Eight Expert 3D Logo Design Tips for Your IT Company
Posted on December 04, 2017 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
Quality of service and pricing help you get and keep customers, but it takes a while for that word of mouth marketing to take hold. You need an edge to help your IT company capture potential customer’s attention. A good logo helps you do that.
In fact, some major tech companies are as easily recognized by their logos as by their names.
Technology has advanced enough that you can take on the whole process yourself with inexpensive or free logo design software. Even better, these days you can create 3D logos that stand out even more.
Of course, a good 3d logo design doesn’t appear out of nowhere. You need to build it up step by step. So let’s jump in and look at some design tips to help you create the best logo for your company.
1. Research the Competition
Every IT company steps into an existing market. That’s true if you help local businesses with their servers or offer cloud computing services nationwide. Before you put pencil to paper or mouse to program, you need to have a handle on what your competitor’s logos look like.
At one level, you just want to avoid creating a logo that resembles an established competitor. If your competitors copyrighted or trademarked their logos, making a similar logo opens you to potential legal trouble. You also don’t want to create accidental marketing for your competition.
Research can also give you some insight into whether any industry standards exist. If most companies in your area of IT use certain shapes, colors, or fonts, you might want to follow suit. It lends your company an air of belonging to the club.
You might also want to buck those trends to set yourself apart. Either way, research informs those choices.
2. Refine Your Brand
Your logo acts as a visual cue to what your brand is all about. Before you can invest your logo with those qualities, you need to refine your brand in your own head.
Figuring out your brand isn’t a simple process, but getting into the right ballpark is usually enough for a new company. The idea is to boil your brand down to one or two defining characteristics.
If you want people to see you as fun to work with, you need a cheerful, upbeat logo. Aiming to make reliability your main business principle, you need a logo that expresses stability. Knowing what you want people to associate your company with will inform every step of your 3D logo design process.
3. Work Through Multiple Ideas
Remember back in high school or college your instructor told you to narrow down your essay idea. The reason is that initial ideas often prove too broad or vague.
The same thing happens in logo design. Your first few ideas are almost always vague or derivative of another logo. Think of these as creative throat clearing.
For example, if you want to express stability, you might jump straight to a mountain. That does express stability but probably doesn’t relate to your company in a meaningful way.
Sketch a dozen or two dozen logos while keeping your brand message in mind. You’ll work through the obvious and then start getting into more relevant ideas.
4. Simplicity Is Best in 3D Logo Design
The promise of 3D logo design is that it creates the illusion of depth. It’s a useful but dangerous option.
That illusion of depth gives you more chances to clutter the image. Say you put five 3D elements into the logo. It might look cool, but it’ll probably confuse the eye of anyone who sees it.
A good logo design keeps things simple. People are much more likely to remember one word or a simple image than something complicated.
While it’s not 3D, you see a great example of simplicity in logo design over at The Scarlett Group.
5. Color Me Impressed
Color is another tool that has the power to alter perception. Gray communicates calm, while purple communicates wisdom. By integrating the right colors into your logo, you can make a statement about your company.
Before you jump into color, you should create a black and white version of your logo. If it doesn’t work in black and white, color probably won’t save it.
You should limit the number of colors you use. Too many colors distract the viewer from the main message. Also, when you scale the image down, colors get muddled.
6. Working with Fonts
Logos that include company names often work, but they can also backfire. You need to choose your fonts with great care because they communicate in ways similar to color.
Serif fonts, for example, convey strength and trustworthiness. San serif fonts are more casual and relaxed.
Your choice of font needs to dovetail with your brand message. If you’re aiming for super-professional, a serif font will serve you better. San serif will give you a more lighthearted, modern feel.
7. Does It Work at Different Sizes
Logos used to appear on business cards, product packages, and the occasional billboard. Now they appear all those places, as well as websites, social media profiles, white papers and even in email inboxes.
That means you need a logo that scales and looks good at all those potential sizes. Adjust the size of your logo to very small and very large in your graphics program. Is it still easy to recognize and understand?
If yes, awesome!
If no, it’s time to revamp the logo into something simpler.
