A company logo is an important piece of your brand identity. Designed from the ground up to represent not only your business but your business’s personality and a clear reminder to your consumers of who you are from the stores, to print media, to billboards. Having a custom logo design that is versatile and clear, that carries the impact you want consumers to associate with your products can mean the difference between success and failure when your product hits the shelves.
In order to have a logo that not only works for your customers but also works for your company and all the ways you will be using it to represent yourself in the future, there are a few common mistakes that you need to avoid. Read on for three of the most common mistakes when developing your brand logo so that you can avoid these frustrating and sometimes costly mistakes.
Fonts
The font can make or break a logo design in many ways, not least of which is legibility. Often used to convey a tag line or the business name, it’s very important for this aspect of a logo to be readable so that consumers know what brand you’re representing. Not only that, but the choice of fonts can lend itself to a clean, crisp logo or a cluttered, confusing design. In fact, Jimmy Wentz suggests in one of his blogs to ensure that your logo design’s fonts must be neat, sleek, and well thought out in order to make an impact.
When choosing the font for your logo, a few things to keep in mind are:
- Is the font too familiar, overused or too boring? If it comes standard with a word processing program, then it probably is. The font should be unique enough to be associated with your logo, and not a software option.
- Does the personality of the font match the personality of your logo and, ultimately, your company? Fonts have their own sort of personality and it can help or hinder the image you’re attempting to build. If the font doesn’t fit in with your image, spice it up or tone it down, but be careful not to go overboard!
- Does the spacing balance out the words properly when it’s laid with the rest of your logo? Large spaces between some letters or crowding can be a result of improper kerning and will need to be tailored to the shape and balance of your logo or it may come out looking unfinished.
Scalability
What do you want to use your logo for? A billboard, letterhead, label for a product? All three? Then we need to talk about the scalability of your logo.
Scalability refers to the ability to resize your logo design, so that it’s legible on a billboard or a letterhead, or fits onto other printed media without losing its contrast or ability to be recognized. It’s very important that your logo is able to be scaled to whatever size your project requires and that means planning out the visual elements and details so that scaling the image down doesn’t lose them, and scaling the image up doesn’t stretch or distort them. If you know for certain that a logo design will only be used at one size, then adding in fine details won’t compromise the clarity of the design, but if you want the flexibility to use the design on different platforms and at different sizes, it’s better to clearly communicate this need to your graphic designer.
Colors
As colors evoke emotions, they remain crucial in logo design. When working on a logo design, it’s likely that you already have your company colors selected and thankfully, that choice is likely able to be suited to whatever design you work with. While a magenta beehive or navy blue flamingo might seem like odd choices, the decision is all about catching the eye of the consumer. The problem with color if not carefully considered is what a logo design will look like when it’s not present.
On billboards and packaging, whatever color you want to make your logo is up to you, but there are many times, such as when using a logo in the newspaper or as a letterhead, that color is either inconvenient or not possible at all. In those instances, you must remain prepared ahead of time and have designed your logo to also carry your company’s personality without your brand colors. This may mean making a few design concessions, especially if the logo you had in mind had a lot of negative space or colors without outlines to make it distinct.
Remember, you can’t change the colors of your logo design too often, so it makes sense to ensure that you pick up colors that are set to become the trends of tomorrow. For example, a post on Startups.co reveals that the favorite trends of the 80s, hyper color is back again and an increasing number of graphic designers are using this technique to make their otherwise dull and mundane logo designs breathe to life with vivacity.
Conclusion
Whether working with an in-house designer or graphics designers registered with popular crowdsourcing sites such as Designhill, make sure that you keep these common mistakes in mind and address them ahead of time. As you work through the draft, design, and finalization with the logo designer, communicate your needs clearly, and don’t be afraid to ask questions or request changes during the process.
Your custom logo design will be one of the most exposed faces of your company and taking the time now to ensure you avoid these frustrations later will be worth seeing it on a billboard and your business cards without losing its polish.