The world, both physical and virtual, is highly competitive now. You have to find a way to catch attention, to stand out, to quickly inform people about your business or person, to make them remember it. That’s what branding has to do for you. And logo design lies in the core of effective brand identity. In this article, we are going to discuss the factors that have crucial importance for creating a good logo.

Brand Nature

The creative process starts much before the first line on the paper or the digital artboard. It begins with understanding your brand, defining its nature, and only then thinking about the visual image transferring the needed idea.

We asked Andy Golpys, co-Founder of MadeByShape, a branding agency in Manchester, what branding meant to him:

“Creating a brand is not just logo design. It’s everything your audience comes into contact with, whether it be your website, office interior, marketing material, t-shirts, brochures, etc. Each time your user views your brand, both the visual and the message should be consistent. We listen to client needs, and who they are, so we can communicate that to the audience.”

So, make sure you can answer the following questions:

• What problem does the brand solve?
• What emotion does the brand reflect?
• Is it commercial or social?
• Whom does it help or bring benefits?
• What’s its tone of communication, formal or informal, friendly or teaching, etc.?
• What are the channels it uses to communicate?
• Who are your competitors? How does your brand differ from them?

Based on that, you will be able to better understand what the brand sign and identity should convey to customers, visitors, and users.

Target Audience

Another essential point is the target audience of the brand. The more you know about it, the better you’ll find the way to its attention. Before you start making graphic decisions, try to get as much information about your future customers as possible. Take into account the age, gender, geography, and cultural differences, religion, the typical environment of interaction with the product. That will help you to build a sign that will talk right to the needed people, use needed colors and visual associations, and correspond to their preferences.

Type

There are different visual types of logos: some of them use only a simple symbol, some mean the beautiful typographic presentation of the company name or at least its first letter, some combine both the symbol and the typographic part, and there are also the ones that give their preference to the complex and detailed emblems.

The choice of type depends not only on the target audience research we mentioned above but also on market research. Take into account the logos of your competitors, so that your sign could stand out and attract people.

Color

Color is one of the crucial choices you will have to make in the process of logo creation. It has a great influence on the decision-making process, whatever we interact with. It’s not a secret that color brings a strong emotional appeal, and people have strong associations with what emotion the color brings. What’s more, color is a great factor in drawing attention by playing with contrasts and brightness, you give your logo more chances to get noticed. So, the right choice of color will help your brand sign to reach its target and tell more about the brand.

Channels and Carriers

One more point of importance is the channels and ways through which you are going to reach your target customers. Firstly, it may influence the choice of colors and shapes for your logo design so that it looked and worked properly in the environment you’ve chosen for communication. Secondly, it means the final version of the logo should be tested well on screens of different sizes and resolutions, in various environments, and on physical surfaces in case the logo is used not only on the web but on tangible items. You may also need color and a monochrome version to be more flexible in your promotional plans. Sure, logo guidelines from a designer help a lot to make that all right.

There are different ways to get a logo design: to design it yourself, to hire a designer, or to use a logo maker. However, being aware of the points mentioned in this article increases your chances of explaining your brand more precisely and making the impactful decision to end up with an attractive and effective logo.

Title image: logo design concept by Yoga Perdana

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This is the guest post from LogoMyWay