Your businesses logo is step one when it comes to branding, and super important as it will set the tone for your marketing.
Your logo is what identifies you, and is the first thing that people will generally see of your business.
It will be everywhere: website, social media, business cards, flyer, signage, uniforms, stickers, and the list goes on.
Why a quality logo is important for your business
Your logo is the most important part of your branding – it is the foundation of your brand identity! It is your first impression on a customer and is what will either grab their attention, or not. Your logo is what identifies you as a brand, and sets you apart from your competition.
A good logo will illustrate the type of business you are, and who you are. It is an opportunity to attract a specific type of client, and express your professionalism in the services or products you offer.
Identify who you are as a business
To design the right logo, you need to identify the type of business you are, the types of services or products you offer (and if you specialise in anything), who your ideal customer is, as well as the look and feel you are going for.
What do you feel your brand personality is? For example:
- modern & minimalistic
- classy & sophisticated
- retro & old school
- fun & quirky
Once you have identified this, it will help you in designing the right type of logo for your business.
Different styles of logos
There are various different styles of logos to choose from.
Wordmark
A wordmark is a logo that is made up of just the name of the business, using a specifically styled text. Wordmarks allow you to choose the style of text that will best suit your brand (for example a classic or modern font) and allow for a simple, no fuss logo. The great thing about a wordmark is that is will be unique no matter what and it spells out your business name! They are best suited to shorter-length business names.
Lettermark/Monogram
A lettermark will typically be a symbol consisting of either the brands initials, or first letter of their name.
Lettermarks work great to shorten a longer business name.Logomark/Brandmark
This style of logo consists of a symbol, or icon, that signifies the brand. A logomark needs to be something that clearly represents your brand. For example, the Apple logo, is an apple.
There is also the abstract logomark, which is an icon that may illustrate an idea or process, but not directly represent the businesses name.
Logomarks work well along side a wordmark – known as a ‘combination mark’ which we will explain below.
Combination Mark
This is one of the more popular logo options nowadays, that combines both a logomark (or icon) alongside a wordmark. It gives you the best of both worlds, by allowing you to have a symbol or icon that represents your brand, as well as a wordmark that displays your businesses name.
A combination mark gives you the ability to use your logo interchangeably. You can use the icon by itself for certain situations, like your social media profile picture, and the full logo in other settings where it is better suited (like your website or a business card).
Designing your logo
Once you have identified your brand personality, and have an idea of the style of logo that you like for your business, now it’s time to bring that idea to life!
There are two main options when it comes to designing a logo: do it yourself or hire a professional.
Designing your own logo:
For the budget-conscious business owner, there are many platforms and websites where you can design your own logo, some for free, such as Canva. There are also lots of logo-maker websites that allow you to add in your business name, chose a style of logo, and it will generate a bunch of different designs for you to choose from.
Whilst this will defiantly get you started, the main disadvantage of this is that you simply will not have a completely unique logo. You will generally work from a template if designing yourself which means many other brands will have a similar looking logo, when the whole point of your logo is to separate your from your competition. Similarly, logo makers will just generate you a generic logo design that is not really custom to your brand.
This can also make it difficult to trademark the logo, as it is not a unique design.
Hire a professional:
When working with a graphic designer, your logo design process will be much more personalised and custom to your brand. You will brief a graphic designer on the type of business you are, what your business is about, what your brand personalities are, how you want the logo to communicate who you are, what colours should be used, etc. With this vital information they can create a few different logo variations, from which you can pick what suits your business best and work from there.
The result is a custom, unique logo for your business, that illustrates who you are, what you do, and clearly expresses the personality of your brand. You can always tell the difference between a professionally designed logo and a DIY logo.
Your logo is the most important part of getting your branding right, and is worth the investment – it stays with you forever!
