How to Design a Furniture Logo That Stands Out
Posted on November 08, 2017 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
Designing a furniture logo may sound like a super simple job. After all, all you really need to do is slap together some type, throw in a couple images and you’re good to go, right?
Well, think again. Designing a logo for your furniture company is not as easy as it sounds. And so much more goes into a great logo than just a few simple words and a random image. Designing a logo requires skilful application and creative theory.
Sure, anyone can design a logo for a furniture company. But designing a logo that stands out from the competition, attracts customers, and stands the test of time, now that takes skill.
Your logo is a visual representation of your furniture’s brand. And therefore, it must convey its values, identity, and more.
In this article, we’ll go over how to make sure you design a furniture logo that stands out.
1. Check Out the Competition
Before you even begin crafting a design, first check out what the competition is up to.
Knowing what other furniture companies are doing can help you figure what themes and designs are working and which ones aren’t. It can also help you avoid creating a logo that is too closely related to a competitor’s.
And bear in mind, that while it can be tempting to follow a logo design trend that’s working for other furniture companies, the world’s most recognizable logos stand out because they avoid these trends.
2. Simplicity is Key
Owning a furniture company means you probably know all about the art of simplicity.
Think about what you do when you stage furniture for customers. You don’t shove in as many pieces of furniture into one area as possible. If you did this, even the best massage chair could get lost in a sea of furniture. Instead, you pick a few pieces that work well together. This is so it looks attractive and so the customer doesn’t get overwhelmed.
You should carry this same idea over into your logo design. Stick to a couple coordinating colors and one font to keep the logo attractive and clutter-free.
3. Go For Timelessness
While it can certainly be tempting to jump on every logo trend you hear about, make sure you don’t go overboard.
What may be trendy one day, may not be tomorrow. You want a logo that’s going to look fresh 10,20, and even 50 years from now. Therefore, you want to make sure your logo conveys timelessness and isn’t just a bunch of trendy designs meshed together.
4. Understand Color Psychology
Certain colors have certain connotations associated with them. It’s important to keep these in mind when designing your furniture logo.
For example, red exudes passion, yellow exudes cheerfulness, and black exudes sophistication and class. Familiarize yourself with meanings behind color before choosing the ones for your logo.
5. Always Ask For a Second Opinion
No matter how good you think your logo looks, there are things you may have missed in the design stage.
Therefore, it’s always a good idea to have a second set of eyes take a look at your logo before putting it out in the world. In fact, peer review throughout the whole process is often a good idea.
Furniture Logo Design: Wrap Up
Follow these tips, and you’ll undoubtedly have a furniture logo that stands out from the competition.
If you are feeling inspired and are ready to get started on your logo design, be sure to check out our online logo maker today.
How to Design an Attractive Hotel Logo
Posted on November 08, 2017 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
A hotel logo is one of the most important elements of its marketing and branding strategy. If executed correctly, it can make all the difference in imprinting a positive image of the place in the minds of consumers.
Logos are often the most difficult part of a branding exercise: they need to grab a viewer, and they should evoke an emotional and positive response. They need to be positive and eye-catching, yet familiar and consistent.
Logos need to express a brand’s values without words, using only color, font, and design. A logo, if done well, will make prospective guests want to check in and stay.
If you want to design a really effective hotel logo, keep in mind these seven tips. They will help you create something that will help your brand really stick in the minds of your intended audiences.
1. Your Hotel Logo Must Be Versatile
Hotels use their logos in innumerable ways. Think about all of the places you see a hotel logo when you check into a room: it’s on the room service menu and the Do Not Disturb sign. It’s on the soap and the towels.
Hotel logos are everywhere:
- They are used in print, online and TV advertising
- They are emblazed upon the employee uniforms and promotional items like hats and umbrellas
- They may be printed on the building’s awnings and facades
- They may show up on sponsorship banners at local events
If you are designing a hotel logo you must make sure the brand is easily replicable on all of these surfaces in all of these sizes. The logo must be versatile enough to look good in reverse, black and white and invisibly.
