A brand is not your logo. Your logo is not your brand. Your logo won’t determine whether you succeed or fail.
However, when it comes to a short-hand for your brand, your logo is the thing that will be plastered all over your assets, from business cards and t-shirts to vehicle wraps and giant signs.
Since that logo is going to be everywhere, shouldn’t you love it?
How do you pick a fantastic logo out of the options your designer shows you? What are the little things that make the right logo jump out of a lineup and scream “PICK ME!”?
Let’s examine the signs you should look for when choosing your logo.
All sizes, great and small
Sometimes it’s hard to remember, when looking at an on-screen rendering of your logo, that there are multiple applications for a logo. It’s easy to get attached to what you’re seeing on screen in a PDF without considering what it will look like 5’ high on your street sign.
A successful logo is one that looks great printed on a simple pen and an enormous billboard.
Check your logo at a micro size: can you still read it? Is the icon still recognizable?
Check your logo at mega size: are the font choices still smooth and clean? Is that icon still beautiful?
All of the colours and none of the colours
Beyond aesthetic, cost is one of the big factors when deciding the number of colours you want to use in a logo: the more colours you use, the more expense you will have when reproducing it in print.
One of the current trends in logos is subtle colour shifts. While beautiful, this design choice can fall apart when you drop the logo down to one colour or two colours – which is exactly what you need for design applications like single-colour embroidery or placing your logo off of a single, bold colour.
Give it some breathing space
When dealing with text, kerning (or the space between two letters) is the key to legibility. Setting characters too close together makes words are indecipherable, especially when at a small size. Setting characters too far apart makes words awkward to read.
When a truck with branding zooms by at 100km/hr, can you still read that logo easily?
What is it conveying?
What is your business about? Is your logo reinforcing your brand and value proposition?
For example:
| Your business is | Your value proposition is | Your logo needs to convey |
| Delivery company | Speed | Movement |
| Fine Tableware | High-class dining experiences | Elegance |
| Insurance | Trust | Reassurance |
| Information Technology | Technical Knowledge | Intelligence |
Note that this isn’t an excuse to go with a cliche answer to what your logo icon should be. You can convey an idea without resorting to the most obvious imagery available.
Your colour choice may be one of the ways you communicate an idea or feeling, but be aware that colours have different meanings to different cultures.
Don’t OVER communicate
A logo is a symbol of your brand – AKA what you do and how you’re perceived. Trying to communicate complex ideas or services in a logo is tempting, especially for technology companies, but ultimately that detail:
- Won’t resize well
- Is unlikely to be understood by your audience
Do represent your brand in your logo; don’t illustrate all of the details.
Concluding the hunt for your logo
Once you select your logo, your designer should provide a number of formats for screen and print use, as well as documentation about ownership of the logo.
If you are interested in having a logo designed for your business, or getting your existing logo touched up to address some of the points in this article, contact Paul Sveda at paul@designanddevelop.com for a free estimate.
Happy logo hunting!
