Side logo. People will associate both elements with your brand, which allows you to use them both alone or together. 

In this video, Brandon Shepherd uses Photoshop to draw 100 logos from memory. There's a ton of fun illustration, digital painting, and some logo designs that just didn't quite live up to reality. Enjoy! 

In this video, Brandon Shepherd uses Photoshop to create simplified designs of famous products. The world of minimalism can be tricky, but he'll use every design skill he has to pull off some great results! 

IIn this video, Brandon Shepherd uses Adobe Photoshop CC to turn 3 popular junk food Package Designs into "healthy" snacks. It's amazing how deceptive marketing can be. He uses a variety of skills including: Logo Design, Illustration, Photobashing, and Painting to create all of these unique designs.