Creating an effective logo design for your business can be difficult and successful logos have the following qualities.
Simplicity
Consider the Nike ‘tick’ – it is simple and effective and immediately recognisable on its own. A good logo design should be the same. A simple logo also has the added advantage of being able to be embroidered on clothing in a simple and straight forward manner. Keeping to a minimum of two of three colours will also mean you end up with a logo that can be used virtually anywhere.
Originality
You don’t want your business to be mistaken for a competitor – even if it that competitor is an industry leader in the market (you’ll quickly become subject to legal action from the bigger company under the laws governing ‘passing off’!).
Consider your use of chosen icon in your logo – is it a cliché in your industry or is it truly unique and original in your market?
For example, a globe is frequently used in telecommunications, a house in real estate agents etc. Stay clear of these clichés and you should end up with something unique.
Memorability
Is your logo easily memorable or will several exposures of your logo have the same effect? If it is the latter, than you need to do something to make it more memorable. This goes hand in hand with originality – if your logo uses a house and your selling houses, then you’re not very memorable to your customers because your market is flooded with competitors that have similar logos.
Clarity
Knowing why your customers come to you and what motivates them to do business with you will ensure your logo design speaks of those qualities. For example, if you’re known for great customer service, how can you communicate that with your logo?
As an example, the Nick logo indicates speed and forward movement whilst the Asda logo speaks of safety in its green colour and solid look of its type face means that you can expect your products to stand up to a little abuse.
Ability to Build a Brand
An effective logo is recognisable at a glance and should be effective in both black and white as well as in colour – and should be adaptable to virtually any medium from Twitter avatars through to putting it onto billboards and t shirts.
If you logo design relies on fine print to get the message across, you are in trouble.
The logo design is often the staging point for further branding efforts and will inform your other branding efforts – from colour choices through to which fonts will be used on your stationery – you logo is the vital stepping stone to getting your branding working together in a cohesive whole.