When designing this logo, be sure to run it through various tests: Does it show up well from both near and far? How does it look on a cell phone screen? Be creative: imprint it on a pat of butter to see how it would look at a hotel guest’s breakfast!
Be creative. Imprint it on a pat of butter to see how it would look at a hotel guest’s breakfast! Your hotel will benefit from a logo which is clear and evocative in a wide range of iterations.
2. Understand Your Hotel’s Brand
Designers like to be ahead of the curve, and it’s great to come up with options that capture the industry’s latest trends. Ombre, letter stacking, and shield shapes are just some of the latest approaches that are hot in the design field right now.
However, the primary objective for a great hotel logo is to illustrate your hotel’s core values. The latest fad in logo design may not encapsulate what is special about this particular hospitality business.
Work with the hotel’s branding specialists to understand the values the place is trying to convey. Is this locale appealing to a young millennial crowd? Then you want to convey that the place is web savvy, convenient and close to local nightlife.
Does the hotel want to let families know that it is safe and fun for visitors with kids? A logo for this kind of hotel would have a very different look and feel.
Perhaps geographic location is the most important element of their brand. The brand for Hotel Osterport is an effective example. Its logo clearly demonstrates its location in Copenhagen with its effective use of the “?”.
3. Keep it Simple
Tastes evolve, and generally, the public’s taste in logos has shown a preference for increased simplicity. Look at the evolution of the logos for Starbucks, Nike, and Apple over the last few years and you can see a trend towards cleaner lines and more simple design.
Social media has affected this affinity as well. As consumers grow accustomed to receiving their information as they quickly scroll down their feeds, simple eye-catching logos are more likely to grab someone’s attention than ones with lots of text or complex imagery.
One common mistake made by companies seeking logos is to choose a design that is too complex. A complicated logo is hard to understand and its message is hard to articulate. It can also increase printing costs and be hard to replicate across different mediums.
A hotel logo requires a simple approach for all of these reasons and more. If the hotel attracts an international clientele, it will need to appeal to audiences from different cultures and who speak different languages.
A simple design removes the possibility that your hotel’s logo may not translate well to people from different countries.
4. Choose Colors Carefully
Design experts advise that three colors are the maximum number which should be used in an effective logo. Use more than that and you will risk overwhelming your customer.
Each color on the spectrum corresponds with a different human emotion, so select a color palette that reflects your hotel’s brand. For example, if you are promoting your hotel as a spa, you may wish to stick with the colors of green and blue, which symbolize health and serenity, respectively.
Your choice of color should consider the type of audience you are appealing to. Black is generally perceived as elegant and prestigious. It is a common favorite in the fashion industry, so if you are hoping to attract members of that industry to stay at your hotel, you might include it as a primary color in your logo.
Orange, on the other hand, is seen as a fun and playful color which appeals to children. If your hotel is meant to attract families with young ones, you may want to include some orange in your hotel logo.
5. Find the Right Font
Some logos forego text entirely, like Twitter. However, your brand must be extremely well established in the eyes of the consumer to go entirely without any explanatory text.
Most hotels incorporate their name in their logo as an indelible part of their brand.
Some hotels may be so well known that one word or even an initial may suffice. Holiday Inn’s dramatic new logo, with the modern single “H” replacing the more old-fashioned script lettering of the full name, is a great example of refreshing a well-known hotel logo while maintaining key elements like color to keep it familiar.
The iconic Manhatten hotel The Plaza sometimes uses a double “P” logo which emphasizes the building’s its classic, patrician roots and its exclusivity: If you have to ask what the “P” stands for, you probably won’t be staying here.
Famous brands usually stick with clean, easy to read fonts for their logos like Arial, Helvetica and Times New Romans. Gothic and other fancy fonts may prove hard to decipher when seen from afar or on the fly.
6. Utilize Research and Focus Groups
If you are designing a hotel logo, you may become so immersed in the process that you can lose some perspective. It’s always important to get outside opinions on an image you may have been working on so closely that you may not see it as others do.
Arrange for focus groups in your target audience to look at your design, and listen to their feedback. Or give them several options and let them tell you which they prefer and why.
