The logo basics

There’s None. Well, sorry to disappoint but there is no secret process that if followed will lead you to an award-winning logo. The secret to making a great logo majorly depends on the product, the designer’s understanding of the business and how well-versed one is in using the designing element, aptly.

Those who are in advertising industry must be knowing the significance of a logo in branding. In case you aren’t, read on to find.

Logo is that first visual element that you identify with a brand or a product. Ok, to make things immensely simple let’s ask you a few questions. Do you remember any visual element of the most famous burger makers in the world- Mc Donald’s? Apart from that clown. Do you? Yes, it’s the yellow M!

And do you remember that Nike logo. Yes, it’s really simple. The SWOOSH.

These logos are few of the iconic ones in the history of branding. Oh, and how the Apple logo can be forgotten. The silvery half bitten apple has become a rage.

Coming back to the logo designing, some logos also use the wordmark- the name of the company as a logo. Or, they include a wordmark with a visual element. Whatever the case may be, creating a logo for the brand is no easy task. It acts as an identity of a brand and so you do not want to mess that up.

Although there is no secret recipe of designing a logo, there sure is a guideline which you can follow that keeps your design in check.

When you get the task of designing logo, it might happen that your approach would be all over the place. You might want to put all your design calibre in one logo. If you are one of those people, who do this, then stop. Take one single approach based on the attribute of the brand and then focus on how you can represent it visually. As it should look simple, avoid adding more than one element.

While designing a logo, try to keep it distinct. If your logo is mistaken to be of some other company, it can jeopardise your identity. The logo must also be designed such that has the potential of a recall value. If you feel like it resembles logo of some other brand, then keep redesigning it until it becomes one of its kind.

As it is mentioned above, the logo must be kept simple for it to be easily recognised. When a logo is easily recognizable, it increases brand awareness and brand affinity.

One can’t keep changing the brand’s logo and identity because it will immediately lose its recall value. If the identity changes, every other thing follows suit. So, you must create a logo that stands the test of time.

From the choice of font to the colours used, everything should align with the brand. For eg: if the brand is a little casual and youthful, the logo must be designed in a way that is the extension of the type of the product or service.

When you design a logo, make sure that the scalability of it has been checked. Meaning, how will it look in a website on mobile, or desktop. Will it be legible in a hoarding or may be it looks too big in a newspaper.

The balance of the logo must be maintained, because people like to view things in symmetry. If the weight of font and colours are judiciously divided, it makes it look pleasant to the eyes.

So, now that you know what to follow and what to avoid while designing a logo, try to keep it in mind as well. Just Saying!!