How to Design a Logo? Step By Step Guide To Create A Powerful Representation of Your Brand

Starting a new business? Confused about how you want your brand to be perceived? Don’t worry, our guide will help you through the process of how to design a logo. A logo will differentiate your brand from others and give its own identity. 

You will need something unique because generic logos tend to be forgotten. A powerful logo representing your brand will make a statement and leave a mark on your audience’s mind. The logo should also capture the essence of your brand’s objective and mission.

What Should a Logo Represent?

A symbol must represent a brand’s nature and vision in its logo. The visual representation should be such that it gives a hint about the product or services the brand is into. A company logo should not be generic, it should have a meaning.

While designing your brand logo, you must have a motive. Your motive should be to grab the attention of your audience. It should be to create a strong first impression. You should not overdo do it by creating a complex logo, it might look good but not represent much.

Now, before moving on to know how to design a logo, let us see the different types of logos brands have preferred for their brand over the years. After which you will have an idea about what your company might need.

7 Effective Logo Variations For Your Brand

There are majorly two different type of logos. One where you use a text as your logo, other is where you use a symbol. Now from these two types of logo, over the years brands have come up with many variations of logo to represent their company. Here are those to give you an idea about what might best suit your brand.

1. Wordmark Logos

Wordmark logo is also known as a logotype in designers language. The name of the brand or business is only used while designing. No elements or symbols are added while designing a Wordmark logo.

2. Monogram Logos

The monogram logo is designed with two to three letters which act as a symbol along with the name of the business. Some of the famous examples of monogram logo businesses are VW – Volkswagen or LV – Louis Vuitton.

3. Combination Logos

Combination logos are combinations of both wordmarks and symbols. It allows you to design both text and symbols as a logo which helps the audience easily recognize your business. It is one of the most common logotypes that people prefer to design.

4. Abstract Logos

Multiple innovations in a single symbol are known as abstract logos. You certainly can see a variety of feelings through size, shape, pattern, and illustration in the brand’s logo. The design of a logo is not literal but the message most probably is.

5. Emblem Logos

Fonts that are placed inside an icon is emblem logo. It looks like a traditional appearance. Many government agencies and organizations as well as schools prefer using this type of logo.

6. Pictorial Logos

Any symbol or an icon without any text or more changes are pictorial logos. The best example of such type of logo is the Apple logo. You can make out the brand by seeing the graphic element itself.

7. Mascot Logos

A living creature or a character which is used to represent the brand or a company is called the Mascot logo. The brand will be differentiated based on the character that a symbol has. It will allow your brand to create a unique identity.

How to Design a Logo?

While designing a logo you have to make sure you brainstorm and ideate the best that you can. You have decided the color, font, style, and type of a logo that will represent your organization.

We have split five different steps to make the process a bit easier for you. Design a unique logo for your company by following the five steps.

1. Analyse Your Brand Name & Company Type

Research your brand and take notes. Make sure you check all the products and services that you are going to offer. Relate to the products and brainstorm different names. Make sure you pick the relatable name. While doing so, list out different types of questions like,

• Who is your target market?
• What type of products will they buy the most?
• What type of lifestyle do they follow?
• What are the shopping decisions that they take?

After answering all the questions, make sure you have decided on the name of your company. You certainly can go through the competitors’ logos and mix and match the style they have used. It will allow you to explore and broaden your imagination.

Make a List of Brand Attributes

List out the values, benefits, services, nature, and different features of your brand. It will be a list of how people will perceive your brand and what it depicts. Some of the examples are – creative, innovative, new, user-friendly, clever marketing, etc.

Ensure the Name is Available

If you haven’t chosen an appropriate name for your brand then do it first. Make sure it is relatable to the products that you are going to offer. Assure if you want to add a tagline or a phrase to the name that you decide. It plays a major role in developing a logo.

Check if the Logo is Appropriate Everywhere

You are going to use the logo everywhere. On the products, on social media, and even while planning office stationery like business cards & pens, etc., for a promotional basis. Make sure you choose a design of a logo that is helpful everywhere.

2. Learn How to Design a Logo

Once you know what exactly you need and how you need your logo to be, learn how to design a logo. The most frequent question that arises in everyone’s mind is how to design a logo for free? Well, if you learn how to design a logo, then there are multiple ways through which you can create a company logo.

You can simply make a logo for your company by using an online app. You certainly do not have to learn any software or be an expert to do so. The process is easy but before you start you have to keep certain things in mind.

Create a Unique Logo

Ensure your logo is versatile, unique, memorable, and simple. Avoid making a difficult logo that is hard to understand as it increases the risk of poor recognition.

Visual Hierarchy

Create a visual hierarchy for your audience. The name of your company must be bigger and bolder than the tagline or a slogan. The visual hierarchy must be maintained in different variants like color, size, and fonts.

Nature of the Logo

Along with the color and size, shapes also play an important role while developing and creating a logo. Shapes can be in the form of a symbol or also a container that holds the logo in a confined space.

Different shapes represent different values that symbolize the logo like a circle is for unity, a square plus rectangle for stability & balance. A triangle associates conflict or strength, vertical lines represent aggression whereas horizontal lines are calm. Apart from such shapes, there are organic shapes that are inspired by the nature like a shape of a leaf, flower, or fruit.

Layout Options of a Logo

Apart from the shape, size, and color, there are other options as well that you must know when you design a logo. These options are mentioned in the following:

• Text that is Stacked: A horizontal stacked text gives amazing and different wine by making the logo more attractive.
• Placing a symbol: While you decide to place a symbol in the name of your company, look and feel changes. Pick an appropriate symbol and decide where you want to place it.
• Place a slogan or tagline: The tagline or a slogan always goes below the name of your company. You only have to decide whether it will stay as it is in the middle or should be left-aligned.

