Logo Design Archives

Design a logo

August 4, 2016 By Haley Graves

As part of your brand, make sure your logo hits the mark

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. This phrase has been uttered countless times, and nowhere is it more relevant than in the launch of your new business. During a time when everything is moving so fast, how do catch your target audience? You may have only a fraction of a second to get them to stop what they are doing to focus on your business.

Creating a top-shelf logo is essential while trying to capture the attention of your potential clients. From a branding perspective, the logo you create for your new business is just as important as the name of your company ? if not more so. Like the business name, the logo needs to be unique and memorable. Your logo needs to clearly represent your brand ? the overarching mantle for how you envision your company.

Logo design: on your mark, get set, go!

You will want to connect with the right branding service to help you take your ideas and sketches to a professional level. However, before consulting an outside source, it?s good to do your homework. Similar to the process for naming your business, contemplating your logo should inspire you to get introspective. Review your company?s core product or service. Think back on your target market?s demographics and how they spend their time. Most important, focus on what your business will do for your target market. With these pieces, you are ready to start brainstorming.

For most people, the first thing that comes to mind when considering a product?a new car, a new piece of clothing, a new piece of furniture?is the color. In creating your logo, you need to consider what colors mean to different people and what colors will say about your business.

Here are the attributes of different colors as well as the feelings that they might evoke:

Red (intensity): emotion, aggressiveness, passion, love
Pink (femininity): love, sweetness, warmth, nurturing
Orange (happiness): creativity, enthusiasm, determination
Yellow (energy): joy, being alive, energetic
Green (nature):?harmony, calmness, relaxation, peacefulness, hopefulness
Blue (depth, stability):?comfort, understanding, trust, clarity
Purple (luxury or royalty):?glamour, power, nostalgia
Brown (earth, nurturing): reliability, support, dependability
Black (formality, mystery):?boldness, luxury, seriousness

?[data from financesonline.com]

Keeping your target market top of mind, you can research color preferences based on many factors, including geographic location, age, and education level. In addition, here are some gender-related factors to keep in mind:

Men:
- In the western world, it is not rare for men to be color-blind so use red, green, and brown carefully.
- Typically prefer blue to red and orange to yellow.
- Are becoming more accepting of pinks and purples.
Women:
- Typically prefer red to blue and yellow to orange.
- Are more willing to try new colors.
Both genders:
- Can be marketed to most effectively with blue, turquoise, green, red, yellow, black, white, gray, and silver.
- Look for darker colors for a more serious business: dark blue, dark green, dark red, indigo, black, and gray.
- Look for bright, light colors for a more casual or light-hearted business: red, orange, yellow, bright green, bright blue, pink, and purple.

[data from empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com]

Your logo is the symbol and long-lasting representation of your company and its product or service. It should be simple but stylish, memorable and enduring. Above all, your logo should be flexible to suit the needs of your business? it should be formatted and colored to allow for reproduction anywhere ? on a screen, in print large or small, and in the memory of members of your target market. This is essential as you will want your logo to be readily available for all marketing opportunities. It is important for your logo to be attractive, but even more important that it is suitable for all platforms. After you have created an attractive logo, consider consulting a professional to ensure that you have covered all bases.

Take the time to create a logo that will be the best representation of your business both now and in the future.

Tips for Designing a Great Logo

September 9, 2015 By At Brand Staff

It starts by understanding that your logo is not your brand

For starters, let?s make a distinction. Your logo is not your brand. Your brand is an intangible?a personality?a relationship?an experience. It is shaped equally by you and your customers, and it is strongest when your vision and ability to deliver on your brand promise aligns with your customers? expectations.

So what, then, is your logo, and why is a good logo so important?

Your logo is the visual representation of your brand. It is a design element that helps shape the customer experience. If you?re lucky enough and your brand is strong enough, it becomes the defining symbol of your business.

Need proof? Check out this clever video from inetdesign, a digital creative agency. Do you recognize these brands? Even with their names missing?

So how do you create such an impressionable mark for your business?

