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How to Create a Brand Logo

When you’re launching a new business, you need to develop a brand logo that’ll make a strong first impression. Learn how to make a good one in just a few steps.

McDonald’s Golden Arches, Facebook’s lowercase f, Subway’s notable arrows, Target’s red bullseye, Apple’s half-bitten apple, and Nike's swoosh. What do all these images have in common? They are all famous logos of iconic brands. What exactly is a company logo?

Brand logos are an essential part of a marketing strategy that attaches a visual identity to a company. It doesn’t matter how small or large a business is; brand logos are a symbol created with text and images to help consumers recognize them.

A successful logo is considered by many experts as the cornerstone of a brand. Brand logos not only help customers recognize a company, but signifies what a company values and brings to the world.

Let’s use McDonald’s logo as an example. The golden arches are one of the most recognizable logos in the entire world. Wherever you are, whether it is the United States, Asia, or Europe, for example, when you see those famous arches high in the sky, you know there will be a Big Mac inside those doors. You can always get a hamburger and fries from other fast food places, but there won’t be a Big Mac on the menu.

McDonald's logo, just like other famous logos, has invested time, money, and consistent effort to establish its logos to stand out from its competition and keep its name at the forefront of its customer's minds. A logo is very important in creating a brand identity. A logo should appear on everything from A to Z.

Why is a brand logo important?

There are many reasons that brand logos are important to both the company and the customers they are trying to attract.

A good custom logo design can go a long way when it comes to grabbing the attention of customers and making a strong impression, summing up what the brand represents. The best logos leave an impact on the viewer, making the company logo that the beautiful logo represents even more memorable.

Brand logos make your business visually identifiable

There is no question that consumers are extremely visual. They are bombarded with advertisements, signs, commercials, and other everyday distractions. They don’t have the time or concentration to have to work to understand who you are.

An iconic logo or logo style is an instant visual that makes it easy to identify your brand. When they see your original logo at first glance, they associate with a company and understand without question what the company represents. Brand logos make a business visually identifiable.

Brand logos help people remember your brand

A well-defined, awesome logo helps consumers remember your brand and what you are all about. Brand logos also provide consistency among all advertising channels. Consumers like to do business with people and companies they know, like, and trust.

Brand logos that are associated with a company that made them happy or their friends happy and satisfied in the past will likely be remembered. This brand recognition helps consumers remember what your business does, like a mental image. A good logo is recognized in a sea of other logos.

Brand logos make a strong first impression

As the old saying goes, “you only have one chance to make a first impression.” A logo is many times the first thing a customer notices about a business, whether it is an email, flyer in the mail, visiting a website or going to a brick-and-mortar store.

A well-designed and effective logo engages a customer to learn more and do business with them instead of a competitor.

Think about the Apple logo, one of the iconic logos from our time. From their packaging to their advertising to their products, the half-bitten apple is everywhere. They are consistent, professional, and trustworthy, just like consumers expect.

Even if you are just starting a business or gaining momentum in the market, a logo shows you are professional and helps you develop your brand image.

What makes a good brand logo?

A good brand logo will create an instant visual of your overarching business. The product and service you provide could reflect the logo’s design.

For example, retail giant Amazon’s logo features an arrow in the shape of a smile. The arrow points from A to Z, signifying that they sell everything from A to Z, and the smile symbolizes that customers are happy.

Another example is the telecommunications icon AT&T. Their blue and white world-shaped logo with wire-like graphics signifies this is a company that offers fast, worldwide service.

How do you create a good brand logo that represents your business?

Whether you are creating a new logo from scratch with a graphic designer or implementing a logo maker, it's important to make sure you have a vision in mind. Review these steps when looking to upgrade your logo design.

Understand your brand identity

First, before you do anything else, ask yourself the who, what, why, and how of your company.

Who is your target audience? What is your brand and visual identity? What feelings are you trying to create with your customers? How do you want customers to feel about you?

