Home> LogoBee's Top 10 Logo Design Tips

LogoBee's Top 10 Logo Design Tips

July 10th, 2011

Over the years, LogoBee has been designing logos and accumulating articles and resources for its clients. Finally, they've released a concise set of logo design tips to help you along with your project, and ensure that you end up with a logo that will perfectly suit your needs. So without further ado, here are LogoBee's top ten tips!

Keep it Simple!

These are probably the best words of advice, and it ties into almost all of our upcoming tips. A complicated logo will not only make your logo difficult to reproduce and maintain, but you will also fail to engage your audience. The logo is the ultimate 'elevator' pitch to your potential clients and business partners. You don't have time to recite your entire business plan in an elevator pitch, and the same concept applies to corporate logo design.

Sometimes when a logo design isn't working out right, there will be an inclination to add elements and complexity. Often times, it's better to start over with a new concept or remove distracting elements rather than add them.

Simplicity isn't always an easy thing to achieve, as you don't want your logo to appear too boring or conservative. This is why at the end of the day it's best to leave it to the design professionals!

Engage your Audience

The logo design should above everything entertain and engage your audience. Your logo should not be so literal that the message is spelt out for them. They should be given the opportunity to discover the meaning and intention of your logo themselves. If people are able to discover the 'trick' of your logo within a reasonable amount of time, this will help to create a memorable and entertaining experience between you and your audience.

Too much abstraction will on the other hand work against you. If the logo is too obscure, the message that you are attempting to communicate will be lost, and so will your potential client. Remember, today's consumer culture is accustomed to very intense and stimulating media, and therefore you cannot be too demanding on your audience either.

Logo Longevity - Think Ahead!

The durability and longevity of a logo is worth considering. Although it's impossible to see into the future, it is useful to picture your company 10-15 years down the road, and think about what kind of products and services it will offer, if any at all! Even the strongest companies update their logo every 15 years or so, but often the changes will be subtle in nature. Very seldom will they take on a radical re-design.

There are many long-standing companies whose logos have stood the test of time. Type-based logos are good for this. The IBM logo is a great example. They offer a variety of products and services on an international level, and also provide research, design and consulting services. They've succeeded in communicating all of this through their logo, but we think they are due for an update very soon!

For small start-up companies, it may not be the end of the earth if you decide to change your logo after even a few years, depending on what transpires with your company. But it's always nice when a logo design is able to stand the test of time.

Vector is Better

Although it's tempting to use detailed illustrations and complex 3d effects in a logo, chances are that it will not serve you well. Clean, crisp lines with very limited colors are almost always more effective than an illustration or complex 3d rendering. A well-drawn vector-based logo will provide you with the contrast and balance that is so important in logo design. New capabilities in vector based programs can now give you the illusion of a 3d effect without losing contrast, using tricks such as the canter effect.

Adaptability - Be Ready for Change

Your logo should be flexible enough to adapt to every business situation. If a logo is too literal or specific, you may have a hard time using it when catering to different markets.

Generally speaking, the best thing for small business start-ups is to have an icon and logo-type designed at the same time. This will allow you to use the logo as a stand-alone image, or use it along with the type-font name as well. Often times, companies will use only the icon on its products and packaging materials. This is a common practice among software companies and book publishers.

Make it Memorable

A great logo design will imbed itself into ones sub-consciousness. This can happen for a variety of reasons, but for a logo to be memorable it needs to use simple lines and be very easy to recall from memory. A good test to ensure that your logo design is memorable is to show it to a friend and ask him/her to retrace it a week later. A good design should use a recognizable shape or element for it to be easily remembered.

Relevance - Keep your Products and Services in Mind

A memorable logo is great, but it should also get your customers to start thinking about the products or services that you offer. You should ensure that the logo relates to your business in some shape or form. Yes, the monkey can sell just about anything from cigarettes to cell phones, but there's a limit! Isn't there?

Choose your Colors Wisely

Colors can play a very important role in logo design as they can illicit different feelings and emotions from us. Interpretations of color may vary depending on age, gender, and cultural demographics, so your choices of color should be carefully considered depending on your target market. Also, colors tend to follow trends, just like in fashion. So a new, vibrant company may want to follow the current trends, whereas a bank may want to stay with a more conservative color set that will work well for them over a long period of time.

Try to keep your selection of colors down to two or three. Too many colors will increase your cost of production and make it more difficult to reproduce.

One interesting idea that we've seen used is to change the color of the logo on things like business cards and stationery depending on the market segmentations of the clientele.

Keep it Unique

This should be straightforward. You want to be sure that your company is easily identified among your industry and competitors. Be sure to carefully research your industry and target market before embarking on a logo design. You need to know and understand the common styles of your industry, but you also need to make sure that you don't infringe on anyone else's trademarked logo.