They may prefer one color over another. They may not be able to read the type. The logo may evoke pleasant associations of places they liked from their childhood (this would be a great reaction to get!).
On the other hand, they may see things in your logo that you have overlooked. There are many examples of epic corporate fails where companies did not see the negative or salacious associations that their new logo evinced. It’s always better to discover these unintended connotations before the brand launch!
7. Beware of Acronyms
Many of the world’s most famous brands have moved towards logos which abbreviate their names: HuffPo, AmEx. Others are so well known that they can shorten their names even more, by creating an acronym of their names: BMW, CVS.
If you are designing a hotel logo, the hotel in question should have a very well established identity in its marketplace before you consider using a shortened label for it.
While brevity and simplicity are key elements to a successful hotel logo, your audience needs to know what your product is and what its name is. If they cannot glean that from what they see in the logo, then the design is not successful.
You Can Create Your Own Successful Hotel Logo
While all of these design elements may seem like a lot to absorb, you do not necessarily need to be or hire a professional graphic designer to come up with a great logo for your hotel.
It is possible to find excellent tools for creating your own logo online.
If you are a hotel owner or are marketing a hospitality enterprise and trying to stay within a budget, there are ways to achieve a professional result without the high cost. If you follow these basic guidelines, you can create a brand for your hotel which will be attractive to the kinds of guests you hope will stay there.
Check out an online logo maker site to see how you can create a dynamic hotel logo at a budget-friendly price.
How to Design a Successful Roofing Logo
Posted on November 08, 2017 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
A consumer creates a first impression of a business logo within 10 seconds. That’s not much time to make an impact. Your roofing logo needs to pop while also portraying your business professionally.
Roofing and construction businesses are in a tight spot when it comes to branding. They need to get across what they do while avoiding generic and overused symbols related to that industry.
If your roofing company needs a new or updated logo, you need to employ up-to-date tactics in order to compete in this industry. Branding is an art so it’s essential that you educated yourself.
These techniques will help you create a logo that works and that you can be proud of.
Unique and Relevant Imagery
When thinking about a roofing logo, you need to go online and look at what your competitors are doing. When you do this, you’re going to see the same imagery being used in different ways.
Businesses in the construction industry tend to use things like hard hats, houses or bricks in their logos. Doing this gets across what they do, but how do you set yourself apart when so many are using this type of imagery?
You need to think about things that make you unique such as your location and the services you offer. Is your target audience residential or corporate? This may seem like irrelevant information, but a graphic designer will use this to create something that’s both unique and identifiable.
Guardian is a good example of a smart logo for residential roofing.
Color Matters More Than You Think
Too many colors or colors that are inappropriate for your industry can turn customers off. Colors also have certain connotations that help form a perception in the audience’s head.
A roofing company needs to communicate a sense of trust and stability. For this, blues and greens are the best. Browns and yellows tend to come across as masculine and rugged, which works well in the roofing industry.
It’s also important to avoid too much color in your logo. The idea is to create a memorable image without overwhelming the audience.
Choosing a Text Style for Your Roofing Logo
When choosing a font, the primary rule is that it be easy to read. For a roofing logo, you also want something that’s strong and up-front. You’ll need to consider the other imagery being used and pick something that matches well.
You also need to consider that your logo will be used on business cards, social media profiles, and signage. Consider this when choosing a font. Picking something clean and assertive will be your best bet.
Don’t Overthink It
A common mistake people make when designing a logo is that they overthink it. This often results in a design that tries too hard to do something simple.
Your logo is an identifier. Don’t try to tell your entire story. Having a proportionate, creative and concise logo is preferable to something that’s hard to digest.
Logos Made Easy
Even if you have a graphic designer work on your new brand, it’s important to keep the ideas discussed above in mind. It’s likely that your competition is on top of their branding game, so you should be too.
Online Logo Maker allows you to take control of the production of your logo. Register today to get started.
Get Inspired with These 5 Popular Financial Logos
Posted on November 08, 2017 by Logo Design Tips and Tricks
Financial logos are primarily chosen to represent the values of strength, trust, and maturity.