8. Get a Second Opinion
It’s easy to get so fixated on a particular 3D logo design idea that you lose perspective. You overlook obvious things because you spent so much time with the design.
Draft people you trust to give you second opinions about the design. The ideal candidates are people who haven’t seen the design before. Coming at it cold will make their responses similar to the responses of potential customers.
If they tell you it doesn’t work or that you accidentally created an offensive logo, you can trust that they’re probably right.
Parting Thoughts
A good 3D logo design stems from the same design principles as regular logos.
You start with your brand message and create numerous logo designs to filter out the obvious. Keep it simple so that it scales and remains recognizable or readable. Use colors and fonts to support the brand message you want for your IT company.
If you’re ready to tackle the logo design process, check out our free logo maker program.
Why Marketers Need a Professional Brand Logo Design
Posted on November 24, 2017 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
In 2000, the UK-based oil company BP unveiled a logo redesign that cost them 136 million pounds.
Although that number may seem incredibly high for just a logo, the truth is that brand logo design is one of the most important things for your company.
The best logo may not be the one that you like most at first glance, or the most obvious choice for your company. Using a professional design helps you get the perfect logo that will boost your brand’s success, not just one that looks nice.
Just what makes professional brand logo design so worthwhile? Read on to learn more about why you need to get one professionally designed today.
1. Affects Your Reputation
It might seem like logo and reputation should be two separate things. However, any professional logo designer knows that logos are closely connected to a brand’s reputation.
If you’re just starting out, the right logo can give customers the right idea about your business. For example, logos in shades of blue tend to be seen as belonging to reliable businesses. Bold colors, like orange, can make your brand seem exciting instead.
Reliable is a word you might want customers to associate with a financial institution. However, if you’re starting a dating website for college students, you might want to evoke excitement instead.
Once your business is going strong, a logo redesign can be a great way to manage reputation issues. If you experience a PR disaster (though we hope you never will!) a logo update can help with revamping your image.
2. Helps Make the Sale
A recognizable logo is a great way to re-grab the attention of customers who left your site without making a purchase.
Sometimes, people will visit your site and browse around, but leave too soon. However, these customers can be gained again using a technique called retargeting. A good logo helps.
Retargeting is when an online ad is shown to that customer who was on your site before. A Javascript code on your site allows your site’s viewers to be “tracked” on the web, so an ad can be shown to them after they leave.
If you have a great, instantly recognizable logo, they will immediately know where that ad is from and be that much more likely to click on it.
3. Shows How You’re Different
In any industry, there will be competition. A logo is a good way to show how you’re set apart from that competition at first glance.
Professionals know how to make a logo that stands out from the rest. If everyone in your industry is using abstract logo design, maybe some lettering is a good idea for yours. Or if everyone has nature-themed imagery in their logo, you can be different with a geometric style.
Of course, it’s important that your logo makes sense for your business. But that doesn’t mean it needs to use the same elements as every other logo in your industry.
Ready for a New Brand Logo Design?
With the right logo, you’ll see the results in the growth of your business right away. Sometimes it just takes a little professional help.
If you have logo ideas that you want to try out before you contact a professional, an online logo maker is a great way to test your designs. Try our free online logo maker today and put these brand logo design ideas into practice!
How An Effective Brand Logo Design Can Grow Your Recovery Facility
Posted on November 24, 2017 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
Every marketer makes the case for effective brand logo design.
No matter the size of a company or the market in which they operate, they argue that every business needs a great logo.
The same applies when it comes to recovery facilities.
And yet, we take marketers at their word when they promote the benefits of a brand logo design.
This causes many recovery facility business leaders to ask themselves – what are the benefits of brand logo design for us?
To answer this question and more, we’ve put together this list of how an effective brand logo design can result in benefits for you business that you never imagined.
Keep reading to find out how a great logo can transform your recovery facility business.
1. A Brand Message
Marketers are always talking about the importance of branding.
But what exactly is branding?
According to the American Marketing Association, branding is:
“A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers”.
This reflects the essential role of logos. Name, terms, design, symbol all function together to create a logo.
Ask yourself: what brand message do I want to convey through my logo?
