Tip 1: Understand The Characteristics
A proper business logo will have simplicity of form, making it instantly and easily recognizable. It will be both clever and attractive. Ideally, your logo will, in the simplest terms, convey an essential message about your business to anyone who sees it, whether they know what your business does or not.
Tip 2: Brand Your Business
This is a cart and horse situation: before you can make a successful logo you must first know your own brand. To begin with, you must be able to clearly answer these questions: what does your business or organization stand for? What services do you provide? How do you wish to be perceived? The logo cannot answer these questions for you, and cannot clearly represent your business or organization without these questions being answered.
Tip 3: Know Your Options
There are several types of logos. Read up on them from Entrepreneur. Iconic logos, wordmark logos, and combinations tend to be the most popular.
- Iconic logos are wordless symbols that come to be affiliated with your company. Apple's logo is a classic (and clever) example of an iconic logo. The logo itself uses no words, and yet the symbol stands for the name. To see the apple is to think in your head: "apple." Other examples of iconic logos include the Nike swish, the Disney Mickey head and so on.
- Wordmark logos use the name of your company as the logo. A well recognizable example of this would be the FedEx logo, which appears on all FedEx boxes and is simply a Purple "Fed" combined with an orange "Ex". Wordmark logos do not involve pictures, only text.
- Combination logos are a combination of images with words. Combination logos are a good idea for companies that are less well known because the picture element can be used to convey a message about what your company does, while the word element helps get your name out there for the public.
Tip 4: Don't Expect Overnight Success
Although a successful logo may grow with your business, it must be identifiable from one year to the next. You may change small elements of your logo, or adapt it to your company's changing needs, but the concept should stay the same. Reinventing your logo should happen only under the most dramatic circumstances, because your logo is your face to the world: without it, your organization has no identity. Changing your identity can cause you to lose customers, lose sales, or lose traction in the market.
Once you have an idea in mind, it's time to find the perfect designer. For the most professional logo possible--and to help your business succeed in its branding and marketing--hire a qualified creative art director. For fast creative job placement, contact Artisan Talent today.
