A logo is a vital summation of your entire brand. It should create a powerful connection between your brand image and your business.
Should it, as Steve Jobs once said, take $100 million and ten years to create that critical association in the mind of the consumer? In most cases, yes, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t exceptions.
While, typically, we wouldn’t recommend crafting a logo using free, widely available online platforms – they tend to err on the side of formulaic, rote and unmemorable – we’ve summarised the key design considerations you need to have locked in before you try out one of these platforms.
If you’re strapped for cash and you’re intent on trying one of these free solutions, you need to focus on attaining these four qualities.
Simplicity
Overwrought, needlessly complex logos only serve to befuddle potential customers. What exactly are they looking at and what does it demonstrate to them about your brand? The more pared back your logo is, the more likely you are to consider it a success.
Apple are renowned for the strength of their marketing and design. Their logo encapsulates so much in so little. It’s immediately recognisable, it eradicates the need for any accompanying text and it’s remained largely the same for years and years.
You don’t need to have an understanding of visual hierarchy (the positioning of each element of your logo in order of importance) to create something effective.
The simpler your logo is, the easier it is to grasp.
Memorable and distinctive
When you are working with stock providers, you run the risk of ending up with a logo that is indistinguishable from the thousands of others being cranked out for businesses across the UK. If you are insistent on using free software – why not, they could well be a vast improvement on some of the tools you may have available at the moment – you need to go into it with healthy dose of scepticism and a discerning eye.
Creating something memorable doesn’t necessarily hinge on being some overt outlier in design terms. There are countless ways to make your logo distinctive and unique that doesn’t rely on shock value or sheer wackiness. Thinking outside the box and making a conscious decision to take a different approach to design than the other players in your industry is enough to stand out.
Sometimes taking a markedly different approach to design can help your brand stand out in an already saturated, hyper-competitive field.
Appropriate and relevant
Marketing is all about capturing the attention of the relevant people.
Any design decisions should be driven by market research.
There is an abundance of data out there – so you don’t necessarily have to conduct your own bespoke research but the more data you have access to, the more accurate your findings are likely to be.
Having detailed insights into your target audience’s likes and dislikes is essential.
You have to generalise slightly (you’re never going to be able to satisfy absolutely everybody) but you might pick up on a few common threads that people of a certain demographic share.
To avoid putting yourself at a distinct disadvantage, you have to try to design a logo that complies with the insights pulled from the data.
Once you have built up an idea of the kind of customer your business should be hoping to target, you can then set about designing a logo that fulfils as many of their expectations as possible.
Timeless
Brand building should last a lifetime – or even generations. The most popular brands of all time have remained faithful to their original logos, only agreeing to minor deviations every once in a while. With luck, your intention should be to create a similarly long-lasting logo that requires little more than a slight revamp every few years.
It is vital to underscore the importance of not chasing trends. If you were to look back at a photo of yourself ten years ago, you might grimace at your sartorial choices. You don’t want to think the same thing about your logo. Concentrate on the essence of your brand – what it stands for, who its core audience is, what message you want to get across – and put those ideas into a symbol that’ll last the test of time.
In summary
There are capable graphic design software packages that you can use to create a solid logo for your business. By absorbing all of the lessons this piece has to teach you, you can take the first steps towards designing a distinct, simple and long-lasting logo for free.
A strong logo helps your business with building awareness, recognition and even intrigue.
These are all important factors that should shape the design of your logo.
Following these basic principles should put you in the best position possible to create a high quality logo.
