Are You Sending the Right Message with Your Logo Color Scheme?
Posted on June 15, 2018 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
When you are trying to grow your business and your brand, one of the biggest sticking points can be your logo. When you are designing the perfect logo, you want it to send the right message about your company, your brand and what you stand for.
You thought it was all in the picture, the logo design and the wording, which it is. But you didn’t consider how important the color scheme was.
Your logo color scheme can be one of the most important aspects of your logo. Your colors tell a story about your brand that people pick up subconsciously in the brain.
Great, so you need to pick the right colors for your logo.
But there’s a problem.
What are the right colors? What do the different colors mean? What are your colors saying about your business?
This article will guide you through the whole process.
Let’s begin.
What Your Color Scheme Say’s About Your Business
Your brand’s logo is one of the most important aspects of your business. What many people don’t realize when they start to design their logos and branding is that color schemes send a message.
When picking the colors you’ll represent your business with; you should be thinking about what message your logo color scheme is sending to your audience. Color increases brand recognition by up to 80%.
It’s important to think about your branding when designing a logo. 90% of all purchasing decisions customers make subconsciously. That means it’s vital for your company to choose a color scheme that evokes positive emotions.
Picking Your Logo Color Scheme
When you look at branding, the colors you choose can have a powerful effect on your customers. Color is both emotional and practical and can make a big difference to what people feel when they look at your logo.
As always, just because something is true doesn’t mean it’s easy to figure out for yourself. So how do you go about picking the right colors for your business?
Well first, you should understand the symbolism and psychology behind colors. There’s a lot of logo design trends in 2018, but it should all start with color.
Let’s explore some of the things you should be looking out for when picking your logo color scheme.
The Meaning of Colors
What’s in a color? A lot apparently. Colors you pick for your brand and logo can have a subconscious and psychological effect on your customers.
Let’s look at some of the most popular color choices and see what message they send to customers.
Red – Think Passion, Danger, Energy & Excitement
Red is a color you’ll see pop up in logos all throughout the business world. The color red has a lot of varied associations.
In your logo, you’ll find that using red is a powerful way to pack a punch. It’s also known to be a color that reveals desire and passion.
It’s no surprise that brands like Ferrari run with the color red in their logo. Everything about the company revolves around passion, power, danger, fire and to some even sexuality.
The color red can mean bring out a lot of subconscious feelings:
- Red can evoke strong emotion
- It encourages appetite
- Red increases intensity and passion
- The red rose even symbolizes love
- In marketing, it can increase the heart rate
- It can create urgency in sale posters
- Companies use red for impulsive shoppers
Companies like Netflix, McDonald’s, Kelloggs, YouTube, Coca-Cola & Target are all big lovers of the color red in their branding.
Blue – Trustworthy, Calming, Depressed & Highly Communicative
Blue is one of the most universally used colors out of all of the color palette options. You’ll find blue to be a highly versatile color that can communicate a lot of different feelings to your customers.
If your company is looking to give off the impression of reliability, trust, and great communication, then blue might be for you. You only need to look at some of the largest communication companies in the world such as Facebook, Twitter, and Samsung to see that this is true.
The color blue is also considered a calming and peaceful. often associated with the ocean and the sky. Remember though that the emotional feeling of ‘being blue’ refers to depression and sadness.
Here are some of the emotions that blue can subconsciously evoke:
- People associate blue with water and peace
- It’s most preferred by men
- It curbs your appetite
- It’s thought of as a cold color
- Blue gives the perception of consistency through life
- It increases productivity
- It’s the most used color in offices
- In marketing, blue’s considered non-invasive and productive
- It creates a sense of security and trust in your brand
You’ll find some big corporate companies like Facebook, Twitter, Pepsi, Ford, Dell, Walmart and Skype that all use blue in their logos and branding.
Yellow – Optimistic, Cheerful, Happy & Playful
Yellow, also known as the color of sunshine is one of the more fun and playful colors. Adding this color into your branding mix can give your customers a smile.
It’s also one of the most noticable colors, which is why you see yellow used in street signs. It sends out messages of joy, friendship, and energy.
Yellow has associations with mental clarity and intelligence. You’ll also find yellow used in cautionary situations like life jackets, hazardous areas and even in cautioning tape.
