5 Rules to Follow While Designing a Logo

Do you want to design a new logo for your business? Would you like to know the rules you must follow while designing one?

The logo has always been an important component of branding a business. For years it has played a key role for branding websites and other forms of marketing material.

But over the past decade it has become even more important due to the popularisation of social media and online marketing.

Businesses now need a versatile logo that can be used not only on their website and physical marketing material, but on social media and other online marketing material as well.

This logo also needs to make an impressive and memorable first impression. When people see it later, they should immediately associate it with your brand.

Therefore, to help you create a powerful logo, I have listed the rules to follow while designing one. Read them now…

#1 Define your brand:

The first thing you must do before designing your logo is define your brand, if you haven’t already done so. You should then decide on how you will project this brand in your logo. Your target audience should not only like this design, but also easily recognize you when they see it. So, conduct some research and find out what your audience wants if necessary.

An example of a logo that clearly reflects a brand is Blue Apron’s. Their logo just consist of the company name and an illustration/icon of an apron (all in blue). For their social networks they remove the name and just use the illustration of an apron.

Insert Image: Blue apron logo

The icon is not just an illustration of the name, but reflects the brand they want to project which is that they help people with their cooking. When someone sees a logo of an apron they immediately know that it has something to do with food or cooking.

So, have a good think about your brand and decide on what text and illustrations would suit it and project your message best.

#2 Brainstorm ideas:

After you understand your brand you can begin brainstorming ideas. If you are good at drawing you can draw your ideas. The best way to do this is with a paper and pencil.

But if you aren’t good at drawing, just describe them with words. Simply write down how the logo looks in your mind. Include information like the icons it contains, the colour, the text that accompanies them, how big the text is in relation to the illustration and anything else. Be as descriptive as possible so that you don’t forget anything when you finally get to designing it.

Draw or write down as many ideas as you can. You can eliminate the bad ones and pick your favourites later.

#3 Use a good tool:

The next step is to choose a tool. If you ask most designers ‘what is the best tool for designing a logo?’, they are going to answer Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. But if you are a novice at designing and have never used these tools, they aren’t an option for you. They are extremely sophisticated and just figuring out how to use them will take days.

Instead, you should opt for an online editing tool that is much easier to use. A great one is Oberlo’s Logo Maker.

Insert Image: Use an easy to use logo design tool

You can pick icons with it, modify the colour, add your business name and even adjust the position of the icon next to the text.

After you create it, all you need to do is click on the ‘Get Your Logo’ button and add your email address and they will email it to you. Feel free to experiment with several colours and styles till you come up with one that looks best.

#4 Keep dimensions in mind:

One important rule you should always remember is dimensions. Your logos won’t just be situated on marketing material like your website where you control the dimensions, but also on social networks, forums and other sites where they will only let you upload a specific shape and size. This is why along with your main logo you should create several other versions that will suit your social media channels.

Visit the social media channels your business is active on and would like to be active on in the future and take a look at the profile picture settings they want. Then you can create different logos with different dimensions. Most of them will want a square one.

You can also create one logo for your website while another one for your social media channels like Nordstrom does.

Insert Image: Nordstrom website logo

On their website their logo is just their name in capital letters and in black.

Insert Image: Nordstrom Social Media Logos

Image Credit: Nordstrom Instagram

While on their social channels they like to use a logo with just the letter N in white on a grey background.

#5 Don’t be a perfectionist:

You don’t have to be a perfectionist while designing your logo. It is okay to come up with something simple for the first time. You can opt to create a more sophisticated one later. You can even hire someone to create a better one later.

Several top brands started with simple logos in their early stages and began creating more beautiful ones later. Take a look at Amazon for example. In the early days their logo just contained their name. As time went by they created new versions. And now we have become very familiar with their logo with the yellow line below it.

Insert Image: Amazon logo

This might look simple as well. But the arrow from A to Z takes it to another level as it shows us that you can buy anything on this site.

These are all the rules you must follow while designing a logo. Start by defining your brand and brainstorming some ideas. After that find a good tool and create your logo. It doesn’t need to be very sophisticated. A simple one should do. Some brands just use their name.

What other rules do you follow while designing your logo? What rules do you think are the most important? Please leave your comments below.

Aly Chiman

Aly Chiman is a Blogger & Reporter at AlyChiTech.com which covers a wide variety of topics from local news from digital world fashion and beauty . AlyChiTech covers the top notch content from the around the world covering a wide variety of topics. Aly is currently studying BS Mass Communication at University.