Value Good Design – Logo Pointers, Good Design Advice for the Rest of Us

Design is something that is often ignored when setting up your website, logo or marketing literature. However, a good brand design is perhaps the most valuable advertising asset you will have.

The objective of your business design is to ensure that you capture the public’s imagination, stay in their mind and attract attention.

Branding

The advantage of having a brand above simply a business name is the ability to remain at the fore front of the minds of potential customers or advocates. A design should not be overly obscure, but a little bit of mystery is a good thing. Simply having your business name in a fancy font is no longer good enough to capture the imagination.

Abbreviate

If your Business name can be abbreviated, then you may be able to incorporate the characters into pictorial form. People will remember abbreviations much more than full business names as long as the logo also contains the full meaning and avoid any rude or offensive abbreviations.

Don’t laden with graphics

Pictures can be useful but don’t make them too complex; people don’t have time to process complex images when walking past your shop front, looking at your branded work wear or reading a social media post. Graphics if used should be simple and concise. Add a splash of colour to a design to ensure they are relevant and not simply a nice symbol you thought looked cool.

Multi Tone

It is imperative you have two or three tone colours in your design; Black and White just doesn’t cut it. The advantages of multi tone design are that you are able to use prominent colours to draw the eye to the important aspects of the design, like the abbreviated business name.

Graphic Designer

A graphic designer is worth their weight in gold if you can build a good working relationship; communication is the key. Don’t be afraid of putting in your own ideas and don’t just accept the first offering without market research.

A graphic designer will ask for a list of requirements, these should be put forward as per below:

• Eye Catching
• Simple but multi tone
• Aimed at your demographic
• Convey your business mission

The graphic designer may seem like an extravagant excess but your logo will last the lifetime of your business, the outlay of fees should reflect this.

Self-Design

Don’t be afraid of having a go yourself, start on a blank piece of paper and sketch out a few different ideas. Using Photoshop or other free programmes like GIMP you can then digitise your logo with different colours.

Once you have a design you think is good enough, test the waters with friends and networks to gain feedback before settling. Alternatively having a rough sketch can be very useful to spark further ideas with your graphic designer. Remember that everyone has different tastes, use colour to convey your company’s message: Lighter pastel colours help portray a more gentle offering than bold brighter colours. Neon colours are used more for playful offerings and to attract a younger demographic.

How to show it off

The final point of any logo is to ensure you have used the logo to its best effect. Branding your website, email header/footer, social media profile pictures, marketing literature, store front and work wear are all the areas you should use the logo on.

Online

Branding all your communications online will help to further your brand — at every engagement you should be subtly using the logo. This can be most easily achieved on social media by changing your business profile pictures to the new logo.

Advertising

The advert should contain your logo, even if the advert is a viral campaign that is not directly associated with a product sale, the logo will be the way that people associate content with your company.

In Person

Even if your company does no physical trading and works completely online, you should consider having custom made work wear. The reason for this is simple: the places you go and the people you see in everyday life could be a potential customer or advocate of your business.

Imagine the cost of a poster advertisement in Time Square New York, but a Hoodie with your logo on it can be worn to the most expensive places in the physical world. If your logo is captivating it may lead to direct conversations with individuals and it most certainly will result in an increase in visits to your website.

When people consider services they often use the first company that comes to mind, the position at the front of people’s mind is only achieved through prominent and eye catching logo design.