Here are some of the emotions that yellow can send your brain subconsciously:
- Yellow can increase cheerfulness
- It’s a warming color
- Can cause fatigue on the eyes
- Stimulates your brains processes
- Stimulates the nervous system
- Yellow can encourage communication
- In marketing yellow can represent optimism and youth
- It’s used to grab customers attention in windows
You can find yellow in company logos such as Ikea, Nikon, Cat, Sprint, McDonald’s, Best Buy and Denny’s.
Which Logo Color Scheme Suits Your Companies Message?
There’s a lot of different choices when picking your logo color scheme. The three main primary colors, red, yellow and blue are some of the most used across all industries.
Deciding on the right color can make a huge difference in the message you are sending to your customers.
8 Tips for Choosing a Great Logo Font For Your Brand
Posted on May 26, 2018 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
In North America, the most successful brands include Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook. While this might not be breaking news, all of these companies have one crucial thing in common: Their brand is on point.
Specifically, all of these brands have a really engaging and unique logo font. Choosing a font can make or break the entire design of your brand. Therefore, it’s imperative that you have your font figured out for your business.
Here are eight tips on how the experts would go about deciding a logo font that your target audience can’t ignore.
1. What is Your Brand Identity?
Whether you operate a brick-and-mortar business or an online shop, you need to know what your brand stands for. Is it fun, professional, energetic, calming, or something completely different?
Know your business, as well as its products, and see whether a certain font relates to these factors. With your brand, you’re trying to convey a message; your font should simply aid in delivering this message in the most effective way.
Do you know your company good enough to design your logo?
2. Know Your Audience
The lifeblood of your business, your primary target audience is everything. For your logo and logo font, you’ll want to appeal to this specific crowd of people. Without a font and logo that engages these loyal customers, your business will start to plummet.
What are the demographics of your primary target audience? How old are they, which gender, what nationality, what are their hobbies, goals, occupations? Also, where will they see your logo font: Websites, banner ads, merchandise, physical ads?
Having a good grasp on who your brand resonates with will boost your brand past previous heights.
3. Know the Different Font-Emotion Pairings
When it comes to fonts, you’ll want to comprehend the basics. The difference between a serif and a sans serif could be the difference in a profitable business.
Here is a quick rundown of what each font type creates in terms of emotion:
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Serifs: Fonts like Times New Roman, Georgia Italics, and Baskerville evokes a traditional, comfortable, and reliable feel in your readers.
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Sans serifs: This is Helvetica Bold, Franklin Gothic, and Calibri, which translates to a clean, modern, stable message when used in your brand logo.
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Scripts: These are your fancy typefaces, such as Bickham Script or Lavanderia, and all relate to the feelings of elegance and creativity.
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Modern: Century Gothic, Didot Italic, and ITC Avant Garde Extra Light are a group of fonts that showcase progressive, stylish, chic businesses and trends.
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Display: Lastly, fonts like Spaceage Round, Valencia, Cooper, and Giddyup all create this unique, one-of-a-kind feel for your brand logo.
Once you have tip #1 figured out – what your brand identity is – you can start thinking about the emotions you want your audience to feel.
4. Keep it Simple and Classic
By far the biggest tip in this list, don’t go too overboard.
Using too many fonts or colors (covered later) creates an artistic mess of your logo. Also, trending fonts could potentially be just that – a trend. You’ll want to avoid the flashy and current, opting instead for something that can remain timeless.
A clean, simple font is always preferred. Then you can use it in various mediums and be attractive no matter if the font is big, small, on a T-shirt or a billboard or a computer screen.
5. Research Your Competition
You should already be aware of what other companies in your industry are doing. As for logo fonts, it’s prudent to research which ones they’re using in their content and branding.
Now, this is not to say you should copy them. This is an incredibly lazy way of finding your logo font. Rather, learn what styles work – serif or no – and combine that with your brand’s personal touch.
Of course, only glean data on fonts from successful businesses in your niche.
6. Choose Solid Colors (But Not Too Much Color)
The color of your font is another huge emotion fueler. With the exact right hues and shades, you’ll have your audience feeling a certain way. It’s your job to make sure that feeling is what you want to sell your message.
If your brand is more calm and collected, go with grey like Apple. If you want to be youthful and exciting, red like YouTube, Coca-Cola, and Virgin is your best bet. Green promotes healthy, purple evokes creativity, and yellow provides a warm, optimistic sentiment.
