Your logo can tell others a great deal about your company, it can also tell them very little depending upon the design that you choose. First impressions are everything; and a logo is the best way to give this first impression. As your logo may be the part of your company that is best remembered, it should be relevant and appropriate for your company but it should also be unique; this individuality will be the key that allows you to build up a reputation and an identity.

 

Step One: Research

The first step when you are attempting to create a company logo is research, this may sound obvious but you’d be surprised at the amount of business owners that forget to go through this process.

One of the best ways in which you can conduct your research is through looking at other companies that are in the same industry as you; what type of logos do they use? Which colours are popular and which ones go unnoticed?

It’s also worth taking a look at the badly designed logos and understanding the mistakes these businesses made – if you spend some time investigating this, you can prevent yourself from making the same mistakes that they did.

Step Two: Plan

The next step within the process of graphic design is to plan; this is the stage that you decide what it is that you want your logo to present to others. What is the idea or the motivation behind your company? Your logo will represent your company for a number of years to come, but it should represent more than just your company name or what it is that the company does; your logo should portray who you are as a company and what you stand for.

Your plan should include ideas and concepts based upon the colour schemes, fonts and graphics that you will be using – you should consider these individually and the various connotations that come with them.

Step Three: Design

Your logo is not only going to be on business cards, leaflets and posters but it will also be faxed, printed and emailed to your clients or consumers; in this case, does your logo look good in mono? Some companies will not use colour printing as black ink is less expensive than colour; because of this you must check that your logo is appropriate and effective in black and white print.

As you are going through the design process it’s important that you employ the advice or help of a graphic designer, as unless you have experience in this field it is likely that there will be things that you have missed – enforce copyright laws in the early stages to avoid plagiarism.

In the same way that you must prevent other people from stealing or copying your work, it’s essential that you do not copy other works; taking inspiration from another logo is a sensible option, but originality is key. For more information or expert advice on graphic design, print and digital media get in touch with us here at Print and Digital Associates, we’d be more than happy to help.