How to Design a Logo That Sells

Are you a young or startup business looking to be recognized in the community? Or perhaps you are a well-established company, seeking an opportunity to stand out from your competitors. Then you want to establish a professional and custom logo designed for your business. Doing so will tell your potential clients who you are and what it is you really do. You want to be branded in your industry. Your logo should work for you and help sell your business. Here are a few tips on how to design a logo that sells for your business.

Determine the Function of Your Logo

Knowing the function or purpose of your logo will give you an idea of the route to take when deciding the type of logo you want to have. There are types of logos. You can have an emblem logo, which are great for patches, a lettermark, a wordmark, something symbolic, or a combination of them all.

For instance, if you need brand recognition, you need a strong and memorable logo. Your logo needs to establish trust between you and your customers. Once a customer learns your logo, they will be able to easily identify with you. You will find this will happen more than a customer recognizing your name or your product that you offer. You want your logo to be the Kleenex of the industry. Notice how people state to pass them a piece of Kleenex, when it’s actually facial tissue.

1. Know and Understanding Your Audience

You must appeal to your audience. If your target audience is women, you possibly want something soft. If it’s more of a male population, soft pinks, purposes, and curves may not do as well. This sometimes means you must keep your logo simple and clean. It should not be too busy or too fancy. It must be recognizable.

2. What’s In a Name?

Your name can tell all or nothing about your company or product. If it has something to do with your industry and is recognized globally, you may want to consider it. However, if you are offering it on a product of which your logo needs to be shrunk, verify your audience can still read it and that it will have visual appeal.

3. Get an Appropriate Color Scheme

Color is a very important aspect of logo design. You want to keep the colors for your logo scheme to fewer than three colors. Too much more will be confusing. Your logo and the color will build a sense of familiarity with your audience. There is a psychology of using colors in your logo. Each color has a very deep meaning. For instance, black is a symbol of luxury, green is earthy and relaxing, blue is trusting, and red grabs attention.

4. Think Of Ways to Set Yourself Apart

It’s ok to view the competition to find out what type of logo you want. You don’t want to mimic them at all. What you want to do is the same you do to set your business apart. View competitors logos and decide what it is you do like and expand on that. Decide what it is you don’t like and improve on that.

5. Scale to Design

You need to use your logo in all marketing sectors. So if you need to use it for an online ad, your website, a highway billboard, or a business card, it must look good. The details and colors should always be accurate.

6. Its’ Time to Work with A Professional

Now you have a few options of how to design a logo. For one, you can go the cheap route and do it yourself. You can do it with your own software. Another option is to find a website that has what you think is an awesome logo package at a great low cost. They have a website so they must be reliable. You could find an independent/freelance logo designer. Many cost hundreds to a few thousands of dollars, but they are a real individual. Or, you can use a professional company that has years of experience, and built their reputation with a team of designers.

The first two options should be avoided at all costs. Your logo will turn out to be exactly what you paid for – amateur. Have you taken a class to learn how to design a logo? You probably have not since you are reading this article. And chances are that the amateur website is paying their “designers” pennies on the dollar to tweak stock art – copyright infringement should ring a bell here. So too will your logo look like it was made as such.

This is by far the most important step of how to design a logo that sells your business. If you want it to be professional, memorable, unique in every way, and able to reproduce it for whatever material needed, a professional freelance logo designer or professional company is the way to go.

7. Test the Waters

Once you have your logo designed and completed, you want to test the waters. Start showing it to those in your target audience. Find out what they like and don’t like. Ask them questions to get an honest and thorough response. Is it attractive, generic, and what do they like about it? Stray away from family and friends, as you may not get the total brutal honesty you need in this situation.

Before making a final decision on who you will work with to design your logo, you should look at their portfolio, such as this portfolio of Sribu.com. You want to verify they know the ins and outs of how to design a logo for someone in your industry. They should bring the ideas to you.

So remember, it’s easy to determine how to design a logo. However, it will take time, patience, and a financial investment. So take your time in choosing your logo designer, so that together you can design one that sells.

* Credits to:

www.entrepreneur.com

^ How to Create a Logo