Logos are a massive part of a business’s identity and so when you’re picking one for your firm, you want to get it right. We’ve come up with a list of top tips for choosing the perfect logo for your business.
Find a good designer that you trust. And we’re not just advising this because we specialise in design. The quality of your logo says a lot about your business and it needs to look professional. You don’t need to choose a big expensive agency, but do research carefully. A good designer will work with you to create a logo you love, then give you the end result in multiple formats so that you can reproduce it in a variety of sizes and in colour or black and white. Don’t try to make a logo yourself in Paint or Word. If you do, burn the evidence afterwards…
Do you have a particular yearning for a typographic (text) logo? Or do you want something illustrative that shows at a glance what your business does? Or a graphic logo that may use an image unrelated to your business area at all, but which over time will become unmistakably linked to your name? You can even have a mix.
What do you want your logo to say about you? Is there a particular message you need to get across – are you the expert in your industry? Friendly and approachable? The craftiest? The most efficient?
Does the name of your business impact your logo choice? If you are called ‘Horseshoe Accounting’ you could incorporate a horseshoe image, for example, or you might prefer to avoid the association – in which case, make sure to tell your designer!
Think carefully about what colours you want to use. It is sensible to keep the colour palette down to two or three colours, as this will be inexpensive to reproduce in all sorts of formats. You can Google what different colours are ‘supposed’ to mean but ultimately you just want something that isn’t garish and that suits your brand.
If you’re getting a redesigned logo rather than something brand new, try to come up with some specific things that you do and don’t like about your current one – anything specific will help your designer. Anything non-specific like ‘it’s just not edgy enough’ probably won’t.
Make sure your new logo will look good in a variety of settings – which settings will depend on your business needs, but as an example, will it look good as a Twitter logo? Is it suitable for appearing on adverts? Will it photocopy well if you’re making leaflets?
Be wary of getting overly emotional about the choice – you are making a decision for your business, not choosing wallpaper for your home. It has to match the business more than your soul. Saying that…
…do make the effort to find a logo you really love. You have to live with this logo for a long time – in fact you’ll probably be staring at it every day. So if something in your gut is telling you you’re not happy, find another choice.
If you’re umming and ahhing, ask a trusted friend or two for their opinion. But bear in mind that having an opinion is easy, while making a decision can be much harder. Ask ten different people to pick their favourite logo out of ten choices, and chances are you’ll come away with a ‘top five’ at the most rather than a top one. Will getting that information actually help you or maybe even confuse matters? Do ask for input if it’s needed, especially from your designer, but the final decision will rest with you.
To speak to us today regarding a free consultation or to find out how we can help your business, contact info@thinkcreativeagency.co.uk We look forward to hearing from you.
