Logos are, hands down, the most powerful symbols of what brands stand for. They penetrate through cultural and language barriers, and you’d be surprised at how much money companies are willing to cough up to have the most memorable one. Would you believe that the BBC paid a monumental $1.8 billion for its logo?
It’s among the most memorable logos, along with Apple, Coca Cola, Nike, and McDonald’s. These logos are the face of their companies, as it should be. A logo should be part of a business that grabs attention and makes a great first impression.
It should separate your brand from the competition, foster brand loyalty, and serve as the foundation of your brand. The question is, how do you create a recognizable logo in such a competitive world? This is exactly what we’ll discuss in this post, and guide you on how to make a successful logo for your brand.
Understand the Brand
Before you go to the drawing board to brainstorm with your team, it’s imperative for you to understand your brand. The logo essentially represents the brand and creating one without knowing the brand can be a massive logo branding mistake. It would be like creating an image with no purpose.
Most of the memorable logos you have come across happen to have hidden meanings behind them or hidden right in the logo. FexEx, for instance, has an arrow between the letters E and X at the end, which signified speed and precision. The Amazon logo has a smile in between the A and Z, which is not just a smile, but an arrow indicating that the shopping giant sells everything from A to Z.
It’s vital that you consider the attributes of the brand because it’s an introduction of your brand to customers. Consider your target market, your brand’s history, your competitors, and intended visual identity. It’s important that you take time and note down what emotions your brand evokes in people, your plans and aspirations, your company goals, and your brand ideology.
Create a Logo That Stands Out
A successful logo is simply one that stands out enough to be memorable. Apple, for instance, has a logo that really stands out. The bite in the apple relates to the byte of the digital information the company deals with. Consumers like it even more for the double entendre and dual suggestion, making it one of the most memorable logos in the world.
This means that to create a successful logo, you need to think of a unique symbol and be creative with the fonts, colors, and images you use with it. Do something quirky and break the conventional rules if you have to, but make sure you design something interesting enough to be captivating and memorable. Your logo should be recognizable in a pile of hundreds of other logos, so don’t be afraid to go all-in here with ideas.
Use the Right Colors
Talking about colors, did you know that different colors have different psychological relations? The right colors will make your brand beautiful, intriguing, and bright. Bright and bold colors grab attention much faster, while muted colors ooze sophistication.
You also need to consider the brand colors and company representations while considering colors because consumers have to associate the logo with the brand. Different colors have a different impact on human emotions, so you need to choose colors that evoke the emotions you want. Red, for instance, evokes the feelings of love, affection, and passion, while green evokes those of nature and growth.
Blue, which is the most widely used logo color, represents professionalism and trustworthiness, while purple is associated with royalty. Pink represents femininity, and the ever-powerful black represents power, authority, and credibility.
Choose the Right Kind of Logo
What kind of logo will be most suitable for your brand? There are many different types of logos, and this is a question you should ponder before settling on the right one. Essentially, you can use lettermarks, pictorial marks, abstract marks, an emblem, a mascot, or a combination logo. Some great examples of lettermark logos include IBM and NASA, and wordmark logos include Visa and Google.
Graphic logos, on the other hand, are like the Apple logo, mascot logos have some mascot like KFC, emblem logos have a flag in them, combination logos have two different types, and abstract logos can be defined in more ways than one, such as Pepsi. Choose the right one, depending on the personality of your brand and the message you want to convey. Beyond that, you have to consider what typeface and font will go well with your type of logo.
Go for a Simple Design
When it comes to logos, the simple ones are the most memorable logos, and for obvious reasons. Most people only take a glance at most graphics, and you need to ensure that what they see within that glance is memorable and will be recognizable the next time they see it. A simple design is one that consumers find appealing without having to define or figure out the hidden meaning.
Don’t get this wrong, though, because simplicity and ordinary are two different things. Make your logo design simple, but quirky to the extent that makes it one of the most recognizable logos your target audience comes across. Come up with something eye-catching, and you can use it on your brand for years to come.
Create Something Long-Lasting
Talking about years to come, you need to create a logo that will scale with you over the years, regardless of how much your business grows. Your audience may not like it if you change your logo years from now. Take GAP, for instance, that chose to change its logo a few years back, which really backfired after their audience complained too much about it.
Once your business grows, your audience will grow emotionally attached to your brand, and they will always want the logo they relate to. This is why most global brands have had their logos for decades, some only tweaking them a little when they rebuild their brands.
Ensure You Test It in Black and While and for Scalability
Logos usually remain in back and white in newspapers, documents, stationery, and other promotional products. The logo you design may look exceptional with the right colors, but not so memorable or recognizable in black and white. This means that your logo needs to leave as much impact in black and white as it does in colors.
Try designing your logo in pencil sketches first, after which you can add the colors of your choice, to meet both goals. Beyond that, it’s also vital that you test it for scalability and ensure it would fit well in a small stamp or a humongous billboard, and still retain its beauty and message. Use a secure online fax and send your final designs to experts for an honest review before you make it official.
Creating Memorable Logos: This Is How You Do It
With these tips, creating memorable logos becomes much easier. There are so many businesses around, each one with its own logo, so you need to ensure that you create something unique that works well with your brand.
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