First impressions are everything. We know this from our daily life experience, where we are constantly discovering new people, places, products and services and making instantaneous, subconscious, assumptions. When it comes to your business, one of the first impressions that a client gets to see is your logo. It should be a well conceived, well designed instant interpretation of everything that your business stands for. So, when it comes to designing a logo, there’s no pressure, right?

It’s crucial to understand several key elements when it comes to designing a great logo for your business. Firstly, you should do some soul-searching. Do you have the funds or resources to be able to employ the services of a professional logo designer? Whilst this person or company may be the answer to your problem, many new businesses rarely have the funds available to go down this route. As this is often the case, here are some of those key elements to consider as you come up with your own masterpiece.

Choose your logotype.

You can simply choose to portray your business name in one of the very many thousands of different fonts available. Or, you could choose to incorporate a visual image representing your business type – for example, you could include a graphic of a paintbrush if you are an artist. Thirdly, you could merely base your logo around a custom-made symbol of some kind, but this is not advisable as in your early days you need your logo to be instantly identifiable and to relate to your specific business enterprise.

Get your message across.

You need to be very clear what your message is, to start off with. Keep this message firmly in your mind when you are creating your logo and try to get it across in graphic form.

Make your logo aesthetically pleasing.

Your finished result should be balanced, clean, distinctive, and functional. Your logo should “work” when reproduced through any medium, in monochrome as well as in color.

Avoid a generic look.

Don’t be tempted to use clip art, and come up with a redundant look. Be creative!

Be cost effective.

Don’t go over the top and create a masterpiece of design with deep colors using a rainbow spectrum. Remember that you are going to have to reproduce your logo in many different formats and you might not be too pleased with the accompanying costs.

Make sure it is usable.

If you do not have a natural eye for design, bring in a friend who does, or better still someone who has some expertise in this area to get their advice. Will your logo translate into all potential environments? For example, how will it look when reproduced on a polo shirt?

Take time to address the fundamentals and enjoy the process of logo creation. It can be a lot of fun, but you should remember to keep your customers in mind with a focus on the very purpose for your business when you put everything together. Your logo will help you to build valuable equity, establish credibility and achieve success.

How did you choose your logo?

Matthew Toren