92% of consumers choose whether or not to make a purchase based off of a brand’s visual appeal alone.

You don’t need years of experience to design a logo that is effective at attracting customers to your brand.

Knowing some basic design tips, and common design mistakes, will help you design a logo that leaves a memorable impression on your potential customers. 

Incredible graphic design, including incredible logo design, is in the details. Getting one small detail wrong can throw off your whole design. This leaves your brand with an unprofessional logo and feel.

Designing a beautiful logo is easier, and less expensive than you think. That’s why we’ve crafted this post, which shows you how to create an effective logo with little to no experience

Let’s dive in!

Use An Online Logo Maker

Creating your brand’s logo from scratch? Unsure where to begin?

You’re not alone. Many brands find themselves in this position.

The answer?

An online logo maker makes the process easier and serves as a less stressful starting point. These tools allow you complete control over text, font, colors, and images or symbols.

When you design your own logo, you might find yourself buried in a million logo comparisons, trying to see which works best for your brand.

If you’re in this spot, an online logo maker creates an easy way to compare branding images.

It gets better. An online logo maker is much less expensive and cost efficient than mocking up an enormous amount of designs with no clear winner in sight.

An online logo maker knows the tenants of graphic design so you don’t have to. It helps you apply them in unique and creative ways you didn’t think possible.

This tool serves as an easy way to boost your brand recognition. What are you waiting for?

To Design A Logo Start With Your Color Pallette

Colors come with the power to impact emotions and customer action. Understanding color psychology helps you make the right decision when choosing colors for your logo design.

Different colors affect customers in different ways.

Think about the message you want your logo to convey about your brand. How do you want your customers to feel about your brand? What is your brand mission or promise?

Choose a set of colors that communicates the answers to these questions.

Beyond their emotional effects, colors create visual harmony in your design.

A good rule of thumb is to select 1 to 3 primary colors and 1 to 3 secondary colors. Different tones of the same color create consistency. To achieve different tones of the same color, play around with brightness and contrast.

Your color choices should complement and contrast one another.

For more on color theory, click here.

Typography Matters

First thing first. Use a font that is easy to read. This is a simple but impactful graphic design tip.

The eye doesn’t take well to scanning multiple typefaces. Stick to a simple, readable collection when it comes to your logo and beyond.

Choose a typeface that, like your colors, communicates your brand’s personality to a potential customer.

Want a friendly feel? Use sans-serif fonts with rounded edges.

Looking for something more sophisticated? Go with a serif font that conveys elegance.

Your font should correlate to every other element of your logo design including color and images or symbols. Not doing this proves a huge mistake for many first time and seasoned designers.

Balance Elements

Make sure the elements in your design look proportional. Do not insert images or text in any random order or place.

Inaccurate proportions leave your logo and your brand looking unprofessional.

Of course, there’s something to be said for breaking the rules in graphic design. Balancing your elements does not mean creating perfect symmetry. Depending on your design, this could prove boring.

The right amount of balance and alignment depends on the direction you want your logo to take.

Order Content Using Hierarchy

Design a logo with the most important information as the visual focal point. In the world of design, we refer to this as a hierarchy.

Hierarchy orders elements by scale, typography, placement, and color. You use hierarchy to direct the eye of a potential customer.

Do not keep everything the same size. Proper scaling helps you emphasize the parts of your design you believe the most important.

White Space Is Your Friend

White space or negative space allows elements in your design to breathe. Instead of creating a cluttered design that is hard to read, use white space to craft a fluid design.

The use of white space attracts more attention to a brand’s design than one that uses color.

Less really is more!

Contrast

Contrast in design conveys mood, bolsters readability, and makes your design pop.

Use a contrasting palette for your background, fonts, and any images or symbols. Does your logo use a light background? Go for a dark font.

Dark background? Choose a light colored font.

A color wheel is a great tool for identifying contrasting colors.

Stay Current But Don’t Fall Victim To Fads

You want your brand to stand the test of time. Communicate that via your logo design.

While logo trends and fads pop-up all the time, they fade away fast. No one wants to design a logo that ends up looking like an antique.

Design a logo that is current but not trendy so that your brand stands out from the crowd. Your business will look unique to consumers and their interest will peak.

Avoid A Static Design

Your logo design will appear on all marketing materials for your company. These materials take many diverse forms.

Optimize your logo for these many platforms so that it appeals to as many people as possible.

When you design a logo, a good tip is to pick one element you can tweak to fit different platforms. Can you perform a slight color change of a symbol?

If so, you’ll save time and money on redesign across platforms.

Remember Your Audience

Never forget your audience. They serve as the people you’re designing for.

Design a logo your target audience wants to see. Your logo should generate positive reactions.

Consider the context of your brand and your audience. For example, a family oriented brand should avoid dark, dismal designs.

Keeping your audience in mind every step of the way will help avoid any miscommunication between your brand and your target audience.

A Note On Graphics

Using a symbol or image in your logo is a great way to draw someone’s eye to your design.

Make sure any images you use fall into some sort of alignment. Just as with text, graphics need balance.

The graphic you choose should echo or reinforce your brand message. A talent agency for full stack developers should choose a graphic or symbol that reinforces the idea of web development.

People will ask about your logo. They’ll want to know how you came up with such a unique, clever design.

If you chose a random image that doesn’t connect to your brand, you’re in trouble.

Make meaningful choices. When others ask about your logo, you won’t hesitate to talk about your brand and the importance of each element in your design to that brand.

Simple Is Beautiful

We can’t stress keeping it simple enough.

Too many elements or fine details start to become one big mess after a while.

Your design will suffer. Your brand recognition will take a hit. People will associate your brand with a claustrophobic feeling.

Use special effects or elements with strategy. Design a logo with elements that highlight your design, not overshadow it.

Plan Your Design

Planning does not need to serve as your first step. If you’re someone with no experience, you’ll begin to plan once you’ve gotten your feet wet and your hands dirty.

Once you’re familiar with who you’re designing for, what your brand message is, and you’ve played around a bit, planning can set you up for serious success.

You’ll design quicker and execute the feelings and actions you want to convey with ease.

This planning stage doesn’t need to halt your progress. It can take up as little as one minute of your time.

You’re Ready To Design A Logo!

Designing a logo with no experience proves easier than most people think.

You want to design a logo that communicates your brand’s personality and message. To do this, keep your audience in mind every step of the way.

You don’t need to hire a professional. After all, you know your brand best.

If you’re considering designing your own logo, consult your team for help. Your employees and coworkers can add different perspectives and fresh ideas.

Need more inspiration? Take a look at these awesome logos from the history books.

As you can see, many elements go into a great logo design. You can achieve this by following the graphic design tenants laid out in this article.

If you have more questions about logo design or want to try out an online logo maker, contact us today!