As of last year, there were 64,417 firearm dealers nationwide. That directly translates into a lot of competition.
If you’re looking to stand out from the other guys, then you need one thing: the perfect logo. Creating one yourself can seem daunting at first, but we’re here to help you through the process and show you that you can do it yourself.
In this article, we’ll dive into everything you need to know about creating a logo for your gun shop. We’ll cover why it’s important, the aspects of creating the perfect logo, and how to design your own.
Are you ready? Let’s get started.
The Importance of a Logo
The combination of imagery and text in a logo creates a visual symbol that represents your business. It’s how you build brand recognition and how your customers will recognize you.
For a person who hasn’t seen your logo before, it often informs them of the name of your business and what kind of business it is.
A logo is the chance to show off your business’s personality. Design the right logo for your gun shop and come off as relatable and trusting.
What Makes the Perfect Logo?
The perfect logo is easy to recognize with or without additional text. However, it’s more than just an icon; there’s more than you think when it comes to creating a logo.
It needs to be attention-grabbing, distinct, and unique. Let’s break down what makes the perfect logo.
Clear and Concise
The most important rule in creating a logo is simplification. All great logos are clear, concise, and low in details–with the exception of Starbucks.
Imagine your gun shop’s logo on t-shirts, billboards, magazines, posters, and stickers. It should be clear to read and identify at any size if you decide to scale it large or small.
Consider the Font
To reiterate the point above, you want the text to be bold, clear, and easy to read from any distance.
When choosing a font, the bolder, the better. Avoid script fonts as much as possible and stick to one or two font families. Less is always better when it comes to designing a logo.
Here are some of the best fonts for a logo:
- Garamond
- Helvetica
- Bodoni
- Proxima Nova
- Futura
- Rockwell
- Univers
- Sassoon
- Modesto
Choose a font family like Sans serif for a look that’s clean and modern or go with Serif for something more tasteful.
Color Matters
Color has an impact on buyers and increases brand recognition by up to 80%. With that in mind, we need to carefully decide on the colors used.
A good rule of thumb is to use less than three colors. When in doubt, see what the pros are doing. Big brands like Amazon, Nike, Apple, Facebook, McDonald’s all use less than three colors–you should too.
For your gun shop, you’ll want to opt for darker earthy colors like brown, black, white, and gray. Brown depicts masculinity, ruggedness, and strength whereas black is usually characterized as modern, sleek, and high-end.
If you’re looking for a pop of color, we suggest you opt for blue, which signifies trust and maturity–perfect for an arms dealer. For an in-depth explanation of colors and how they affect your customer, check out this guide.
Context Matters
A logo encapsulates your business and shows others what you stand for. How do you accomplish this? You do it with context.
Incorporating what your business does is one of the most important aspects of your logo.
Customers who don’t already know your name will be instantly drawn to your business if you add context to your logo. If you’re a gun shop owner, you might want to incorporate bullets or something like AR-15 parts within the logo so it’s instantly recognizable to your audience.
One look at your logo and they know exactly what you’re selling. Avoid mystery at all costs, it’s one of the worst things you can do. Remember why businesses create logo’s in the first place–to be recognizable.
Want some examples of how context works in a logo? Think about FedEx’s logo. The white space the letters make is an arrow showing the forward movement of deliveries. Check out some of the examples we broke down below.
How To Design a Logo
When it comes to making a logo you have two choices: paying a professional to do it or trying yourself. Let’s look into both options and see what’s best for you.
There are a ton of great freelancers and graphic designers on the internet willing to design a logo for you, however, it’s going to cost you. A quality logo may start at $200 and run upwards of $2,500.
If calling on a professional doesn’t fit within your budget, consider designing it yourself. It’s quite easy to do these days thanks to logo making programs like the Online Logo Maker. Let’s find out how.
Sketch It Out First
Start by sketching out primary ideas for your logo. You’ll want to map out the text and basic graphics you want the logo to encompass as well as potential color schemes.
Take your Sketch Online
Once you have a rough draft of the direction you’re going in, it’s time to take it online. It’s much easier to start designing online once you have a sketch to go off of to avoid staring at a blank screen.
Use a quality logo making program to bring your logo to life. With the Online Logo Maker, it’s easy to play around with your colors, fonts, and graphics. This is where the designer in you will start to come out.
Make it a Vector
If you want the best format for your logo, you’ll want to save it as a vector. This is a high-quality format that is easily scalable (both larger and smaller) without skewing the quality. Vector formats can also be easily transferred to any format as needed.
Examples of Great Logos
Need a little inspiration before you get started? We’ve gathered some of the most ingenious logos for you to take a peek at.
Each one combines brilliance context with streamlined text to easily inform customers of who they are and what they do.
Can you think of a more iconic logo than Target’s target? With or without the text you know exactly what it means. Whatever you need, whatever you’re looking for, just head to Target. Bullseye!
You might have never heard of Movers Moving Company as you have with Target but one glimpse of the logo and you get the idea that it’s a moving company, even without the text.
Movers Moving Company logo is a great example of context in a logo. The whitespace the hand makes creates a house as if the hand was picking up and moving it easily. Combine that with the simple word “Movers” and you know exactly what the name of the business is and what it does.
Guitar Studio-School of Excellence
This logo may have more text than the others but the visual graphics are bar none. The “I” in guitar and the “S” in studio make up a contemporary guitar. Not only will this grab people’s attention but allow them to take a second look and read into the business.
Another classic logo that says exactly what it is. American Red Cross’ logo is in fact, a red cross. Easily recognizable anywhere you associate this logo with medicine and the greater good.
For more logo inspiration, click here.
How to Use Your Logo
Now that you know exactly how to design the perfect logo, you can put it to use. There are some basic rules when it comes to using your logo.
The first rule? Use it consistently and often.
Brand consistency is crucial. Ensure your logo is always used correctly meaning it’s not stretched out of proportion, pixelated, or in the wrong color scheme.
You’ll want to use your logo everywhere. You might be familiar with the Marketer’s ‘rule of seven‘. It states that a customer needs to hear or see your message seven times before taking an action.
A good logo sticks in someone’s head. Plaster your logo everywhere like your staff’s t-shirts, your receipts, your webpage, and your packaging to pack the biggest marketing punch. Never let your customers forget where they shopped and how good of an experience you provided them with.
Need Help? Start Here.
Now that you know exactly what the perfect logo looks like, it’s time to get to work.
We know starting a new task like designing your own logo can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Check out this online tutorial to using our online logo maker. It’ll walk you through making your design step by step regardless of your design or technical experience.
Our online logo maker makes it possible for everyone to design their logo, without over-priced professionals and over-complicated software.
Get started today.
