October 18, 2017 Alchemist Studios

Choosing the right logo design for your business

Your logo design might just be the most important element of your brand. A visual ‘stamp’ that is more than the sum of its parts, it is the first touchpoint for your clients, an illustration of the essence of your business, a way to stand out among your UK competitors, and a promise to your customers.

With so much riding on this one piece of design, it really is worth putting the time in, to get it right. It may sound like a challenge to capture so much information in a simple design, however with the right know how you can land a logo that you and your company will be proud to display.

Logo design: text or icon

Logo designs can broadly be categorised as either text-based, or icon based. Popular brands with logos comprising stylised text include Coca Cola, Sony and NASA. All are presented differently, and all are instantly recognisable.

The right font is critical in these designs because different fonts really can inspire distinctive emotional responses from customers. Whatever you decide upon, it needs to match your business model. A children’s toy company might choose a loose style of text that suggests fun and boundlessness, whereas a legal business would likely perform better with an upright, neat font that indicates steadfastness. A professional designer will have access to – and knowledge of – many more fonts than standard writing software can offer.

Eye-catching icons

Logo designs often include familiar images: think of the mountain on Toblerone packets evoking a Swiss landscape, or the leaping big cat on a Puma logo. And sometimes the icons are abstract, like the red, white and blue ‘wave’ of Pepsi.

A few logos are so strong that these icons don’t even need the company name next to them for you to know who they are and what they stand for. Who comes to mind when you think of a simplistic, rounded panda? A popular piece of fruit with a bite taken from it? A little two-dimensional blue bird?

These companies already have a huge amount of brand recognition, of course, so it wouldn’t be advisable for a burgeoning company somewhere in the UK to have only an icon in their logo. However you could ask your designer to pair a word with an icon, which would allow you the flexibility to use the icon alone for some applications, should you wish.

Colour connotations

It’s tempting to plump for your favourite colour, or to imagine a whole range of vibrant colours in your logo. Take care, because colour can have a subtle yet important impact on a customer’s psychology.

Savvy companies use this science to their advantage by matching their logo colour to the emotion they want to invoke. Red for instance suggests passion, and action – and is widely believed to make you feel hungry, which is why we commonly see red in fast food chain logos. Blue, meanwhile, is calming, and represents peace and strength. It’s the colour of banks, and many car manufacturers. Orange – like that of the UK’s Penguin books – is sociable and creative. Work with a logo designer to identify a colour palette that suits your company’s personality.

Fitting flexibility

A logo design should have the same impact whether it’s emblazoned across a double decker bus, or printed on a business card. It should be scalable and work within different applications. Do you use social media? If so, you’ll need a logo that fits in the avatar square on Twitter and Facebook. It should look good when it’s at this size too.

Will you place the image over colour photographs in publications? If yes, then one or two simple colours may work best to ensure it’s clear against the background, and your designer may also recommend black and white alternatives to your chosen logo to use in contexts such as these.

From mission to message

Most importantly, before you even think of any of the above, consider what message you want your logo to ‘say’. Ideally people should know what you do by looking at your logo, or what ‘type’ of company you are. A logo might be fun, but as much fun as you are, is this the most important brand value for the business? Or are you better to command authority? Convey honesty? Suggest dynamism? Or engender trust?

Consider your mission statement if you have one, and be honest with yourself about what you want to say about your company with your logo design, and what your audience will respond to best.

Branding brilliance

It’s important to be original, but it’s also important to respect conventional wisdom around logos. If you aren’t accurately representing your business with your logo design, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

Anyone can create a logo, but an expert logo designer will create one that will look fantastic, and stimulate the right responses in customers – all while meeting any standard technical demands and specifications. A great designer will interrogate your brief, and possibly even challenge your thinking.

For original logo design that accurately reflects your company and will catch the eye of your potential UK customers, contact Alchemist studios.

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