BRANDING BASICS: HOW TO CREATE A MAGNIFICENT LOGO

Instead of choosing a colour palette and creating mock-ups, start your brand’s logo design journey by following these tips.

Your brand’s logo is a visual that condenses its identity, making it a key element of all your communication and marketing exercises. Think of just about any iconic brand, and you’re sure to think of the logo first, before picturing the font and tagline. McDonald’s golden arches, Nike’s swoosh, Instagram’s retro camera and Snapchat’s friendly ghost are all proof of this indisputable fact.

To ensure that your brand’s logo joins the hall of fame, don’t neglect or rush the process that you must immerse indisputable yourself in to create a winning logo design. For it to be truly memorable, your business’ logo should check certain boxes. When all the elements work in tandem, you’ll have on your hands a logo that’s in perfect harmony. Wondering how to design a logo that becomes a favourite? Here are some design basics that you simply can’t ignore.

What’s the underlying thought?

Brand logo creation shouldn’t be driven by wanting to stand out or grabbing eyeballs. Instead of signing up for a logo maker online or drafting mock-ups, think of what the logo must convey to your audience. Address one or more of these points:

• What your brand hopes to do for its customers
• What you stand for and what your core business function is
• What your approach to your business is

Who is going to be looking at it?

Once you have a broad idea of what you want your logo to say, the next step is defining your audience. This one is fairly simple. If your product or service cuts across demographics, define the characteristics of the group that will see your communication the most. By understanding parameters such as age, gender, profession and interests, you will be able to identify the graphic design language for the logo.

Not too much, not too little — make it just right

Too much of anything is an overkill, and too little is frankly not enough to hold a customer’s attention. You want your company logo to be simple, offer a fair insight into what you do, and not be crammed with details and flourishes. When you scale your corporate logo to appear on the corner of a visiting card or even on a letterhead, the finer details will be lost, so be sure to keep the logo’s usage in mind as well.

Give brand recall serious thought

Oftentimes, your audience may come across your brand’s logo for just a second or two and then move on to doing other things. The key is ensuring that the logo stays with them. To make it memorable, it must be simple yet interesting, and have elements that are easy to recall. For example, it’s easy to describe Apple’s or Volkswagen’s logo. In other words, aim at making your brand’s logo the centre of your visual identity. You don’t want too many flourishes or embellishments. Your audience may appreciate the creative design elements, but it’s unlikely that they’ll remember the new logo a week later.

Ensure that your design factors in evolution

Another aspect to consider is how your logo is going to evolve over the years. In other words: Will your logo age gracefully? You don’t have to think too hard to see that most companies that have been around for generations have had one logo design that’s been tweaked to suit contemporary styles. The broad strokes have remained the same, be it Gillette, Coca Cola, Netflix, KFC or even Facebook.

The lesson here is simple: Keep it classic. It’s a bad practice to completely overhaul your business logo every decade, so ensure that you’ve provided ample leeway to make tweaks down the road. Additionally, steer clear of fads. Things that are popular today will probably seem stale 3 months down the road. So, choose fonts, colours and motifs with care.

Walk the fine line between being unique and trying too hard

This one’s tricky but important! Have you noticed that several property builders and developers have the icon of a home or building in their logo? While it does reflect the core proposition, it’s best to steer clear of such a logo. This is because if something has been done to death, it’s not going to give you an edge. Similarly, if you’re relying too heavily on someone else’s design, it’s going to be a rendition of someone else’s idea and far from unique.

Start with a blank slate and see where you go. Remember that designing a new logo that checks all the boxes will take time and involve multiple tries. Get several people to weigh in, workshop it, brainstorm with employees from various verticals and when you’re happy, conduct focus groups to see how a complete stranger, who isn’t a part of the company, interprets your logo.

When you think of it, creating a brand logo is like making bread: you can start with a recipe, but the freshness of your ingredients, humidity, water and temperature in your kitchen will ultimately define the quality of the crumb. Similarly, while you can use the tips to create a brand logo outlined here, there’s no one formula that will work for everyone. So, give it your best shot, and if you’re left wanting more, contact Edisol. We understand your unique needs and can craft a visual identity for your company that encapsulates every detail that you have in mind.