What you should do…
Have a unique yet simple logo
When thinking about ideas for your logo, it is very important to find the correct balance between how unique it is, and how simple it is. You want your logo to stand out from the others and catch someone’s attention, but at the same time you don’t want to overcomplicate things. Someone should be able to easily describe your company’s logo to someone else without confusing them.
Make it adaptable
This is important because in today’s world there are so many different forms of advertising, and your company’s logo needs to be able to fit them all. Your logo should be able to look good on both a business card or on a billboard. Also be aware that your logo should look good in black and white too. Not everyone has a color printer yet and some people still even rely on fax machines.
It should be appropriate for your company
One thing that makes a good logo is how well it matches up with the characteristics of your target market. The people in your target market should be drawn to your logo, not pushed away from it. For example, if a company in the art industry had a plain and boring logo, they wouldn’t attract many artists. The most important thing is to appeal to people who could potentially help your business.
Make it memorable
Sometimes people will only have a few seconds or minutes to glance at your company’s logo, so it is important to make it memorable. This is similar to its uniqueness because you want your logo to stand out from the crowd. If someone forgets the name of your company, they should still be able to point out the logo if they see it again.
It should be timeless
Over the years there have been and will continue to be trends in business. Your company logo should be able to keep up with the trends, but not change too much. In business it is important to keep the current trends in mind, but the main goal should be for its longevity. Your logo should remain relatively the same, but be able to slightly tweak its image in order to keep up with the trends.
What you shouldn’t do…
Do not play too much into current trends
As stated previously, trends come and go in the business world. If you design a company logo that is too involved in the current trends, then it will become out of style or irrelevant in the next 5 years or so. Remember to make it have an easily adjustable base design so that you can update it to meet the current trends if need be.
Do not use low quality software
When looking to design a company logo, you should attempt to make it as perfect as possible. So this means that you are going to have to use the best available software out there, not some cheap software that anyone can download off the internet. Yes, it might be more expensive to do it this way, but it will pay for itself if you have the perfect logo.
It shouldn’t be based off your personal preferences
It is important to keep in mind that your company logo should appeal to the customers more than it should appeal to you. Of course you are going to want to put your own personal touch on it, but be careful not to make it all about you. You are going to like your company logo regardless because you were the one who designed it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that other people will like it as well.
Inappropriate typography shouldn’t be used
If your company logo involves words or a sentence, it is important to use the correct typography. If your company wants to highlight their professionalism, then they shouldn’t use cosmic sans as their text because that is seen as a more creative font. Your logo should follow the central theme that your company has from the bottom up.
Do not ignore the culture barrier
The last thing that someone shouldn’t do when thinking of logo ideas is ignore the culture barrier. The United States is comprised of a ton of different cultures, races, ethnicities, etc. So if something means one thing to a certain culture, it might mean something else to a different one. So just keep this in mind because you certainly don’t want to insult a particular culture and be labeled as an ignorant company.
