Avoid 6 Common Logo Design Mistakes

A logo is the ever-present face of your company. Words, type, colors and shapes –these attributes help a logo to communicate a message to potential customers about what your company does and how your company is different from the competition.

Many logos fail to communicate, which eventually creates barriers to successful marketing and advertising. For brand messaging, a company should have cohesive marketing approach of all points - logo, website, brochures, advertising, promotions, etc. If something as seemingly small as a logo lacks the communicative punch, you’re your company is surely missing a huge opportunity to reach out to your customers.

A poor quality logo suggests inferior products and it puts a bad impression in the minds of your customers. Find out if your logo is suffering from any of the six common logo mistakes mentioned below. If you can successfully avoid these common logo blunders, then you are on your way to a successful logo.

1. The Clipart Logo

Many clipart images are widely distributed. Most of us are familiar with the software providing the clipart and will instantly recognize your 'borrowed' logo. This is one way to loose credibility of your business.

2. Special Effects Logo

First, strip off all the special effects to get at the heart of the design. A great logo should be able to stand its ground in black and white, without any effects. Draft your concept on paper first. Think about what to present before you decide how to present. After you are pleased with a one-color concept, then produce it digitally. At this point you may not like to add any effect to enhance your logo for web use. Eliminate any effect that does not add value to your design.

3. The Banner Logo

A logo is not your web banner advertisement. You are doing your company more harm than good by forcing your logo into a banner shape, especially if your logo is crammed to fit the entire rectangle.

4. The Text-Only Logo

These types of logos restrict the ability to express your company's uniqueness. A large established company can pull off text-only logos with exorbitant marketing budgets. Test of your logo's effectiveness by altering the letters and see if your logo is still recognizable. If not, then you need to seriously consider the visual element of your logo.

5. Monogram

Monograms (company initials) are very difficult to use effectively. It will take a long time to build credibility with a monogram logo. Also, logos consisting of several overlapping letters generally do not do well, and very often they speak too little about your company and the products.

6. The Complex Logo

Logos with complex photos and layouts make poor logos. If you insert any additional information, then it becomes an extra detail for your customers to remember. A simple logo design with solid shades and minimal lines will definitely have greater impact and memorability.

Characteristics Of A Good Logo Design

Logos are a visual representation of an organization’s image to the public. Every organization today, needs to promote their brand identity in order to make a lasting impression on the minds of the potential as well as loyal customers. But not all logos effectively deliver what they are meant for. It requires a lot of logical thinking and hard work to design a logo effective enough to meet an organization’s need.

A logo should ideally have a few characteristics that would prove it to be visually effective. The most important characteristics of an effective logo are:

Defining Shape

A distinct shape is an essential characteristic of a good and effective logo. A clear distinct shape would help a logo to make a deep-rooted impact on the human mind and definitely it would help people to connect to the organization it stands for.

Boldness or Presence

A logo should cover the maximum space allotted for the logo. The boldness or presence factor should be carefully decided and created so as to convey the particular message for its organization.

Weight

Weight is a characteristic that should ideally make a specific logo stand apart from others. The finest logos have a weight of existence and are recognizable when viewed alongside other strong images. However, the weight should not be due to over-usage of bold colors or 3D renderings. These, instead of enhancing the weight, can prove to be detrimental.

Contrast

Contrast is another characteristic of a good logo design. The colors, fonts and texts should have plenty of contrasts. A logo with high amount of right contrast on the edges is often found to be more appealing.

Another very important characteristic is the color. In fact, it probably is the most important characteristic. The usage of color almost always becomes very important in order to uplift any image. It is an instant stimulant to the mind of a person. Prominent colors should be used while designing a logo. Distinct colors should be used properly and effectively to bring out the actual message of the organization. However, it should be kept in mind that the use of too many colors can confuse the human mind and hinder the desired effects of a logo. The colors used in a logo design should be carefully chosen too, keeping in mind the color psychology. Every color exerts some feeling on individuals and they should be chosen carefully for a logo to convey the right message. It is known that blue is the most popular color of the world. However, that does not mean that all logos should essentially have the color. The designer needs to understand and feel the message that the logo intends to convey. It might require a lot of trial and error until a final result comes up.

