A vibrant logo is one of the most important tools used by a small business establishing their brand. Yet, it’s also one of the most common areas that businesses overlook.
When preoccupied with all the intricacies of marketing and finance, many tend to forget that your logo is the face of your brand – an appealing design is central to forming good first impressions on customers or clients.
To help you create a visually forceful logo that demands attention, here are some beginning tips to remember when starting the creative process.
- Create Colour Harmonies to Draw Attention
When looking at recognizable logos, it’s clear that the choice of colour has a major effect on the finished result. By using easy-to-see colours like red and yellow, McDonald’s Golden Arches instantly draw focus and appear memorable to the viewer.
The use of combined red and yellow is an example of an analogous colour scheme. Analogous colours are located next to each on the colour wheel, and when used together often produce a visually pleasing design.
However, not all logos blend together with similar colours. Some, like the Fanta or Tide logos, make use of directly contrasting colours to be perceived as more forceful. Colour schemes like this are called complementary designs and tend to stand out more.
The choice of which type of colour harmony to use depends on the brand. If you’re aiming to portray your brand as gentle or friendly, it may be best to opt for an analogous scheme. On the other hand, if your emphasis is on boldness and pizzazz, complementary might be the way to go.
- Keep Colour Psychology in Mind
Different colours create unique mental impressions, which can influence the way your brand is perceived. Need an example? Let’s revisit McDonald’s – by using yellow and red, two of the brightest colours, the Golden Arches create an unmistakable impression of energy and optimism.
This is because vibrant colours like red, orange, and yellow have a tendency to draw attention and impart a feeling of enthusiasm.
Other colours, like blue, green, or grey, carry attachments to feelings of productivity or financial safety. These might be good picks for B2B, marketing, or legal firms.
Finally, the polar opposites of black and white create an impression of simplicity and elegance. However, black is used to signify power or influence, while white is used to portray a sense of purity or innocence.
Using these associations to your advantage is one of the easiest ways to influence customer or client thinking. By synchronizing your choice of colour with your brand image, you can create a clear sense of what you’re trying to accomplish with little effort.
- Consider Gradients to Build Depth
Even when a logo is created with strong colour pairings and powerful psychological influence, a linear design can seem flat. Gradients, which are smooth colour transitions that fade into each other, are one option for alleviating this problem. Although gradients can be hard to implement, they can create a more dynamic visual effect that makes your design easier to notice.
It’s important not to go overboard with a gradient, as this can make an image seem confusing or overwhelming. Often, it’s best to apply a gradient effect only to a central symbol and not words.
The vibrancy of a gradient can convey a sense of creativity and vigor. Often, this is desirable; however, it’s best to remember your target audience at all times. If your industry favors more conventional designs with greater formality, a gradient won’t be your best bet.
Remember that gradients can sometimes be hard to print since they consist of so many colours and shades. Gradient logos are best suited for online businesses that go through relatively few print materials, like business cards or brochures.
- Take Advantage of Vector Design
Although a logo might look appealing at any one size, the issue of scaling often becomes a problem when the logo is adapted to larger media. This problem can be easily avoided by designing a vector logo.
Traditional images are known as raster art and are made out of many little regular pixels stacked side by side. Think of it like this – when a raster image gets blown up, these component pixels also get bigger and bigger until they’re clearly visible. Once this happens, the image loses its smoothness, since the transitions between details are rough and exaggerated.
On the other hand, vector images are less like a mosaic and more like a blueprint. Any logo done in vector form is defined by many mathematical formulas describing relationships between points. No matter what size a vector logo is scaled up to, these formulas remain the same, so no quality is lost.
If you have access to the right software, utilizing vector technology is ideal, since it offers a lot more flexibility if a logo needs to be adapted to different media in the future.
Focus on Your Brand Image
Logo design can be a complicated process and involves numerous considerations. With all the available options, it’s easy to lose sight of what a logo represents – your identity as a business.
Only take liberties with your design when they contribute to this image and help you reach the audience that you seek. A flashy logo won’t do you any good if the portrayal it gives is inaccurate.
By following this guiding principle and implementing these four tips, there should be no trouble in creating an ideal logo to make your brand instantly recognizable to anyone that comes across it.
Still feeling overwhelmed? Contact us today to discuss how we can help.