Your company logo should leave a lasting impression in visitor’s minds; creating your identity. Learning how to make a company logo for your business is one of the most underrated but highly important facets of promoting your business. The logo is often the first thing prospective clients or customers notice about your business. The impact a logo leaves with a customer will color their view of a company; whether good or bad. Your business logo sets your brand identity. Your logo must positively reflect your business. After all, it makes absolutely no sense for a logo to feature flame and lightning bolt graphics when that company is in the business of manufacturing and selling of bedroom furniture.
Logo Types
There are three logo types, font-based, illustration, and abstract graphic symbols.
Font-based logos: Sony and FedEx logos are font type logos. The font and colors used are distinct for their company.
Illustration: Logos which depict what the company does, such as a brush swipe of paint for an artist.
Abstract graphic symbols: Graphic logos such as McDonald’s golden arches or Nike’s swoosh symbol have left an impression because these companies have linked them to their brand.
How to Get Started with a Logo Design
First, start with your mission statement. Studying your mission statement and what you visualize as your image will help you with the design. This alone is not enough to create an impressive logo.
- Businesses within the industry. Study industry logo design types and decide how you would like your business to differentiate.
- Your message. What does your company portray? What type of business are you? Should your logo design be happy or serious? What do you see as your brand identity?
- Clean and functional. Your logo should be responsive to any form of advertising, colors, and platforms. Ensure your logo can be enlarged and reduced and still look the same. Logos should appear the same on business cards as it does on a large poster.
- Implement your company name. Your company name can be integrated within the company logo with graphics or special The name of the company is, generally speaking, directly related to the products it sells. It is also the center around which the entire logo is focused. The logo should illustrate a benefit of what your company does.
- Avoid clip art. Clipart is not unique and will not leave such an impression as a uniquely designed graphic logo.
- Avoid trends. Long lasting logo designs will ensure customers will not become confused. Changing your logo because of a new-found trend is sure to harm your business.
Choosing Your Logo Colors
Is there a specific color scheme you would prefer? You’ll often find that you generally use a particular set of colors in your product designs, in the store itself, and many other things. So, it stands to reason you would want to incorporate those colors into your logo.
How many different colors is an excellent choice for your logo? Choosing too many colors can cause a multitude of problems. Too many colors can be rather expensive when it comes to printing. This can also cause problems when copying and to your potential customer’s eyes. While humans are naturally visual, too many colors can be overwhelming. Keeping your logo to a maximum of three colors will keep costs down and impressions high.
Protecting Your Logo
After creating your company logo, you will want to protect it from other businesses using it. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has an application on their website where you can apply for a patent against your logo.
Hiring Professional Graphic Designers
Creating your own company logo using a free logo maker might save you some money; however, it can become very time consuming and frustrating. A professional design firm has the experience of logo design and understanding what a company visualizes. Choosing a professional design firm takes research so that you receive the best design at the best cost, in a timely manner.
Flying Cow Design offers professional graphic design services to create unique logos. Our team can take your image and provide you with a logo which matches it.
CEO, Flying Cow Design
Attended University of Auckland
Lives in San Francisco Bay Area