July 28, 2015
So you've come up with your company name – the next step is to start thinking about what your logo, your brand and your colour scheme are going to look like. Here are my top 6 tips for creating an awesome Logo, Brand and Colour Scheme for your business.
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The first step, as with anything, is to go and do your research. The simples option to begin with logos is to go to Google, type in logos and hit the images link in the search results. You'll be presented with thousands of different types of logos, colour schemes and brand identities. Go through those search results and choose the logos which you like as well as a few which you don't like.
Secondly, at the research stage, grab a pencil, grab a bit of paper and start sketching out some designs and concepts for your logo. You'll have a clear idea when you're coming up with the concept and your core values about the ideas you want to include in your logo and brand. Put as many of those different ideas down on paper as possible – this will help your graphic designer when it comes to creating the final version of your logo for you.
Finally, you'll want to start thinking about colours. There's a great website called ColorLovers.com. Colour Lovers has hundreds of members who have added colour palettes which they like. Users of the website also vote on other people's palettes. It's a great way of identifying complimentary and seeing other designers’ ideas of what a good colour palette looks like.
Things that don’t constitute a good logo include:
So my second tip is to think about things which don't constitute good logo design. It is quite typical for small business owners to use things like Clip Art – that's a big no. Don’t use Clip Art in your logo. Secondly, copying other logos is quite common. This is something which you want to avoid. Ideally, what you don't want is to look too close to your, or too similar to your competitor's brand.
Finally, too much detail constitutes bad logo design. I always apply the keep it simple stupid (KISS) principles when it comes to any work that we do, specifically branding and logos. If your logo looks too busy then people just won't get it because they won’t see the wood for the trees.
The evolution of the Apple and Google brands and logos especially demonstrate that we now in an era of flat, simple design with simple outlines and use of solid blocks of colour. i.e. no drop shadows or shading of any kind!
Engage a good, professional graphic designer; they understand what constitutes good design.
I thoroughly recommend engaging a graphic designer to help you with the logo design and branding processes. At the end of the day they're going to be trained, they're going to understand colours, they're going to know what looks good on screen and print and they are professionals. I always recommend, when you can afford it, to pay professionals to do your logo and branding for you – they will always come up with a better design than you will.
My fourth tip – avoid clichés and metaphors. The reason for that is because if you start having to explain why your logo is designed the way it is, then it's not functioning as it should be. Your logo, again, should be simple, it should be self-explanatory, it should be very transparent and it should be obvious. So avoid clichés, avoid having that awkward conversation of having to explain what your logo is about and what it means.
The fifth tip I already mentioned: keep it simple stupid. A good example of this is actually Apple. Their logo started out as a really complicated shape and included a multiplex of colours. Apple have gone through various different kind of rebrands and redesigns of their logo over a number of years. Now when you look at their logo, it's flat, it's a single colour and it is outlined by a very simple outline shape. Keep it simple stupid.
This is achieved by creating and referring to a set of brand guidelines whenever you create a piece of marketing collateral.
Your brand is going to be used on your website, printing materials, books, stationery, business cards, brochures – it's going to be used everywhere. What you want to ensure is that your use of branding is 100% consistent. The way to achieve that is to create a simple 2, 4 or 8 page set of brand guidelines which you or your designer can refer to whenever they create a piece of marketing collateral for your business.
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