3. Ideate the Nature of your Logo

Ideate the color, font, and style to learn how to design a logo. While you know the aspects of creating a logo, get ready and start doing it.

Color Options

Different color options depict different emotions and feelings related to it. Following is the list of colors that you can go through.

• Green: Serenity as well as balance

• Blue: Success along with professionalism

• Pink: Nurturing and feminine

• Black: Sophistication and power

• White: Simplicity, pure, and natural

• Purple: Spiritual and royal

• Red: Ambitions and confidence

• Orange: Optimism as well as joy

• Grey: Serious yet classic

• Yellow: Positivity along with happiness

You certainly have vivid options of colors from which you can select. The feelings about the color will be decided based on which color you choose.

Tip: Use only 2-3 colors while designing your logo and make it as simple as you can so that it is easy to memorize and simple to learn.

Font Size & Style

There are a variety of fonts from which you can pick. Select the most appropriate one and the easily visible one. Make sure it compliments the name of your brand and matches the identity of your logo. 

The following are the most popular and well-used fonts.

• Serif Fonts: The fonts which are classic of all time with little feet on the edges are serif fonts. One of the most used and famous fonts is Times New Roman which is most common and used to attract mature demographic.

• Sans-Serif Fonts: Sans-serif has no edges and it looks more sharp & simple

• Script Fonts: These fonts are like handwritten fonts which add a geist of newness to the fonts. It looks feminine, formal, as well as elegant.

• Modern Fonts: The fonts that have a bit of starkness and sophistication in them that attracts young demographics.

• Display Fonts: Display fonts are out-of-the-ordinary fonts that are experimental. Not all brands prefer to use such fonts but they are bubbly and fun or even edgy and futuristic.

Symbol Placements

Symbols can be added to your logo which will bring a bit of uniqueness. It will make your company logo look more attractive. Symbols can be anything from literal symbols to geometrical and abstract.

Make sure the symbol does not confuse the feature and motto of your brand. The logo must be with a symbol that represents the brand clearly and does not confuse anything.

4. Design a Logo 

There is no doubt that you can create your logo. Here we have divided different options that will clear your question of how to design a logo.

How to design a logo from scratch?

If you certainly have some expertise in designing a logo and knowledge of certain software then you can undoubtedly start designing the logo from scratch. You can certainly hire a designer to get your work done but it will result in a pricy solution.

Logo Design Online

To design a logo online there is a variety of options that you can follow. Different sites will help you make a logo online that will be a unique design. You certainly will get custom logo design experience.

Personalize a Logo Template

There are various templates available online that you can use to customize a logo for the company. You can use the templates and change the name, fonts, color, and size however you desire. Although customization of templates to create a logo is easy but it has certain drawbacks like

• The customization of the template is limited and more changes are not applicable
• There is a possibility of multiple brands with similar logos or designs

You must create a unique look to avoid the risk of dropping brand awareness. How you design a logo for business affects the overall reputation of your company. It must be recognizable and memorable by the people.

5. Check & Compare

Before you finalize the logo after designing it, check if it is appropriate enough. Does it match on all social media platforms and also on business cards. You must check whether the logo is scalable or not. Make sure to have a vector file of the logo through which you can indefinitely change the dimensions and edit other things.

Ensure that the background of the logo is transparent which gives you the authority of placing it anywhere you want. You certainly can use it anywhere and the logo can be placed in any color. While checking the placement, make appropriate changes if necessary.

Impressive Logo Design Ideas

There are several different industries and hundreds & thousands of ideas that you can use while designing a logo. Different apps and websites allow you to use templates and different logo design ideas.

You certainly can use specific symbols and colors and change the text along with adding other elements. Your logo should be able to communicate the idea of your brand. Following are some of the ideas which you can use while designing a logo.

• Pick a theme and follow the type of product category for colors
• Try and use simple fonts which look more authentic
• You can use natural elements while designing which proves to be the best logo design ideas
• If your brand name consists of a name of an animal, you use the elements accordingly
• Try to leave equal space all around your logo and get creative only in using colors otherwise let it stay simple

What Tools are Used to Design a Logo?

There are different software which you can use for logo design. Following is the list of famous software that designers use. You certainly can design a logo from scratch by using this software.

• Adobe Illustrator
• Coral Draw
• Adobe Photoshop
• Wix Logo Maker
• Adobe Creative Cloud Express

Online logo design tools

• MarkMaker
• Canva logo design tool
• LogoMakr

10 Helpful Tips on How to Design a Logo

Once you know what you want and how to design a logo for a business, there’s nothing more you need to do. Start the process on your own and brainstorm a bit. Here we have some of the tips for you which will help you to design a logo for your business.

1. Keep it simple & authentic
2. Design a logo to attract customers & make it memorable
3. Choose a vibrant color palette & various shapes
4. Ensure the logo is relatable & encompasses the vibe of your brand
5. To keep your design clean, use the empty spaces and make the logo look versatile
6. Use different tools while making the logo literal and authoritative
7. Check different logos of different brands and understand the designing part thoroughly
8. Do not rejig or reinvent the wheel while you design a logo
9. Try to tell a story and do not maximize using the fonts. Use only two fonts if possible
10. Select a simple and elegant font while avoiding gimmicky fonts

To Sum Up!

Carefully discover, research, and then brainstorm the idea. Once you brainstorm it you have to sketch the logo first and then start designing. Go step-wise to clear your question about how to design a logo. Once it is ready, you can present it and deliver the idea by using it in different ways.

You have to make some efforts and invest your time. Hence, above is the detailed answer to your question about how to design a logo. All the tips, ideas, and simple steps will help you design a logo that identifies your brand uniquely.