Logos, Icons and Avatars (Part 3)
How to choose the right logo for an organization or a product
If you read my last article, you know that Logos are important and they do have serious business implications. You also know what to look out for in a great logo and how to make one.
This is taking it further, especially for a business person and anyone in the position to make logo choices.
How do you know the right logo to choose?
So, your designer presents a few logos to you and you need to pick one. The standard number is around three so you shouldn’t accept anything less and it really shouldn’t be more than three (for designers, if you are sending a logo to your client). Less is more…right? Let’s talk about that later
These tips should set you on the right path
1. Define your brand identity
What is your brands' persona? How would you want to be perceived? What do you want to be known for? How would you like to be described in 4 words or less?
Your logo has an embodiment of that persona, so, clarity about how you want to come across gives you a general idea of what would work.
If you want to appear fun and loving, then, you already have an idea of the colors and styles that may work.
2. Look around you
Ask what is obtainable in your industry, check out your competition. Think like your audience. Look at the logos of successful businesses or products.
In our design process at Dominant Brand Intelligence, we share ideas and go over a mood board with our clients before we even design a logo so we can be on the same page, expectation wise and have the same mental picture. If your designer doesn’t come up with a mood board (which he/she should), you can, just look around you and collect samples of styles, colors, and type that might work. A mood board can be inspiring
3. Pick the style that most represents your brand persona
There are many different logo styles.
There’s Retro or Vintage
There’s also Classic
There’s fun and quirky,
There’s modern and minimalist,
There’s handmade and handcrafted.
Based on your brands' persona, pick a style or even a hybrid of one or more styles, as long as it represents your brand persona and makes you stand out. In a recent chat about logos with I.G (my friend) who is about to launch a clothing brand and blog, having studied the trend, he expressed how designers often make wrong logos for fashion brands and he may be right. Although, his idea may be complex because it’s clothing plus blogging but many successful clothing brands have a particular logo style and yet are unique.
4. Look for the meaning of every element
Pick the logo that most communicate your idea in the simplest way. It’s easy to deconstruct a logo and say this stands for this and that stands for that but when the logo comes back together, it doesn’t make much meaning to the person on the other side of perception.
It’s okay to deconstruct a logo but when put back together, the style, type, colors, and structure have to make good sense and appeal, not just to you but to the customers.
I’m not done, I’ll be writing about the types of logos and colors tomorrow to further help you, you can read it here but in the meantime, let this guide your choice…
Look for the meaning of every element in your logo options, pick the one that most appropriately communicates your idea and be sure that your audience gets it too.
Remember to read about logo types (not typography) and colors tomorrow here