These characteristics, when properly used in a logo design helps to develop the finest of its types and it, in turn, effectively helps to create a successful brand for the organization it stands.

4 Things To Look For In A Logo

For any business to succeed, branding is the key. The logo is the core aspect of branding that paves the way to a successful business. If you are looking to design a logo for your company, then choose your logo-designing firm carefully. There are thousands of logo designing firms and choosing the reliable and professional designing firm is not very easy. Yet you can always keep an eye on certain things to ensure that you get the most out of your logo-designing firm.

1. Business in the Logo

The logo symbolizes your business. A great business logo is one that can sum up your entire business objectives within itself. People should be able to remember your business when they look at your logo. Just a glance at your logo should bring your products to their minds. For example, the way we think of Nike when we look at the Nike's "Swoosh". It is simple, but effective. You can make a complex logo, but if it fails to impress your customers, it does not serve its purpose.

2. Company Symbol

The logo should portray your company. The aim of your company and the target audience should be kept in mind while designing the logo. Your logo represents your company. The faster you understand this fact, the easier it becomes for you to understand your logo. If you idolize class, then your logo should have simple and classy designs and colors. A flashy logo here will be a deterrent to your company.

3. Elegance

Designing a logo is a creative work and it takes the mind of a genius to design a logo that is different yet elegant. Herein lies the secret of your business success. Your logo should be quite different from your competitors yet easy to remember. But make sure that in quest for uniqueness, your logo designer does not end up creating complicated logos, which your customers fail to remember.

4. Indelible Impression

Your logo should possess the quality to remain etched in the minds of the people forever. If you use bright and flashy colors that are in today, they might be obsolete in the years to come. So make sure that your logo designers create a logo for all times and for all ages that will represent your company in the years to come.

Logo designing is a creative job. Make sure your logo designer incorporates the above-mentioned features to make your business logo design unique.

Corporate Logos - Building Brand Identity

Corporate branding is the need of the hour. Every organization today, needs to promote its brand identity in order to make a lasting impression on the minds of the potential as well as the loyal consumers. As the world has advanced, time to impress clients or customers has become less. So branding has become essential as it helps to achieve the company’s long term goals, sustain customers and clients and create new client base. Successful branding is all about single thing - recognition from customers. It’s about making the customers aware of one company or its products and services in such a way that they would be able to separate the company from its competitors. Branding seeks to increase the product's perceived value to the customer and thus increase brand franchise and brand equity. Brand works as an implied promise of quality level. It may also help increase the price of a product.

Basic branding can be done in various ways, starting from designing an effective logo, web address, visiting cards, letterheads to advertisements in television, media, events, and becoming a sponsor. The most important amongst these is probably the corporate logo. A corporate logo portrays a company’s identity, aims and objectives. It acts as an important tool for the promotion of a company’s culture. Corporate logos provide visibility and prominence to organizations by becoming a signature of the company. It goes a long way to explain the kind of service or product, the quality of the service or product and the time delivery. An ideal corporate should be simple, yet convey all the necessary information of the company.

Furthermore, logos an important aspect of branding as they can be used everywhere, on the business cards, letterheads, envelopes, websites and even on the company building. As every individual needs an identity, so does an organization. And a corporate house without a logo would seem like an individual without a face. A professional custom logo design gives a face to any business and makes it more memorable to the customer. Moreover, a well designed unique logo helps a business to gain an extra edge over its competitors. When more than one company is selling same products or services at the same price, consumers often tend to judge the products or services by the infrastructure, the overall look and feel of the company. A neat logo, in this case, helps to convey this belief to the consumers.

Three types of logos are generally used – text logos, symbol logos and combination logos having both texts and symbols. Whichever is used, a corporate logo should always be well researched and rightly selected. It should be simple enough for general customers to remember correctly and at the same time attractive enough to remain in their minds. It should ideally stand apart from the competitor logos and communicate the essential information of the business and its products and services to the consumers and thus create a belief in them. If all these aspects are taken into consideration while choosing a corporate logo design, it would surely go a long way to establish the company’s brand amongst the consumers.