When you’re starting out your business, we know the excitement is building up and the rush of confidence is kicking in, but before getting into logo design and all of its details, here are a few things to keep in mind, to ensure your chosen logo is perfectly suited for you and your brand. Or at least here are the typical things you’d find most people on the internet say make a “good” logo design.
A great logo design is:
(In no particular order, as these are all of equal importance)
SIMPLE
Less is more, so the simpler, the more straightforward and the better. Of course, we cannot generalize and say that an intricate detailed logo is “bad”, because in different contexts, different styles of logos are appropriate.
VERSATILE
This means that your logo should look good no matter where or how it is used (online on profile and cover images, on social media posts + offline on business cards, flyers, banners, packaging, giveaways and clothing big and small sizes). If your logo can look good in real life as well as on digital platforms, without losing its appeal, then you’ve hit the jackpot!
TIMELESS
When you’re making your logo, you’re probably just thinking of the here and now, but you should also make sure that your design is not time-framed, or relevant to a particular trend or phase in life. You wouldn’t want a logo that looks old-fashioned, outdated, or not appealing to your generation or audience. So the more timeless your logo is, the better!
APPROPRIATE
The right logo is the one that suits your vision of the brand, and makes it easy on your audience to quickly understand what it stands for. It should reel in your customers and be symbolic of what you do, not necessarily in a literal way, but in the best way you and your designer see fit. If your brand is about clothing, then your logo should definitely refer to that field in one way or another, whether through iconography or typography, or both!
MEMORABLE
As much as you can, aim that your logo is easy to remember so that it sticks to your desired audience’s mind. Having a logo that is easily remembered is not only good for attracting clients, but also maintaining them and having them refer your brand to others. Think of how people talk about brands and recommend them to each other, it’s something like “That place is so good you should try it! It’s the one with the black circle logo and the two lines overlapped, remember?”. The shorter and easier it is for your clients to describe, the easier it is to remember, and recommend, so it’s like a domino effect.
SCALABLE
The best logo is easily scalable so it can be clearly seen and recognized on both small and larges scales. People should be able to distinguish your logo ideally just as well in small dimensions as big ones. And needless to say, the scalable aspect needs to be successfully applicable in a way that does not take away from the logo’s clarity, purpose, or appeal. Now notice how I did not include example images of each logo characteristic, like most articles do, as a literal visual reference for you to understand what exactly in real life is an existing “simple” logo, what a “versatile” logo looks like, etc. You may be wondering why (or even annoyed or even disappointed) I did not provide a particular famous existing logo example under each category. But let me tell you why.
I believe, and realized that, one logo never has only 1 characteristic, but multiple ones at the same time. So it would be misleading or confusing to tell you that 1 specific logo is an example of this specific trait, but not others simultaneously. I could have showed you the Google logo as an example of the “simple” logo category, but again as the “versatile” logo category, as you know Google always changes it style periodically, and looks good in offline and offline applications. I could have also listed it as an example of the appropriate, memorable and scalable traits a logo should have, because it is appropriate to its brand, it is definitely memorable and scalable as we have seen it on many different online formats (icon/full logo/favicon,etc.)
However, I could not have said it was timeless because really nothing is timeless. Whether a specific brand chooses or not to change its logo through time, this does not mean it is timeless or not, it simply means the decision-maker involved wanted a change, or felt pressure to follow a trend. The Google logo has changed multiple times through the years, so the logo itself is not timeless, but the brand is. Coca cola for example is the one logo that has literally not changed since its creation, and it probably shouldn’t. It doesn’t get “out of style” or “old-fashioned” although some people may criticize it for lack of “newness”, which is completely subjective, just like any art or design-related decision, or comment.
It is not the logo that is “timeless” or not, but the brand itself, how it works, how successful it is and how much positive impact and engagement it has with its audience that make it “timeless”.
I would actually redefine this timeless notion as a way of saying this brand has stood the test of time, has always been making good sales and being remembered positively by its audience and customers. It does not mean the logo literally never changed or should have been conceived in a way that is “time-proof”. You can have a logo that changes through generations but the brand remains strong and lasting through time, like Apple for example. It started out with a very vintage and retro logo and gradually evolved until it became the modern simple minimalist logo it is today, and people love it (and their products).
Actually, I think this idea that your logo needs to be timeless is not necessarily right. It is natural for someone in the 1950s to create a logo that looks different than if it were created in the 70s, 90s or 2010s. So it totally makes sense that if you created your business in the 70s for example, that it would go through different “styles” of design changes, naturally progressing with the design visual trends until the present day style. But choosing not to continously change your logo with time could be the right decision as well, it just depends on many factors, some personal and professional. Therefore, there is no “right or wrong” decison, or a formula to follow, because everyone’s preferences and goals are different.
There may be general guidelines like the ones above for those who want to “guarantee” the success of their brand by having the “best” logo out there that “ticks all the boxes”, but even that is subjective and not a measure of success. Think about it: it doesn’t really matter what a brand’s logo looks like, if it is successful and influential enough people will criticize it for a while, but that rejection phase will die down and they will still keep buying from it and recommending it to others because they just got so used to it being a part of their daily consumption or lives in one way or another (think of the last wave of redesigns of famous brands and the reaction they triggered by netizens). Whichever you decide to go with, make sure it is the one that suits your brand and business in the best ways. And it doesn’t have to please everyone or tick all the boxes, you just need to be convinced with it.
Good luck!
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