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How to Design an Effective Logo - Elements of Design

Please note the logos in this article are trademarked and are used only as examples of design!

What is the purpose of a logo? It is quite simply designed to identify your brand. There are Three Keys to designing a great logo. Using basic design principles, you want your logo to be:

• Distinctive
• Graphic
• Simple

There are other considerations for good logo design that you should consider in your creative process. But if you only consider three things in your design, it should be these three! Why? Because a logo is a visual identifier. That’s it! With time and exposure, a great logo should be instantly recognizable as The Brand. Its job is not to sell, it is not to direct people to your website or to give them your phone number. It is to remind them of Your Brand. That’s it. Include all the written details in the content around the logo, not in the design itself.

Start with those three elements of design, and then consider these other 10 tips in your creative process:

1. Interview the client to ensure you understand their expectations and needs, as well as how they want to represent themselves and their company. No sense in spending time coming up with a great design only to find out your client has a completely different vision.

2. Create a concept that informs your design. For example, if the client is a photographer, you could use a graphic in your design that reminds the viewer of a camera lens or a tripod. Here’s an example:

A copywriter logo could incorporate a graphic of pen & ink or a typewriter (old school).

3. Avoid words within the design unless it is the company name and the word is incorporated into the entirety of the design. If you want your tag line within the logo, consider making a version that does not have added words so your logo is easily identifiable even on mobile screens. You don’t want the viewer straining to read the “fine print,” which is what a tag line usually looks like in a logo. Sometimes the client insists on the tag line, and sometimes it is still a great logo! But in general, simpler is better, and added text is usually unnecessary because you can add it in a more readable way when using the logo. Remember the job your logo has – simply to identify the brand!

4. If the company name is initials, create a design incorporating the initials, such as the UPS logo which consists of the initials “ups” inside their distinctive shield. Here you see the different iterations of their logo. Notice how the modernization of their logo made it more graphic, less detailed, as time went on.

Look at television networks – their logos are designed around their call letters.

5. Pick a color scheme that is recognizable and appropriate for your industry. A logo for a conservative law firm is probably not going to use bright colors or cartoonish graphics. Many industries tend toward certain color schemes in their design. It’s not the kind of thing everyone remembers noticing, but your brain takes it in and so it can provide a sense of belonging.

For example, the finance and accounting industries often use conservative blues and grays for their color scheme. Lawn care and nurseries often use green as the primary color. Plumbers often use blue, red or a combination of the two for their main color/s. For ideas, google the industry and look at some of the websites, especially big companies within your industry. Remember, somebody did the research on which colors work best for the industry – you should at least consider that.

Using a color scheme that is established for your industry creates an almost subliminal reassurance that the viewer is in the right place. If you’re going to design your website around an industry color scheme, it makes sense to do the same with your logo unless you have a specific reason not to. Such as…

Let’s say your client is a pediatric dentist, Rainbow Dental. You could feature blue prominently in the design because blue is the most used color in dental websites, and maybe that includes your client’s! But with such a distinctive name, you are more likely to get name recognition if you play off of that. So something that incorporates a rainbow shape and bright colors would be a great choice for this pediatric dentist with the memorable name. Perhaps something like this:

6. Do your research! Here is where you look at websites and other materials from the client’s competitors and industry leaders. You want to be distinctive and stand out, but in a good – relatable – way. So consider colors, trends, and longevity, as well as important branding factors the client has in mind.

For example, you may see a trend that looks really cool, but upon reflection, you may realize it isn’t likely to stand the test of time and make the same impression down the road. Have you seen logos that use cartoon characters as “mascots?” Not saying you shouldn’t use them, but whatever elements you include, you want to think about how they present the face of your company for the long term.

Perhaps the logo looks too old fashioned but has been around for many years so it is very recognizable. You can always update a character-based logo while still staying true to the brand’s history. You might consider using a silhouette instead of a detailed character graphic, for example, or simplify even further and eliminate the character. Anyone old enough to remember this guy? The Speedy logo character was used for 20 some years until they updated the logo about 25 years ago:

7. Concept and prototypes. You need to take what you’ve learned from your research and think about concept. How can you convey the important ideas the company wishes to be known for? That includes basics like what they do (industry) as well as concepts they want to be associated with.

Maybe they are proud of their work in being environmentally responsible. Perhaps they are a company very concerned with safety. Or perhaps they are innovative and creative and want their logo to communicate that concept. You have to really think about the best ways to quickly get their important ideas across using just simple shapes, color, and perhaps a single word or initials (really, avoid putting extra text into the logo design itself as explained above).

8. Also understand that the subtleties of your design may be lost on a lot of people, but that’s okay! Did you know that the Amazon logo is actually a smile incorporated into an arrow that basically says “from A to Z”? Not everyone sees that, but it is still a very recognizable and memorable logo.

9. Good design has a concept and imparts some kind of message, and it does it with a clear visual impression, not “reading.” Remember that your logo is just an identifier – it is not supposed to be the source for contact information. You can always add text or calls to action, etc., that include contact info or your tag line, but the logo itself should represent for the brand.

10. Edit & Revise. Now you have your first attempt. Use it, put it into videos, your social media covers, etc. See how it looks. You will most likely revise it, probably more than once, as you learn how the image looks in different venues (videos, facebook, your website, your business cards, letterhead, etc.). A good exercise is to go back to the drawing board after trying it out to see if you can simplify it. Usually you can if you haven’t designed a lot of logos. :-)

Like many people, I started out obsessed with having as much sales and contact information as possible in my logo. I reasoned that if my logo was floating around on videos and social media online, people who saw it needed to be able to easily find me. Problem is, that made for a busy, not-very-effective logo.

A logo is a logo – it is always a brand identifier and not a sales pitch! If you can remember that, you will make better, more effective logos. When you need to add calls to action and your contact information, add it outside of the logo itself – keep the graphic simple.

You may need to design a logo for a business that is evolving. A company with an existing logo that no longer represents what they actually do (or maybe is just too old-fashioned) can be redesigned to keep the brand recognition while still imparting new priorities.

My own business has evolved from mostly copywriting and articles to mostly video marketing. I struggled with whether or not to give up my brand identity for the sake of avoiding confusion. I decided my brand – and reputation - was more important since I had been in business for several years. In my case, most of my clients are from referrals and repeat business, so a great website isn't as important to me right now and I haven't spent a lot of time on that. But branding is always important! No matter how prospects find you, they need a good sense of what you do.

So I ran campaigns on the new focus of my business and posted to social media, blogs, email, and youtube. People who already knew me would know it was still me. People who didn’t know me would see I am not brand new, but an experienced marketer just focusing on new areas. I kept my company name but geared all my content toward video. My logo needed to reflect the big change to video marketing. I redesigned it to carry over the original branding but updated for the new focus.

Here is my original logo:

First update (too busy and too wordy!):

and eventually, it became this:

It is familiar to those who already know my business, but now includes a stylized aperture graphic, a film reel, and the initial “V,” which all represent video. It is easy to add a name or the URL under the logo where appropriate, but for the most part I use the plain graphic logo because more information is usually also either on the page where the logo appears or within the video, such as a link to the website or a call to action at the end.

While there are certain design “rules,” of symmetry and color for instance, that generally result in a better design, that doesn’t mean you must strictly follow the rules. Rules are always made to be broken, and innovation is clearly a big part of design! Use design rules as guidelines and start getting creative. I hope these tips will help you design some killer logos!

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