Last Updated on January 12, 2019
The best logos tend to be simple, versatile and timeless (or easily adaptable as time goes on). An essential aspect of any branding strategy, designing a strong logo will serve you well on one highly important front.
As the symbol of your company, a strong logo helps customers identify you wherever they are, in whatever context they see it and — if you’ve served them well — can provide your patrons comfort in uncertain situations. It is important to keep these factors in mind as you work with a logo creator.
First and Foremost—Keep It Simple
Imagine your customer is driving along a highway at 65 miles per hour and catches only a fleeting glimpse of your logo. If it’s simple, it will only take a nanosecond for the symbol to make an impression. If it’s complicated, they might not have time to process it.
Even with additional time to consider it, the more elements you count on a viewer to process, the more likely they are to dismiss it. People do not want to work to understand a logo, so don’t count on them to do so—they won’t. Go for a clean design with a strong visual appeal.
Consider Every Possible Context
As you’re developing your logo, think about all the different places it’s likely to appear and do everything you can to ensure it is legible in every potential circumstance. In addition to your products and packaging, it’s going to show up in advertisements, your social media presences, on baseball caps, T-shirts, drinking cups, buildings (if you’re truly successful), business cards and possibly even billboards. Therefore, the design you choose must be versatile. It needs to communicate well, whether large or small and in color or black and white.
Design with a Mind Toward Evolution
Though it is considered one of the most timeless logos ever designed, the Coca-Cola logo has in fact evolved considerably since it was introduced back in 1886. However, the changes have been very slight, so it still looks largely the same. Adopting the wholesale change of a logo in which you’ve invested a lot of time, capital and goodwill is a very expensive proposition. A free logo creator like the one offered by Shopify like the one offered by Shopify enables you to take your time and experiment with a lot of different ideas. This gives you more opportunity for creativity, which increases the likelihood of coming up with something timeless. That way, when you do tweak it to keep up with changing tastes, you won’t have to reinvent it.
Make It Unique
If you market a line of fine wines and incorporate a wine glass into your logo, it’d better be a highly innovative use of the glass. Similarly, if you’re marketing dental products and you put a tooth in your logo, well—yeah—it’d better be a very clever usage. In other words, avoid clichés. Do not take an existing logo and modify it slightly for your purposes. Put in the time to come up with a unique design all your own. Remember, you want a driver on a highway at 65 miles per hour to know it’s you at a glance. That’s not going to happen with a “me too” design. In fact, you’re more likely to make them think of the entity from whom you “borrowed” your look.
At its essence, designing a strong logo is simply a matter of coming up with a simple, versatile, timeless and unique symbol that speaks to the core of what your business is about. And yes, we know that’s a lot and it’s even more difficult than it sounds. But when you get it right, the rewards are limitless.