The key is to not use too much color. Unless you’re Google or you have a brand name that involves a rainbow, stick to one color, maybe two. This will help with brand recognition anyways. One color, one clear font, one super slick brand logo.
7. Use Fonts Combined With Non-Word Logos
Your typeface won’t be the only facet used in your advertisements and merch.
Implementing your logo font into your non-word logo creates a full-bodied brand logo. Companies like McDonald’s, Adidas, and MasterCard use their fonts in conjunction with their main graphics (the golden arches, the three-petal flower, the red and yellow circles).
As time goes on, you can use this overall logo as a template for future versions. Going minimalistic, such as eliminating the words entirely or putting the graphic within the font, is a nice way to stay relevant.
Get creative with what’s known as typographic logos; you’ll have a special brand identity, one that everyone can get behind.
8. Incorporate Your Products Into Your Logo Font
Sometimes, you can utilize your products in the design of your logo.
Say, for instance, your business sells baseball equipment or merchandise. You can put baseball stitching in the font, paired with an elegant or sleek typeface.
Or, your health supplement made from plants could have a brand font that includes leaves in the serifs.
The possibilities are endless, so don’t be afraid to play around. It’s your company; you want to give your logo the best font for your brand message.
Use These Tips to Choose the Perfect Logo Font
Hopefully, through these eight strategies, you have a clearer picture of what your brand’s message is all about. This will directly relate to finding the ideal font logo to fully entice your customers. Do your due diligence, get your best logo font, and you’ll be on your way to an enhanced logo, more profits, and better business overall.
If you want help in creating your business’ brand logo masterpiece, learn how to make a free logo with our Online Logo Maker.
6 Logo Design Trends You Can’t Ignore in 2018
Posted on May 24, 2018 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
Looking to revamp your business’s logo this year?
Your logo is very important to your business and your branding. It takes less than two-tenths of a second for a consumer to form a first impression based on your brand and logo.
If you want to create a logo that is sure to gain attention, check out these six logo design trends you can’t ignore in 2018.
1) Simplicity
Simplicity and minimalism are at the top of the 2018 logo trends. You will see many companies going back to the basics with their logo design. Simple logos are much easier to reproduce for marketing purposes. Simple lines and shapes make for a modern logo design.
2) Rainbow Colors
While many companies will be going the simplistic route, you will also be seeing lots of color from other businesses. Rainbow colors and gradients add life and excitement to a logo design. Think Instagram and the Olympics logos. These logos use lots of vibrant color, but they aren’t so busy that they are distracting to their audience.
3) Hidden Meanings
Hidden meanings in logos are always fun and creative. When done correctly, these logos are memorable and really stand out to customers. Some examples of companies that did this well are:
- NBC
- Amazon
- Baskin Robbins
- FedEx
These logos have hidden symbolism or meanings within them like the arrow FedEx that represents their express service and the “31” in Baskin Robbins to represent their 31 flavors. Creative, right?
4) Hand Drawn Logos
Hand drawn logos are continuing to be among the best logo design. Many small businesses are going this route to display a casual and credible feel to their customers. Creating a hand-drawn logo is a great way to make your business easily recognizable. If you are the creative type, you can make the logo yourself or outsource your idea to someone else.
5) Wide Spaced Text
Going back to simplicity, many companies are using wide spaced text for their logo design. If you have a short business name, this is a great option when you are designing your logo. Use a cool, intriguing font and you have an awesome logo for your business that is sure to gain attention.
6) Brushstroke Texture
Brushstroke logos feel very artistic. This is a great way to stand out in the crowd of trendy logos. Brushstrokes are like snowflakes. No two are so same. This makes this type of logo very authentic to each business.
Feeling Inspired by These Logo Design Trends?
When it comes to finding the best logo design for your business, you should enjoy the process. Instead of stressing out, consider getting assistance from professionals.
Take the inspiration you got from these logo design trends, and create your own logo by using our online logo creation tool to create the perfect logo for your company. Let us help you design a logo that stays true to you and your brand.
10 Amazing Logo Design Trends for 2018
Posted on May 22, 2018 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
Your logo is the face of your business and may have more impact on driving sales than you think. Given that 93% of purchasing judgments made by consumers are based on visual perception, you need to make sure your logo is saying the right things.
This is easier said than done. Web design and logo trends come and go quickly. With ever-evolving technology and capability, designers are able to push the envelope more and more each year.