Once you have this nailed down, then you can easily move on to creating a logo that represents your brand identity. Most logos include the same traits even though they don’t look alike. A good logo that expresses your brand identity is:

  • Simple: Keep the logo design simple in order to be instantly understood.
  • Relevant: A logo needs to speak and relate to your target audience.
  • Versatile: A logo should look as good on a small business card as it does on a large billboard.
  • Unique: Create a logo that stands out in a crowd and is instantly recognized.
  • Memorable: A logo that works for you 24/7 is memorable and meaningful.

Create a mood board

This is where the fun starts. One way to have a visual to guide you along your logo design process is to create a mood board.

A mood board or inspiration board can include famous logos of other companies you like, brand logos of companies similar to yours for comparison, or other graphics or design elements you simply like.

Whether you create your mood board online or on a traditional poster board with scissors and scotch tape, you will start seeing common threads throughout the process. This will help you nail down and focus on a color scheme, shapes, fonts, etc.

Create sketches

From your mood board, create sketches of possible logo designs. This is like a brainstorming process where there are no right or wrong logo designs. Let your creativity come into play while keeping your mood board outcomes in mind.

Make sure your company logo isn’t derivative

Derivative logos or designs and stock images that are derived and created by someone else may overlap with your originality and relevance.

The last thing you want to do is confuse your customer by thinking your business belongs to someone else.

Even modifications to existing graphics can get confusing or even enter into copyright infringement legal issues. Remember, the bottom line is to stand out in a crowd and look unique.

Choose your color scheme

You may already have brand guidelines established for your company. If so, stay true to the color scheme and fonts listed in your guides.

If not, use your logo design as the launch pad for your guide. Color is key in creating a visually appealing, recognizable, and memorable logo. For example, when you think of the Walmart logo, you think of blue and yellow. Or if you think of Coca-Cola, you think of the iconic Coca-Cola red.

There are many designer tools to use that will help you select color combinations that work together and are visually appealing.

Believe it or not, there are countless psychological studies that measure colors and how they affect our mood and behavior. For example, red is associated with passion, action, and love, while yellow is associated with laughter, hope, and sunshine.

Hire a graphic designer

Once you decide you have all the elements together to create your logo, you might want to hire a graphic designer to finalize your logo design instead of using a logo maker.

They are not only artists, but they are experts and professionally trained to digitally create an iconic logo for your company that can be sized for multiple purposes. They should have portfolios of their prior work for you to review. Plus, they will create a logo that is totally original.

Five most famous logos

Throughout this article, we have shared some famous logos and why they have become meaningful to consumers.

To give you even more inspiration for your logo design venture, take a look at five famous logos and a few reasons they are exceptional. Keep in mind that as businesses evolve and change, over time they will update and rebrand their companies to maintain their relevance. An example of a rebrand is Dunkin, formerly Dunkin Donuts.

Dunkin

Back in 2018, the Dunkin marketing team made a commitment to prioritizing their coffee beverages' speedy service and dropping the emphasis on donuts.

The new brand and logo removed donuts from the name while staying true to their past logo’s familiar pink and orange color combination and fonts. This new look with the familiarity of the brand was seamless without confusing their loyal customer base.

Nike

We mentioned this famous athletic apparel’s iconic swoosh earlier. The swoosh or the Nike logo represents the wings of the goddess of victory in Greek mythology.

It also correlates with their slogan, “Just Do It,” as a checkmark on a to-do list. This is the perfect logo for Nike because it gets to the point and is memorable.

Chanel

High-end fashion brand Chanel is a forever favorite in the fashion industry and needs a luxury logo. Expensive, luxurious, and elegant are associated with the two interlocking Cs that have lasted the test of time. A simple, instantly recognized, and adored logo that is understood throughout the entire world.

Starbucks

The famous logo used to depict this coffee shop phenomenon is referred to as the Starbucks Siren. Since Seattle, the home of their first store, is a seaport, the founders named it Starbucks, a character from the classic novel Moby Dick. They added stars, used green colors, and the rest is logo success history.

UPS

United Parcel Service, a leader in shipping, chose a shield with a gold and brown color combination. This represents strength and reliability, which is very important in this industry that delivers merchandise from location to location.

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