Having the perfect logo design for your brand is key. Your logo is unique to you and your brand. An unprofessional looking logo design could have a bigger impact on your business than you may think. We all judge a book by it’s cover (even though we try hard not to). A first impression (your logo) has to be a good one. Today, I’m sharing some tips to help you create a great logo to attract your ideal clients.
Understand Your Ideal Client
A great logo can’t be created if you don’t know your audience. Put some thought into this.Your ideal client will have a significant impact on the general style of anything you’ll create for your brand. What resonates with a 25 year old bride will most likely not appeal to male executives over 50. If you need some help with this, check out this post on How to Define Your Ideal Client.
Do Your Research
Along with knowing your ideal client, it’s also important to understand what is happening in your industry. You want to stand apart from your competitors, not blend in. I get it! Using a pre-designed logo template is an easy way to get started! But think about it. If your logo looks similar to everyone else’s, then are you really standing out?
Create an Inspiration Board
An inspiration board reflects the look and feel of your brand and business. To make your own board, create a hidden Pinterest board made up of textures, patterns, design elements, and any images that capture the aesthetic of the brand you’re striving to create.
Check Out Some Fonts
Typography is key to a good logo design. When selecting your brand fonts, you also need to take into consideration the feel and message in the font. Remember, keep your audience in mind. A wedding photographer may have elegant, classic fonts. Whereas a men’s clothing line may want more modern clean fonts. There are so many great paid fonts at myfonts.com, Creative Market and fonts.com. Or try Google Fonts, for some amazing free options. Stick with one or two fonts for your logo.
Start Sketching
I always start my designs with paper and pencil. Even with all the available design programs, sketching using pen and paper is still the best way to flesh out ideas. Sketching out ideas enables you to experiment quickly and freely. Starting the design process in a computer program can sometimes restrict your creativity.
It doesn’t really matter if your sketching skills are poor. As long as they deliver your ideas correctly, you’re on the right track.
Keep Creating
Create however many designs you want but just don’t make less than 5 logo concepts. You may think concept 2 is perfect but keep going. Concept 5 might be better or give you ideas on how to make concept 2 better. You can’t design the perfect logo in a day! Come back to it with a clear mind. You need to create more designs, revisit and revise.
Pick Your Colours
Look back at your inspiration board. Subconsciously, you will have chosen images with similar colours, patterns, and styles. Now the right colour palette can easily be chosen from the inspiration board. Also, think back to your ideal client and what they will be drawn to. Bright, bubble gum pink may be your favourite colour, but will it appeal to your audience?
I usually upload the image to a free software like https://coolors.co/ and they will recommend colors for you that fit to this image.
Make Logo Variations
Your logo will be used in a variety of ways. Having just one logo – usually called the main logo or primary logo, isn’t enough. Logo variations are essential for the situation where your main logo is simply too long and won’t fit. Submarks and alternative logos are great for social media profile pictures, digital graphics like blog post graphics, Instagram posts images, favicon, watermark, footer logo and so on.
Create multiple File Formats
Now that you’ve finalized your logo design, it’s time to create the final files. Different formats will be needed for different situations. Vector files are great for print use. These are typically .eps or .pdf. Raster files are used for online purposes. Typical raster files are .jpg, .gif, or .png. To learn more about the different file formats and their uses, read the post on How to Choose the Right File Format.
Are you struggling to create a logo that is just right for you and your business?
Let’s work together on a logo you love!
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