If you’re about to create a new brand for your business, you need to know what’s going on this year in the world of logo design. This ensures you won’t create something outdated or visually unstimulating.
If you’re looking for a little help, keep reading. We’re breaking down ten trends for 2018 that will help you create an amazing logo design.
1. Innovative Typography
Text is one of the most important elements in logo design. It delivers your brand name and message in a straightforward way. However, that doesn’t mean it has to be boring.
This year’s logos are incorporating more creative and innovative lettering styles.
Utilizing split typography allows for more space between each letter. Chaotic typography mixes things up and creates a playful feel by staggering letter placement.
You may also want to try handwritten lettering, which allows you to take the style in your own, unique direction.
2. Contextual Logos
Along with creating an amazing logo design, it also needs to be contextual. This means you can seamlessly apply your logo to a number of different mediums.
We’re talking websites, business cards, packaging, signage or posters. When coming up with a concept, think about how your new logo will look all of these advertising elements.
You should also make sure your logo is responsive, which means it works well on smaller screens like smartphones or tablets.
3. Geometric Shapes
Last year, designers took advantage of the creative freedom that geometric elements allow for. You can expect this trend to grow in 2018.
By utilizing geometric shapes, you also bring a minimalist feel to your design. Plus, they’re very upfront and easy to read, which is great for creating good brand recognition.
You can also try combining and layering two different geometric elements to create a sleek and visually stimulation piece. The artistic, yet basic effect that geometric elements create make them very sought after for amazing logo design.
4. Bright Colors
You now have the capability of incorporating bold colors and textures into your logo, so why not do it? This is especially true if your logo is primarily for online use. Monitors and mobile screens perfectly display high-quality color and detail.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with different color palettes for your logo. Not only is this fun, it catches the viewer’s attention. Bright colors make your logo pop.
Just remember not to go too overboard. Your logo should remain appropriate to your industry and overall branding strategy.
5. Animation
Another trend that caught on in 2017 and is sure to keep evolving this year is moving logos. These are created with animated GIFs and can add an extremely memorable element to your design.
Animated logos can evoke a sense of urgency or convey a little more information than a still logo.
Use animation along with other features like bold colors and geometric design and you’ll have something that’s sure to make you stand apart from the crowd.
6. Stacking Your Letters
If you want a text-based logo, letter stacking is a great way to achieve an original layout. This technique involves experimenting with the spacing and positioning of your letters.
When stacking letters, you can place them side by side, above, or under each other to create an interesting visual effect. If done right, you can actually create a shape made entirely of letters.
This trend is great for logos with longer words.
7. Architectural Designs
Taking influence from design trends common to the world of architecture and incorporating them into logo design is something you’ll see more of in 2018.
Adding architectural elements may seem unconventional, but doing this can help create an amazing logo design. This is because architectural design utilizes space in economical and interesting ways. Space is also very important when creating an effective logo.
Look online for famous architectural landmarks and use them as inspiration. Just remember not to make a blatant reproduction. The key is to use a source design as an idea and turn it into something unique.
8. White Space
Simplicity is always a beneficial approach when it comes to an amazing logo design. A great way to effectively implement simplicity is with white (or sometimes called negative) space.
In years past, white space was common with the use of imagery. In 2018, look for more use of white space in conjunction with typography.
When you’re experimenting with creative typography, try to keep white space in mind. Instead of trying to fill most of your logo real estate with text, add extra room between letters and make use of a negative background. You may find this simple approach works to your advantage.
9. Grid-Based Design
If you want a logo that conveys symmetry, control, and logic, try working with a grid-based design. This trend has caught on and you’ll likely see more of it in 2018.
This approach works well for logos in the engineering, computer science, or even web design industry. It’s also a great opportunity to incorporate white space into your design for a very modern and sleek look.
10. Keeping It Fun
Putting your creative hat on and having some fun while you design your new logo is a great idea. But it’s also a trend this year.
Fun sells. That’s why more and more logos are using energetic, fun and even silly imagery and concepts. Even bringing in some subtle cartoon imagery can create a memorable logo.
The great thing about this trend is it promotes creativity and improvisation.
Create an Amazing Logo Design
Now that you know what’s trending this year in the branding world, it’s time to get to work. Use this list to find what approach works best for you and get cracking on creating your new amazing logo design.
To get started with your new logo, try our user-friendly logo design tool today.