Starting a company means that you, as the business owner, have to deal with plenty of tasks. For example, you have to find the funding and present your idea to potential investors. Then, you have to register your company, decide on the business model, and hire the right employees that will help you reach your objectives.
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However, reaching an audience is vital so you have to work on your branding as well. A big part of that is coming up with a business name and creating a unique logo that the public will associate with your company. Furthermore, designing the logo is not the only step towards improving brand visibility, it is also about how you use it and where you place it. Keep on reading to learn more about the entire process, from designing to placing your logo in the world.
Do research before designing it
In some instances, creating a logo is as simple as coming up with an idea, putting it down on paper, and having it registered seeing as how it is so unique. On the other hand, it’s important to keep in mind that this is a rare case. Most of the time, you will have to do a lot of research regardless of whether you are designing the logo on your own or hiring a graphic design expert. You should know more about your industry and its history. Knowing what was used before and what was successful will be of great use. Then, you need to have some kind of idea of what you want the logo to represent. Ask for input from other people as well or ask your designer for several ideas so that you can choose from a few options.
You can follow an established process of designing a company logo yourself, even if you have a budget for hiring an expert. Going through the motions yourself first could allow you to get the logo that resembles your unique style and your industry expertise. Then, for the final touches, you may get an expert to help you finalize the design.
There are even AI tools that will help you design your logo. Looka combines your design preferences with AI to make beautiful logos you’ll love. Once you have your logo, use the Brand Kit to access 300+ branded templates, create custom marketing assets, build a website, and launch your business! All seems too good to be true, right, but the company believe anyone can make their business, side hustle, or passion project look beautiful — even if they’re not a designer. As an AI-powered graphic design company, they’re automating design processes without taking away the creativity, vision, and fun that goes into building a brand identity.
Take note of what the competition is doing
A big part of your logo research is seeing what your competition is doing. Regardless of how competitive your industry is, chances are high that you are not the only company in your field. For example, if you want to start a delivery company, you can take a look at the designs of giants like FedEx, DHL, and UPS. All three are very different and all three are very recognizable. This means that there is no one pattern to follow if you want to create a logo for a shipping business. Of course, if your business is new, you should do research on a smaller, more local scale. Find a few competitors and see what works for their logo and what doesn’t. Take into account the colors of their logo, the size, the font, the placement, and its various uses. If any aspect of the logo’s design is similar to yours, you might want to think about changing yours in order to stand out from the competition.
Decide on the right features
Doing proper research means that you will understand that each logo is unique in its size, shape, color, typography, and many other features. For instance, you can start by deciding whether you will use letters or shapes. Then, you can think about the color of your logo. Keep in mind the psychology of colors as you want to use hues that inspire customers and avoid those that will provoke an adverse effect. This color palette is something that should then translate to other areas of your business as well. Let’s say you settle on a combination that mostly consists of yellow and purple. That means that you should find a way to incorporate these shades into your uniforms and office space. That way, these colors will always be associated with your brand. Then, you should decide on the shape of your logo. Will it be placed in a circle or square, or follow the shape of its letters or sign? What you want to do is leave enough clear space around it so that its visual impact is not obstructed. Furthermore, you need to choose the font and typography you will use and its size. The best approach is usually simple but timeless and memorable, which can often be hard to achieve if you want it to stand out.
Create alternatives
However, keep in mind that you should make several alternatives to the logo you choose and trademark them all. For example, the color palette of your logo will not stand out next to some packaging or in certain places. You should consider reversing the color palette so that the bright areas are dark and vice versa as that can make it more eye-catching in certain cases. On the other hand, you need to scale it as well. Let’s say that the name of your business is pretty long; in that scenario, you might want to design a logo that only includes an acronym or a symbol that represents your company.