Versatility Pays Dividends

One of the most important attributes of a good logo design is versatility. You want to portray a consistent image across all of your marketing materials, including signs, letterhead, business cards, products lines, and web sites. Often times, a complicated logo design will work fine on a website or billboard, but when you shrink it down to fit on a pen or coffee cup, the illustration or lettering will become illegible. Your logo should also work well in black and white.

You may often find that start-up companies and even well-established law firms will not consistently brand their logo across all their marketing materials. For example, they may have their logo on the front door of their office, but will end up using something different (or nothing at all!) on their website. In order to build brand recognition you need to market your logo and image as consistently as possible. Be sure that when you're having your logo designed that you receive all the file formats necessary for use in your various marketing channels.

Leave Your Comment
Comment

it was very helpful thank you and i we like to how to make a logo

by Michelle HutchinsonOctober 29, 2020
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Very helpfull, thank you

by Sasa DjelicSeptember 24, 2017
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Thank you Alice! Best of luck in your freelancing!

by PavelJuly 08, 2016
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Nice post, Perfectly elaborated how to create a logo design that become timeless. Being a freelancer designer these tips are very helpful for me and i will follow these tips sincerely ... Thanks for posting

by Alice JacksonJuly 04, 2016
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Hi Karen, You are correct! With one exception many business owners forget. Branding actually starts with a good name first. Logo Designer can do so much, but a good name is 50% of success. In the business we see so many bad, long and unpronounceable names, it makes you wonder sometimes.

by PavelSeptember 25, 2015
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Very informative and useful tips.Thanks for the share.Logo design is one of the first activities undertaken by a company to establish their brand image and also a convey product message of a company.Really i'm glad to read your blog.Thanks again.

by Karen JainSeptember 21, 2015
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Hi to All! Thank you for your great comments! As humans we try to define everything we see. This is just mine personal oppinion, bu tI think in art you have to have a clear head. Talent - YES! Rules - NO! A complex logo can work as well as the simple logo if branding is done right. Sure you might spend more bucks for printing, but being original and unique is the key. JEFF - We have a good post here: http://www.logobee.com/blog/post/3-perils-of-crowdsourcing-in-logo-design See paragraph #3. " Is more better?". This is a big debate among designers. A professional designer in my opinion should not give more than 10 samples. He should guide the client it to the right direction, instead of dumping a load of images and asking to pick one.

by PavelJuly 22, 2015
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It is a great article about the logo design and also mention the useful points of how to design a logo more professional. Logo represents our business and its brand. Every business owner looks to make its for brand identity captivating, appealing and unique. Probably the most complete logo design guide Ive read in a while. Some really good points not covered by other logo design articles. Im very thankful for you to sharing this valuable post for us. Regards http://www.foduu.com

by Priyanka Jain July 16, 2015
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Good evening, Couldnt agree more Thank you for sharing. There is whats called 5 rule thing from memorable perceiving, when it come to logo design that it should be simple, short, Timeless, flexible adaptable, appropriated & add to that of relevancy to your brand identity. As Logos are used as a form of an icon to the company. Start by sketching down as many symbols that you could pick from afterward the best, by that it opens a new path to explore new ideas you never thought of before. Sincerely Ivey Louis

by JEFFApril 24, 2015
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Very usable tips... Thank you :)

by Emilda DanielNovember 11, 2014
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For sure, I keep your top ten logo design ideas with I implement to create logo design for my new website. At all, I take in great benefits while leave your blog.

by JamieSeptember 22, 2014
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great tips Thanks

by RAKESH NEGISeptember 17, 2014
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You have great perception and I will definitely be reading your other Blogs!

by Timothy HansonAugust 28, 2014
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Great post..Thanks

by Http://www.autocreditdealermarketing.com/November 17, 2013
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Bluead, Are you asking about the logo on 3dsignsinternational? How familiar are you with the Illustrator?

by PavelOctober 15, 2013
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Ivey, I agree, you have described the perfect logo :). As the saying goes "white piece of paper is the most perfect piece of art". In real life that does not exist. There is only one purpose for the logo to be memorable. Thank you for the comment

by PavelOctober 15, 2013
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Good evening, Couldn't agree more Thank you for sharing. There is what’s called 5 rule thing from memorable perceiving, when it come to logo design that it should be simple, short, Timeless, flexible/adaptable, appropriated & add to that of relevancy to your brand identity. As Logos are used as a form of an icon to the company. Start by sketching down as many symbols that you could pick from afterward the best, by that it opens a new path to explore new ideas you never thought of before. Sincerely Ivey Louis http://www.smarttouch.me/en/

by Ivey Louis October 13, 2013
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can you help us how to give a effect of 3d pitch branding

by BlueadOctober 02, 2013