As a recovery facility, you may want to give clients and patients a certain impression. This may include values such as:
- Caring
- Sympathetic
- Scientific
- Professional
- Safe
- Trustworthy
Establishing the brand message you want to communicate in your logo design is the first step to an effective brand logo design.
2. Be Original and Memorable
The competition to produce an original and memorable logo in your niche market is extremely fierce.
However, it’s essential that you make sure your logo is designed to stand out from the crowd.
It’s not enough for your identity to be just another recovery facility. Instead, you have to carve out a niche for yourself. This niche in the market needs to be reflected in your logo design.
You can achieve this by thinking outside of the box.
Producing an original logo is essential to be memorable for your clients. You want people to think of recovery facilities, and instantly see your logo in their mind’s eye.
3. Simplicity is the Best
Now you may be asking — how can I create an original logo that communicates my brand message, while also keeping it simple?
The truth is that many people assume logos need to be complicated to achieve everything they set out to do. When in fact the opposite is the case.
If you’re still confused, think about the simplicity of Twitter’s bird logo or Apple’s half eaten apple.
Despite the simplicity of these logos they are effective, original and memorable.
You can achieve this with your logo as well. You just need to concentrate on how to convey your message in the simplest way possible.
4. Scalable Marketing Materials
As a recovery facility, you need to produce a logo that can be used in many ways. This is because the best logos are versatile.
You might create a fantastically engaging logo. But unless you can use it consistently across your marketing materials, it’s not going to be effective.
The best logos look great on any of the following:
- Business Cards
- Websites
- Social Media Accounts (e.g. Facebook)
- Signs on buildings
- Merchandise
- Office Materials
- Company Vehicles
Having a scalable logo for your recovery facility business means that it is recognizable and memorable wherever it’s found.
5. Appear Credible and Established
An effective brand logo can also contribute to making your recovery facility business appear credible to patients, customers and business partners.
If you’re serious about offering your clients a professional service, make sure you have the professional logo to go with it.
Looking credible and established with your well-designed logo is key to growing your recovery facility business.
An effective logo also demonstrates your commitment to the business.
Clients are looking for a sense that your recovery facility is well-established and stable.
6. Explain Your Name With a Brand Logo Design
Have you ever heard the name of a company and wondered what service or product they provide?
Many companies are named after the founder, use an acronym of the name, or make up a new word.
Do you already have the words “recovery facility”, or something similar, in your company name?
If not, an effective logo design could provide people with further clues about what your company is about.
An example of this is how the recovery facility The Recovery Village use a green tree to symbolize peace and nature. These are exactly the types of values and ideas you want to communicate through your logo.
7. Make a Connection with Your Clients
Even recovery facilities have to make emotional connections with their clients if they are going to be successful.
There are so many competing companies out there, it’s difficult for clients to remember them all.
But most clients are likely to visit the recovery center that sticks in their mind. With an effective logo, this could be you.
8. Use Color Effectively
One of the most powerful ways to establish a connection is with clever use of color.
Every marketer knows that color matters when it comes to design and marketing.
However, few realize the full potential of color. By using certain colors for your logo you can tap into the associations people make with these colors.
Experts suggest that red signifies passion, love, and energy, while yellow represents optimism and hope.
Whereas blue refers to order, care, trust and security. And finally, green means nature and health.
Think about the associations you want to make with your clients and select the right colors to achieve this.
Create Your Own Logo
Now you know the how an effective brand logo can benefit your recovery center business, you are ready to create your own logo.
Do you have any further questions about how an effective logo design could grow your recovery facility company? Leave a comment below.
Get in touch with us to try out our logo making tools today.
Don’t Roll the Dice on Your Gaming Logo: 7 Design Tips
Posted on November 22, 2017 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
Did you know that British Petroleum spent 136 million euros in 2000 on the unveiling of their sunflower logo?
And that in 2010, Pepsi spent approximately $1m on their logo redesign?
Did someone make a mistake? Were a couple of extra zeroes added to those figures?
Not at all.
A logo is the most tangible and recognizable aspect of a company’s brand. When a customer sees a logo, it can immediately conjure up images, emotions, and associations with a business. This type of recognition is the holy grail for most companies.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise that companies direct such vast amounts of resources towards managing their logos.