Here are four logo design tips that can help you withstand scrutiny and the test of time.

Think unique. Ultimately, your business must sell a product or service, so understand what differentiates you from your competitors. Strive to have your logo represent your values statement.
Be memorable. With so many options in today?s marketplace, you want your logo to standout among the crowd. Moreover, people will start to associate your business with your logo?so make it worth remembering. Hint: less is more.
Think long-term. Great logos stand the test of time. A refresh may be needed from time to time to stay current, but a strong, identifiable logo will not need an overhaul. So avoid extreme detail and instead focus on differentiating your brand through with minor subtleties that tell a story.
Understand that perception is reality. How do you want to be perceived by your customers? Ultimately it doesn?t matter how good your product or service is, it?s what your customers think about you that really matters. Keep your customers in mind during the entire design process.

Above all else, a good logo is distinctive, simple, appropriate, and conveys an intended message. A great example of this is Nike. When Nike founder Phil Knight provided college design student Carolyn Davidson with details on what the mark for his shoe company should represent?flight, victory, and speed?not only did Davidson present the now famous ?Swoosh,? which inferred motion and speed, but she also suggested that Nike?the winged goddess of victory who had the ability to fly?might be a better name than the proposed Dimension 6. This clear vision ultimately defined Nike?s comprehensive marketing approach, including its decision to make Michael ?Air? Jordan an early brand ambassador. It is also why Nike is now one of the world?s leading brands.

Google Launches Rebrand with New Logo and “G” Icon

September 1, 2015 By At Brand Staff

Serifs give way to simpler, smoother new logo design that will translate well across all mediums?from desktop to mobile

Google today unveiled its new logo, bidding adieu to the serifs in favor of a slimmer, more modern wordmark. The release follows Google’s announcement of a major restructuring of the company, which has Google becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Alphabet, a new holding company owned by Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

In Google’s own words:

“So why are we doing this now? Once upon a time, Google was one destination that you reached from one device: a desktop PC. These days, people interact with Google products across many different platforms, apps and devices?sometimes all in a single day. You expect Google to help you whenever and wherever you need it, whether it?s on your mobile phone, TV, watch, the dashboard in your car, and yes, even a desktop!

“Today we?re introducing a new logo and identity family that reflects this reality and shows you when the Google magic is working for you, even on the tiniest screens. As you?ll see, we?ve taken the Google logo and branding, which were originally built for a single desktop browser page, and updated them for a world of seamless computing across an endless number of devices and different kinds of inputs (such as tap, type and talk).

“It doesn?t simply tell you that you?re using Google, but also shows you how Google is working for you. For example, new elements like a colorful Google mic help you identify and interact with Google whether you?re talking, tapping or typing. Meanwhile, we?re bidding adieu to the little blue ?g? icon and replacing it with a four-color ?G? that matches the logo.”

In the At Brand office, the reviews are mixed. Some are weighing in that the mark has lost its distinction by joining the flat design trend. I agree with that, but is it a disaster?

Ina Saltz, a typography expert and professor at CCNY, says it is: ?It looks childish, it looks unsophisticated, it looks like play dough.?

According to a report from PIX11, Saltz says the spacing between the lowercase ?g? and ?l? is too tight, the bottom ?jaw? of the upper case G sticks out too far, and there?s a dissonance between the angle of the lower case ?e? and the first ?G.? Instead of switching typefaces completely, Saltz said Google would have been better off beefing up the existing logo to work better on small screens while keeping its overall look.

Rebranding has proven to be a struggle for many major companies, from Gap to Coke and Hershey. Our prediction: the Google rebrand will be better received because the new wordmark breathes and brings continuity to the Google suite of products. It will also translate well across a variety of mediums, which is exactly why the unveiling was animated…highlighting the “G” icon and multi-colored dots. If Google were not so iconic, they could not pull this off, but because of their status as a gargantuan tech leader, this rebranding, while sure to initially get panned by design experts, will come to symbolize Google’s forward thinking approach.