Your Logo is your face!
Never underestimate the importance of your logo. Your logo will appear everywhere and is the visual representation of you and your business. It will be placed on signs, websites, posters flyers, everything.
Chances are you are not a lone business in a niche market, you'll have competitors. Often the first experience a person will have with you is seeing your logo. This makes it very important to consider the message and impression your logo is giving the public and potential clients.
Common logo mistakes:
colour scheme
colour clashes, too many colours not suited to the nature of the business like pink and green for a welding company. You are probably better off using shades of grey representing metal and the blue colour produced by the torch.
Using a stock image or clip art file
Sure it can be cheaper to purchase an image off the internet or steal a Word file but there can be may drawbacks to this. Anyone in the world can purchase and use your logo image too. There can be restrictions on usage of the file. The image is not a vector therefore will have a limited. Time spent on
Drawing something in Word or Paint yourself
There can be three negatives here. The logo looks unprofessional which can give the impression that your business is unprofessional.
You could spend hours creating a logo only to find a printer can't use the fil and it needs to be recreated.e or that your hours would have been better spent making
The hours
spend on designing your own logo could be better off spent in areas of your business that will earn you money.
There's nothing wrong with drawing up logo ideas however detailed or basic but it is always best to have them finalised correctly.
Inappropriate illustrations
This not only includes logos which are a completely irrelevant representation of your business (butterflies, stars and frangipanis for everyone!) but failing to take a step back to observe your logo and make sure it does not represent anything the general public might deem offensive.
Ebay and Nintendo suggested you may not require illustration at all which makes the next topic even more important.
Typefaces/Fonts
No more curls! Typeface selection is a key element in logo creation which is often overlooked and underestimated. There are way too many fonts being used out there that do not suit the business or compliment the logo/graphic element. It's of equal importance of the graphic element. Ariel and Helvetica are lovely especially Helvetica :P but they are quite common and common wont help you stand out.
Not consulting a professional
It's not expensive to talk to a designer about your logo. Designers are trained and experienced in creating logos for a variety of businesses. I create logos from as little as $299, a small investment to make for what is probably the most crucial visual element representing your business which will last for years. Trying to create your own logo will usually cost you a lot more in time spent away from working in your business.
Final considerations
Is your logo memorable? Will people talk positively about it? Will it stick in their minds?
Is it suitable? Does it relate to your name or business? Does the illustration, typeface and colour suit your business?
Is it effective? Keep it simple. Your logo can be clever but it shouldn't take an hour of decoding to decipher it. Also, it isn't necessary to cram in all the cool pictures and colours you can think of. Your logo needs to be observed and recocgnised in a couple of seconds. Too much becomes overwhelming and can be a turn off. Any further decoration can be saved for use in flyers and posters.
During the design process and all the way to logo completion, I find it is important to ask other designer, the business owner and even random people what their opinions of the logo are. When you have been thinking of and working on a logo for hours you know the complete thought process behind it and therefore have a certain perspective on it. Outsiders provide valuable information and a fresh and realistic outlook. Remember, your logo isn't made to please only the designer and business owner. The logo is made to represent your business to the general public and it's their opinion that matters most as they will be paying for your product or services.
I hope this has been informative and thankyou for reading my first design blog!All comments positive and negative are welcome so do not hesitate to send me an email regarding current blogs or suggestions for any new topics.
I look forward to hearing from you.
-Melissa Howard
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