Place the logo in different spots
When it comes to placement, you have to make the most of your logo and put it in as many different spots as possible. For example, if you are an online business, with no brick-and-mortar location, you need to use your logo on your website regularly and include it in your email signature as well as utilize some variation of it as your profile picture on various social media platforms, from Twitter and Instagram to LinkedIn. When crafting your marketing strategy, make sure your online ads also contain your logo. For your traditional marketing strategy, which should include everything from flyers and brochures to billboards, you also need to make your logo a big part of your message. Finally, if you do have offices or stores that customers can visit, you need some Mat Shop indoor mats with your logo and branded uniforms that every member of your staff should wear or at least a pin in the shape of your company’s logo that they can add to their outfit every day. If you offer purchases in your store, your customers should leave with a bag that also has your logo.
Make the logo visible
Additionally, it’s important to remember that the logo is the face of your company in many instances. Putting it in the right places can easily increase your brand awareness. That is why logos have found their way to so many spots. From company uniforms and business offices to branded merchandise and packaging, logos are there to remind customers of the brand’s existence at all times. However, it is important that the logo can easily be spotted on these items. We mentioned earlier that a logo should stand out from its background so putting a dark logo on a dark uniform won’t do you much good. What is more, don’t hide it in a place where people will not see it, like the buttocks area or the lower part of the shirt.
Avoid making the logo spammy
On the other hand, you also don’t want to overwhelm the customers with your logo. While you want to be visible, you also want to be subtle as you don’t want to come off as too aggressive. Not every company can get away with what Louis Vuitton does with its logo. Besides not placing it all over your products, there are other things to avoid as well. For instance, if you are a sponsor at an event, don’t insist on being prominently put everywhere but let the organizers place your logo how they see fit. Seeing you everywhere might lead to oversaturation and altogether annoyance with your brand.
Pick your materials carefully
Seeing as how you will use your logo for many different purposes, you should pay attention to the materials you use. While this is not an issue for online businesses, brick-and-mortar ones and every company that uses traditional ways of advertising need to keep this in mind. For example, if you plan on putting your logo on clothes or bags, you need a fabric that logos can be printed on. On the other hand, you can opt for embroidery or iron-on logos. Then, you should consult with a printing agency to see what other items you can print on, such as pens, notebooks, mugs, and so on. Another approach you can opt for is engraving your logo on plaques that can be put on walls in your office, tags that your staff can wear, or keychains that you can gift your customers with. When branding your office, you should decide between painting the logo on the wall and putting on printed wallpapers by talking to experts and seeing which one lasts longer and looks better. However, there are also practices you should avoid, such as printing logos over zippers, pockets, and seams as chances are that the logo will be warped and messed up.
Think outside of the box
Something else to consider when pondering the placement of your logo is creativity. Thinking outside of the box is extremely welcome in marketing so you and your teams should brainstorm some ideas that can get you noticed. For example, partnering up with an influencer or an artist can get your logo out there in no time. By simply having your logo in their Instagram picture or YouTube video, an influencer can significantly boost your website traffic. An artist can create a unique mural of your logo on your office building that will get the whole city talking. You can even customize some unexpected merch that you will be giving out as promotional items to customers, such as power banks.
Double-check everything
Finally, it is of the utmost importance to double-check everything before you release your logo into the world. For starters, run a check to ensure you are not infringing on anyone’s rights by using their logo. If you continue using a logo that has been trademarked or is very similar to one, you could be faced with a lawsuit so make sure your logo is unique. Then, you should check the spelling of it as it is incredibly easy to overlook a simple mistake. Finally, run a few tests to see how people respond to it as you don’t want to miss an obvious joke or something that people can be offended by. In terms of placement, avoid the Turkish Airlines mistake of putting an ad in an unfortunate position. Consider the surroundings as well, as your very simple ad can turn humorous in no time if something incompatible or completely opposite is placed next to it.
As you can see, there are many things to consider when designing a logo and choosing where to place it. Do your best to follow the tips mentioned above to avoid any unpleasant situations.