The Best Logo For Your Brand
What’s in a Logo?
A great logo can make all the difference in the success of a company’s branding. While it is true that branding involves much more than a logo, a case can be made for how critical a logo can be. A logo is a visual representation of a company’s mission, values, and products/services.
A good logo:
- Will appeal to the company’s target audience
- Should be memorable and easy to describe
- Should separate your company from the competition
- Will be scalable and versatile, working across a variety of mediums (print, web, etc)
- Is timeless
Minimalism vs. Complexity
Which is best, a minimalist logo, or a complex design? Is there a way you can have both?
Minimalist logos have a lot of things going for them. When executed properly, they are classic, memorable, and easy to apply across a variety of media and production options. The downside is, if a minimalistic logo isn’t quite on target, it could give off the impression that your business isn’t prepared, or that your offerings aren’t quite up to standards. If you think you might want to go for a minimal design with your logo, try breaking your company’s mission, values, and goals into as few words as possible. If there was only one or two words that you could use to describe all of these things about your company, what would you choose?
More complex logos have their merits as well. They can be visually interesting and tell a story just as any other logo style. The trouble with most complex logos is that they have too many fine details which are lost when the size of the logo is reduced; some of these details are text, which is sometimes incorporated into more complex logo designs. For the best chance at creating the perfect complex logo design, consider what sort of impression you want customers to have when they encounter your brand. Should they be impressed by your track record and professionalism? Should they be experiencing the benefits of your innovative thinking?
If you explore both of these options and decide that neither ‘extreme’ suits the impression that you want to give, it is possible to take a little from column A and a little from column B and combine them into a logo that is not so simple as to be potentially confusing but complex enough to be interesting. Often, good typography is combined with images that are symbolic or relevant to a business will be included in this type of logo. An important thing to note is that if at all possible, typography should be separated from images if they are both going to be present in a logo design.
Other Important Considerations
Once you have decided on the style of logo that will best represent your business, it is time to move on to other important elements that can really give a logo an boost.
The first of these things is the use of symbolism which is often inherent in any logo design with imagery. A symbol can be very useful for a logo, especially if it is something that is widely recognized, such as an animal or an object. If you are a dog grooming business and your logo includes a dog and a hairbrush, people are likely to make the connection.
If basic symbols are not your first choice, then think about having a character created that would represent your brand. Examples of great character associations can be found all over the web; typically these characters do not act as stand-alone logos, but are incorporated with text.
And last, color (or a lack thereof) is very important. If your logo utilizes one or more different colors (other than simple black, white, or gray) then consider how it would look without them. Would it reproduce well in black and white? How about in gray-scale? If your logo makes use of any kind of shading or transparency, this is an especially important concern.