As a gaming company, you need to be as fanatical about your logo design. Your gaming logo will represent your business and your value proposition to your customer. You have to make sure you get it right.
Read on for seven suggestions to keep in mind when you design your gaming logo.
1. Capture the Essence of Your Brand
Your logo is one of the most important ambassadors of your brand identity.
It visually conveys all the associations that people have about your business. These can include emotional and psychological connections as well.
The best way to ensure your logo captures your brand and identity is to research your customers.
Survey them and understand how they think and feel about your business.
Pay attention to the language your customers use to describe their experiences with you. Make a note of the verbs, the adjectives, and the specific words they say.
Try to incorporate these elements into your logo.
A well-designed logo makes people sit up and take notice, and it immediately brings up the ideal perception of your brand in your customer’s head.
As a gaming company, your gaming logo should be fun, compelling and evoke feelings of joy, excitement and good times. A great example of this is the logo for a great dice tray with a lid!
2. Make Effective Use of Color
The colors that go into your logo can have a significant effect on the perception of your brand. Colors can be used to convey emotion, set the tone, and demonstrate your unique qualities.
It’s a good idea to delve into the science behind different choices of color.
Once you decide on appropriate colors, you have to consider how well these different colors work together. If you don’t know enough about complimentary colors, you could use a color wheel to choose appropriately.
Does your choice of colors deliver a cohesive message? Or are they jarring to the eye?
A good color palette not only comes together in harmony but is also versatile. For example, how well do your colors transfer to gray-scale?
3. Be Unique
Simple, right? If only.
Nothing screams boring more than a generic-looking logo. A logo must be clever and unique if it is to command attention.
A logo is more than just your company name in some fancy font type.
Try to make use of double entendres in your logo work. Can you capture multiple facets of your company or customer experience simultaneously?
A great logo is one that characterizes your business in a way that nothing else can.
4. Avoid Cliches, Be Purposeful
There are always trends that come and go, and you need to make sure your logo design doesn’t fall into that trap.
There’s a fine line between being cleverly creative and just purely random. Make sure you stay on the former side.
Don’t add squiggles and dots just because you can.
At the same time, you need to ensure that your gaming logo has a purpose. Anyone can slap together a fresh and funky-looking logo.
But when you can create a logo that represents your company’s history, values, mission or other unique traits, your connection to your customers will automatically strengthen.
5. Keep Mobile in Mind
Did you know that as of 2016, 4 out of 5 Americans owned a smartphone?
This means that the chances of people engaging with your gaming company in some shape or form on a mobile platform are incredibly high.
This is why it is critical to ensure that you have a logo that scales well onto a mobile screen.
Designing for a mobile screen also adds specific physical constraints to the process. You need to think about the size of the gaming logo, about the same as an icon.
How much detail do you need to add to the logo to convey the message? If your logo has tons of tiny extra visual details, but they disappear when viewed on a 5″ screen, how effective can it possibly be?
6. Make It Your Own
When you design your logo, think about how you can add a twist to it that makes it entirely yours.
While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, you have to be careful that your smart logo doesn’t spawn legions of half-baked copycats. More imitators lead to potential confusion in the eyes of your customers.
Try to add a subtle visual element, perhaps a slant or a tear, that makes your logo unique.
7. Keep It Simple
The most iconic logos in the world are often very simple. In fact, their simplicity is what adds to their appeal.
If you have to explain in two sentences or more the connection between your logo and your business and brand, you’ve failed.
Go back to the drawing board and make it simple.
Bringing It All Together
If you’re ready to build your gaming logo, don’t take a risk and try to do it all yourself. Reach out to a professional firm with a proven track record of serving customers with top quality logos.
Here at Online Logo Maker, we have helped more than two million brands build their logos.
Head over to our website and try our free logo maker to develop your logo without spending a dime. We have the tools to add text, shapes and upload images. You can even check out our tutorial here.
You could also apply for our premium services, where you can design high-resolution logos, add transparent backgrounds and receive exclusive support.
If you have any questions about the process, feel free to contact us. We’d love to work with you and develop the face of your brand identity.