As a business owner, you have a rather daunting task on your hands when it comes to selecting an image that will represent your brand. A logo is something that’s going to speak for your business for many years to come. When someone looks at a product on the store shelves or an ad on a billboard, what they’re seeing before anything else is your logo.
I’m not saying that it’s easy to create a great logo, on the contrary, but since I’ve worked with logos for quite some time it’s easy to see some of the common mistakes people are making when attempting to create a winning logotype.
What exactly do they get wrong? Here are just a few of the common mistakes being made when businesses attempt to create a logo:
- They create complicated, busy designs
- They blend fonts and sizes
- They misuse colors, and different colors send different signals.
- They refuse to trust the professionals to design the logo
- They continually redesign the logo; even if it’s not the best logo in the world people get used to it.
- They exercise too much parity in their design
- They create an amateurish logo
- They do hire a designer, but then they fail to explain what “message” the logo should incorporate.
- And the list goes on and on.
The end result is usually the same. When the company’s logo is finally created, it’s wholly unrepresentative of the brand, it doesn’t capture anyone’s attention, and it will inevitably be scrapped for a new design.
Making the mistakes listed above just draws the logo process out. If you want to get your business logo design right the first time, there’s a two-step process to follow. Step one: Hire a professional. Step two: Consult openly with the professional.
Define Your Image
The first step in the communications process is to distinctly define your brand’s image to the designer. What exactly is your brand all about? This goes beyond what you sell, the market you’re targeting, and other business aspects. While those aspects are very important to relate to the designer, you still have to go beyond that and express your brand’s personality. Only then can a designer truly know how to convey your brand’s mission through an image.
Provide a Mockup
A picture truly is worth a thousand words, so a great way to let the designer know what you’re looking for is to create a mockup of your logo. This obviously isn’t going to be professional quality work. But in terms of any shapes you were thinking about, different images, different colors, etc, you could provide a rough draft to give the designer something to work with. The final design will probably be a lot different than your mockup, but that’s usually a good thing; the mockup is only for inspiration.
Be Clear about the Style
What type of style were you thinking about? Perhaps you want only a symbol, text like an acronym, or a combination of the two. You might have different considerations about the size of the logo, the typography used, the color, shading and tone of it all, and other concerns. It’s important that you communicate everything you can about the style you’re hoping to achieve with your logo design.
Trust the Designer
There are a few common types of business owner out there when it comes to hiring a logo designer. The two most destructive types in terms of logo creation, however, are as follows. First you have the business owner who wants to look over the designer’s shoulder, not trusting the designer to realize the vision. This impedes progress and just frustrates everyone. Then you have the business owner who doesn’t give the designer enough details and then complains about the logo when it’s finished.
You have to be able to trust the designer here. Communicate your thoughts with your designer and let this person or team do the work.
At the end of the day, it’s very important that you remember that your logo design is going to represent your brand, perhaps for as long as you’re in business. To that end, it’s crucial that you create something that you’re very happy with.
A professional designer has the talent to give you exactly what you’re looking for, so don’t be shy about letting this person know as many details as possible as it pertains to your logo.
About the Author: Martin Nilsson works as the business developer of a business logo design company in Sweden. To know more about logo designing, visit their website Logosack today.