How to Make a Business Logo
Know How to Make a Brand
The business’s name, domain name, logo, and the color scheme contribute greatly to your brand identification. Obviously, the name and domain name need to be established first to potentially incorporate them into the logo, but many business owners start designing their logo first and end up spending extra time and money editing it to incorporate the aspects left out at the start. When thinking of the elements to add in the logo, business owners should take into consideration their brand identity. Brand identity is the persona the business is going to portray and two good foundation blocks for brand identity are the business’s mission and vision statements.
- Brand identity is established first to identify what kind of values the small business has and the mid-term and long-term goals the business wants to accomplish in a formal summary.
- It helps guide the business’s decisions and actions to efficiently achieve their goals, which identifies what makes the business different from its competition.
“Once a brand finds that differentiator, it becomes their calling card. It’s how everyone recognizes them and the first thing everyone judges them by. So it needs to be consistent. No matter which channels your customers choose to interact with your brand – your website, blog, email, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever tomorrow’s technology may bring – they should all demonstrate the unique experience that your brand represents” (https://offers.hubspot.com).
When developing brand identity, establish the business’s tone of voice. The tone and voice sets the attitude on how you want to be seen by the public. According to the University of Maryland University College the “tone means the attitude conveyed in the writing and may encompass formality, objectivity, intimacy, and similar aspects”, and the “voice is who the readers hear talking in your paper” (https://www.umuc.edu).
- Is the tone silly and playful or is it professional and academic?
- Is it your voice you hear or is there a specific person’s voice you hear when talking about the business?
- These questions influence the design of the logo, for example Chef Boyardee is the logo, the voice, and sets the tone for the company.
- Make sure to set the voice and tone with your mission and vision statements. The tone and voice need to be consistent when narrowing down the target audience.
The audience influences the tone and voice because it needs to be consistent throughout the customer’s experience with the business.
Know How to Brand a Logo
Identifying the target audience for any business will greatly influence the traditional marketing and digital marketing strategies and campaigns, but most do not think it would influence the logo design. The logo needs to be appealing to the target audience throughout your traditional marketing and digital marketing campaigns. The logo also needs to be visually capturing so it is remembered by your target audience and reflects the experience the customer will have. Sometimes businesses that have been operating for generations have an old logo and don’t want to change it, which is understandable, but it is necessary to update the logo.
- Customers will make a first impression based off of the logo and it is important to make a good impression for small businesses.
- “Eye Tracking studies conducted by the Missouri Univ. of Science & Technology show that users to most websites spend over 6 seconds glancing at the logo first before moving on to other content. What is going on in those 6 seconds? They are wondering if the quality of your logo will reflect the quality of service. They are wondering if you invest in the rest of your business like you did on your logo. In a nutshell, they are determining if you are trustworthy enough for them to continue” (https://co50.com).
Remember the more exposure the better, so when creating and maintaining your marketing campaigns be sure to incorporate the logo and color scheme on every single item used for the business like; letterheads, business cards, website, social media, advertisements, etc. The logo and color scheme complete the persona the business wants to portray. For example, sharp aggressive colors and patterns should not represent a company that makes and sells relaxing pillows and mattresses. The logo and color scheme allow consumers to recognize the brand identity, product, service, etc. through visual stimuli. For instance, Netflix’s company name, domain name, and logo are all the same. Different companies have used logos and colors different ways to brand themselves, but the goal of standing out amongst the competition is ultimately accomplished.
- McDonalds golden arches
- The specific shade of blue Tiffany trademarked and uses across their marketing and advertising strategy.
“When creating your own branding, you should strive for that same consistency. Visually, a brand should include the same elements across all channels, such as logo, color, fonts, etc. But design consistency is just the first step. The most important thing is to set expectations for the experience that customers will have every single time they interact with your brand online. It should transcend each channel (and even the internet itself) to be instantly recognizable as yours” (https://offers.hubspot.com).
Consistency is the most important thing when trying to brand a logo. Finding a talented graphics designer to develop your custom logo is the last task to accomplish for several reasons:
- The designer may ask for this information for inspiration and accurately develop the vision of the logo the business owner/owners have.
- Incorporate what is appealing and stimulating to the audience in a targeted, modern, and current way.
- To simply save time and money by having a detailed description of the logo.
