How to create a good logo for your brand

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A logo is typically the first thing you picture when you think about a brand, especially for big corporations. Having a good logo is imperative if you want to stand out amongst a sea of competitors, and solidify your position as a trusted brand.

When coming up with your brand, a logo should be one of the first things that you design, as it should reflect the personality of your brand as a whole. When it comes to logo design, there are a number of things you should keep in mind, and so we’re going to explore the overall function of logos, what makes a good one, and the dos and don’ts when it comes to designing one.

What is the function of a logo?

A logo is meant to be the face of your brand. It should reflect how your brand is unique and what it represents in your sector. The main function of a logo is to identify the business, which is why it is so important that they are tied to the brand itself, especially in industries that are over saturated and dominated by large corporations.

While the design of a logo is incredibly important, a logo should not be seen as a piece of trivial art that is there to be admired. Of course, some logos are very aesthetically appealing and overall, they should definitely be nice to look at, but really, they are used as a kind of business tool, making people immediately recognise the brand that they are associated with.

What are the visual elements needed to make a good logo?

Through industry research, or brand research if you’re rebranding, designers should have a good idea of what will work in terms of visual elements for a logo. The main visual elements are Typography, a good colour palette, graphics, and overall composition, but this isn’t a hard and fast rule. Some brands don’t use words in their logo, and some won’t have any graphics, but every logo will have at least one of these elements. Let’s look into these in depth:

Typography: typefaces can express more than just the words that they are saying as we as human can understand that different fonts are suitable for different things, and therefore there are connotations between using certain types of fonts for specific needs. For example, script fonts look elegant, and tend to flow really nicely, think when someone is writing calligraphy; it would probably not look right if a serious and formal business or establishment, like the Army or the Police force, used script as it takes away from the feel of what they are trying to portray. In the same way, it would be too boring if a business aimed at children used plain serif fonts as it would not be visually appealing or stimulating to the target audience.
Colour palette: colours have the ability to evoke emotions and feelings, and you will find that many brands in the same or similar sectors use the same colours in their logos. Reds are typically used to evoke feelings of comfort or love, blues for sophistication and respectability, and blacks tend to show modernity and power. Of course, different cultures and countries will have different connotations for colour, like how in China red is seen as a lucky colour. It’s very important that colour psychology is used alongside colour theory to make your logo stand out.

Graphics: logo graphics can span anywhere from a simple line drawing, to intricate illustrations, it really depends on what the brand is trying to convey. When a logo contains graphics, we tend to be drawn to look at them first instead of the typography, and so therefore can be a driving force in setting your brand apart from competitors. Graphics also tend to be what makes the brand’s logo memorable, like McDonald’s “Golden Arches”.
Composition: the composition of a logo is simply just how all of the visual elements that are used are fit together, like where is the text in relation to the graphics, or how some parts of a logo may have colour while other parts are colourless. Composition also includes any white space left in the design, which can help make the design not look too crowded and busy and it can be off-putting. While the visual elements should all balance with each other, there should also be some kind of hierarchy, where you intentionally look to draw people to look at certain parts of the logo first.

Logo qualities: what do you need to have?

Finally, we’re going to have a look at the specific qualities that make a good logo stand out and the things that you should strive to have when designing one. There are four different aspects that make this up:

Memorability
- It goes without saying that a logo should be as memorable as possible. Generally, if you can remember in full what a logo looks like and even draw it, then it’s a good logo that you can associate with a brand. For example, everyone knows what the Nike swoosh looks like, and it is easy enough to replicate from memory.
Relevant
- Again, another obvious point, but it’s got to be relevant to your brand otherwise who is going to make the connection between your logo and what services you actually provide. It should take in to account the target audience, the product being sold, and the industry that it is a part of.
Simplicity
- This sort of links to the memorability aspect as if a design is simple, then more than likely it will be memorable too. Much like the logo for Apple, a sleek and simple logo allows consumers to notice it, even if it’s just as a quick glance, and be able to recognise what brand it’s representing.
Adaptability
- A good logo is also adaptable. This gives you the freedom to rebrand, or update your website, without feeling the need to have to design a whole new logo to fit your brand. Not only this, but having an adaptable logo means that you can use it in multiple different places, like on business cards or stationery, while keeping it looking the same.

What’s the takeaway?

A logo is one of the most important aspects of branding, and the importance of a good logo should never be overlooked. There are various different aspects that make a logo good and suitable for the brand that it represents, although technically there are no ‘rules’ when it comes to making one. These do, however, matter if you want to make a logo that stands out, and is memorable to consumers around the world.

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