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Top Ten Best Practices For Company Logos
A logo is a quick and long-lasting way to inform your clients about your value proposition. Logos create a quick attachment to a company and represent a company’s commitment to maintaining the level of service their clients really enjoy. Some logo designs may also need a tag line–which is a short branding slogan-that you can use to introduce your company in case of a start-up by sharing with the market the key benefit you are bringing to them. This benefit adds to your logo identity and will carry through the years as an unspoken part of your logo. Here are some of these best practices:
1. The Value Within A Logo
It is important for your logo to have instant recognition among your clients and potential customers. To have that crucial first impression ensures that your logo has a professional look. As you get your logo designed, also ensure that in case you need to sell your key benefits-especially in the formative stages of your business-that you include a tag line. A tag line sells your key benefit, allowing you to start building loyalty.
2. Know What’s Available
There are different ways to design a logo, generally characterized into three groups. Font-based, illustration based, and abstract graphic symbols. Font-based logos are created by alterations made to pre-existing fonts. Illustration-based logos are created from artwork that is designed to communicate a specific idea and such designs draw from real life objects, while abstract based logos are artwork-based but do not reflect any real objects in their appearance. You should choose your design based on what you want your company logo to represent.
3. What’s The Message?
Articulate what the logo should state, before it is designed. Let your logo describe your company’s tone, personality, and culture. It is important that your logo reflects professionalism in case of organizations like law firms, or appear “happy and playful” as can be seen with Pixar- a company whose products target children.
4. Consider Your Peers
What type of logos are they using? This can set a tone of the kind of approach and ‘look and feel’ your logo should have. It is usually a safe way to go because not only have they tested the market, but also someone among your peers must be doing it right.
5. Focus On Your Message
Ensure that you answer the key questions such as, what’s your value, what makes you different? So that your customers and potential clients begin to gravitate towards your offering. This can be achieved through color, tone and the choice of the type of logo to go with.
6. Clean And Functional
Your logo should be adaptable so that it can easily fit on a business card, billboard or truck advert. Also it is important that you watch the number of colors on it. Too much color is expensive when you need to print things like stationery, and may tire the eyes.
7. Let The Business Name Speak
Logos should align to the business name and illustrate the business name meanings. This should also direct whether your logo is illustrative, abstract or font based. Your choice should rest on the approach that carries your business identity the best.
8. Decide On A Budget Before You Hire A Designer
View the available portfolios to make a decision. Don’t use clip art, or art that is in the shared public domain in an attempt to go cheap. Remember that your logo will not alter over a long period of time. As a business, you will constantly invest brand equity into it and brands grow in value with time, making it harder in the future for you to drastically alter the look. A good example being Coca cola’s ribbon fonts. So hire a great designer and pay them well.
9. Avoid The Trend
Current trends inevitably pass away. Your logo should last for 20 years or more. Let your logo be timeless and not tied down to prevailing pop culture.
10. Protect Your Logo
It may be worth billions in a few years. Ensure you enlist the services of a trademark lawyer so that no one will piggyback on your success in the future to grow a competing brand.
