A Common Sense Guide To Logo Design For Non-Designers

First impressions matter more than we realize and when it comes to your business. Alogo speaks louder than what you ever say in your ‘About Us’ section.

To hit a sweet spot between standing out and representing what you stand for in a matter of seconds is a daunting task. Add to that, the barrage of design trends that are simply hard to keep up with!

If you are a business owner or a designer starting out, these ‘almost sacrosanct’ rules of logo design will be a great starting point for the whole creative process.

Here are the five basic rules that work.

1. Keep it classy

Less is more in the design world.

That doesn’t mean that we suggest that you create a threadbare logo design. But here’s what we want you to avoid like plague — gimmicky fads.

Jumping on the bandwagon of trends often leads one to the land of ‘trying too hard’ and being outdated very soon! Very often, rookies mistake timelessness for being boring.

But what it really means is to create a logo that stands the test of time — a logo that can be associated with your brand for decades, if not generations!

This can help you avoid the pitfall of an expensive rebranding exercise in a matter of a year or two. With a myriad of design software being easily available, it’s tempting to apply complex filters.

In the design world, this is often a case of overcompensation for a concept missing magic.

2. Size matters, make it scalable

Congratulations if you have your own business or if you’ve just bagged a job as a designer. You now have the privilege of seeing your logo everywhere.

Think — visiting cards, products, letterheads, websites and posters. Oh! And don’t forget, T-shirts for your great employees.

Backtrack to the previous point. Now you know why flashy filters don’t help.

A logo design needs to be scalable. In other words, it needs to look awesome in print or on the web.

Thanks to the multiplicity of information consumption, the new normal is scalability across all gadgets.

3. You do you. Communicate

Communicating and storytelling have become synonymous with each other. To convey the right message, you need to dig deeper as to what you really stand for.

What do you offer to your consumers? What’s your DNA? Logo design is an extension of your brand persona.

If you are in the business of offering organic products, your logo design should evoke a sense of purity, if you are a young Internet startup, think of a logo that stands for energy and contemporary thinking.

You get the idea.

Putting down all adjectives and values that you relate to would be a great way to carve your logo design brief with the aim of creating a logo that instantly sparks recognition.

This brings us to the next two points.

4. Be picky about colors

Choosing colors can be trickier than one may imagine. Colors often communicate.

Think of green and you imagine something related to wellness while blue communicates trust. Beyond the semiotics of colors, a practical aspect related to logo design is the choice of colors that need to look in greyscale as well as in color.

The general rule of aesthetics applies to logo design as well. Choose colors that belong to the same family (example a warm palette such as reds, oranges, yellows or a cool palette such as greens, blues, and grays).

A word of caution, stay clear of any colors that hurt the eyes. Sure, such colors will make you stand out…but…for the wrong reason!

5. Think typography. Choose those fonts wisely

If your logo involves fonts in the logo itself or a tagline to go with it then chances are that you’d need to play around with a lot of fonts and sizes to see what fits the brand persona.

This can be a very subjective decision process and most of it falls in a grey area other than obvious pointers such as avoiding Comic Sans so as to not come across as frivolous or the usage of too many fonts.

Experiment with fonts along with italics and bold. Custom fonts are ideal because they make your logo unique.

Once you’ve shortlisted your fonts, scale down the logo to ensure that the text is legible.

ICYDK

LogoAi is built with these five logo design basics in mind.

We shortlisted a few dozen of high quality fonts, a set of color combinations that work well together and design variations that are simple yet elegant to help you arrive at a logo that’s memorable and unique.

How About You?

What rules do you follow while working on a logo design? Let me know in the comments below 😊