That means you should feature a lock wrapped around an oak tree, right?
Well, not quite. When you are in the finance industry you shouldn’t just put together the first thing you think of. There are many ways to portray your company’s values and mission in an organized and authentic way.
When your clients see your logo they should subconsciously expect the traits your company values.
So how will you communicate your message? Keep reading to find out five popular logo designs for businesses in the finance industry.
1. The Conservative Animal Logo
First up is the conservative animal logo. This can be a great way to capture the public’s interest when your company is new to the market.
Featuring an animal on your logo is a great way to communicate your company’s values. Depending on what species you choose you could be suggesting that your brand is everything from cunning, to speedy, to able to multitask.
If you were to choose a monkey for your logo, for example, your potential customers would assume that your business was not serious. However, if you were to feature a lion on the very same logo, clients would see your company as a leader that could handle anything.
Another great animal for financial logos would be the shark. This animal is known for its strength and cunning. No one wants to get in the way of a great white at dinner time.
Your customers will see these animals and know immediately what kind of work they will be able to expect from your business.
2. Typography Style Financial Logos
Choosing a logo that features typography as its primary component is a simple, yet solid choice.
There have been many studies done that have determined the difference a change in font can have on an audience’s perception.
For example, the Century Gothic font is seen as chic and is often chosen for businesses in the fashion industry. Baskerville Old Face is a more traditional font that helps communicate that a business is reliable.
Since the finance industry is one that contains thousands of different companies, sometimes choosing an animal is not enough to make you stand out. This can be difficult because if a customer does not remember your logo then they aren’t likely to seek out your business to buy your product.
Instead, typography allows your company to develop a consistent piece of text that can be used on all branding materials to communicate the tone of your business. By selecting a font that is sturdy and compelling you will be able to attract new customers from all over the place.
3. Geometry Inspired Financial Logos
Many businesses in the finance industry use symmetry and other geometry to create logos that are pleasing to the eye. This is because it helps humans to feel more comfortable subconsciously.
There is a concept that exists in the design industry called Gestalt Theory. It proves that psychologically our brains are processing the items on a page in a certain order based on their location, size, color, and even the distance that they are apart from each other. By taking advantage of these principals you can ensure that you will get the response you desire.
For example, in this review of Sky Blue Credit Repair, you can see their logo is highly symmetrical and only features two primary colors in its design.
Whether it is the symmetry of a human face or symmetry in a logo, people will be subconsciously attracted to it. So take advantage of this natural phenomenon.
4. Unthreatening Animated Logo
Although it is more prominent in the insurance industry, using animation in your logo can help to communicate that your brand is approachable.
Many potential customers are put off by the idea of walking into a big financial institution and getting advice from a stranger they don’t know if they can trust. Whether they think they may not get the service they need, or won’t be able to afford it, many people just steer clear.
The insurance industry used to have a similar problem but they solved it with animated logos. One of the first to begin this trend was the Geico gecko. The little lizard is meant to make you feel more relaxed.
He is intended to communicate that an accident does not have to be overwhelming.
In this same way, you should use animated characters in your logo designs. By featuring a cartoon-like character you will be making your brand much more approachable to your customers.
5. Vintage-Inspired Financial Logos
The final option for logo design is the vintage-inspired choices. Since most customers want to purchase from a company that isn’t here today and gone tomorrow, using a vintage look on your logo can be a great option.
Whether it is using a classic typeface or going all out with a themed design, harkening back to better days is a wonderful way to create trust between you and your potential clients.
In addition, as millennials begin to take over as the primary earners in America, they will be looking for new financial institutions to work with. This is especially true of the recent college graduates who are now trying to figure out how they will pay off their student loans on their entry-level salaries.
These people need all the help they can get and millennials love anything vintage. Choosing a design that takes advantage of this fact will make your company much more popular with the younger crowd.
Where to Design Financial Logos
When you want to build your own financial logos you will need to find a design program to work on. There are many different kinds of software on the market that could help you achieve your final product.
If you would like a simple solution visit Online Logo Maker. They have a very easy to use a system that will allow you to customize a logo all your customers will recognize.