Your logo is one of the first things people see in relation to your business. There are many things that make up a brand (and we will go over them in future posts), but today we are going to talk about logos. You might be a startup looking to get a new brand created or a long-standing company looking for a refresh. Either way, you should consider the following things when developing your logo.
- Logo Placement:
Where will your logo be used? Do you plan on putting it on a pen? Embroidering it on a shirt? Will it be turned into a sign on the side of a building? All of these should be considered when getting a new logo created, your logo should be able to scale to many different customer facing elements. Something too intricate will get lost on a small object, something too plain may not fill the space well on a large object. It’s very important to think about the logo’s destination when creating your brand icon.
- Quality matters:
This is your company that you will pour (or have poured) many hours of your time into so make sure you find a quality designer or company to handle your logo creation. You want to find someone who has a diverse logo portfolio. Avoid cheap online platforms or logo generators. Pick a designer who understands your vision and can make it come to life for you.
- Don’t skip the research:
Once you find someone you trust to design the new logo make sure they are including research in this process. At Collina we always design logos in a 3-step research process. The first step is meeting with you to understand your brand- your past, present and hopes for the future. Step 2 of the research process is a competitive audit to understand what the landscape looks like, because we want to make sure your brand stands out among the rest. Step 3 in the research process is mood board creation. These help us narrow in on the visual aspects of the brand, i.e. what kind of typography do we think is right? Should it be big and bold or is it sophisticated and light. These decisions will be guided by the research. Finally we go into the logo design phase where we create a few options for the brand and will present them in full color and on some key collateral pieces. When following this process we find that the logo selection goes much quicker and we can avoid costly rounds of revisions.
- Brand Guides are critical:
Not only do you want a logo but you need a brand guide. A brand guide is a document that you can use and give to other vendors that shows them how they can and can’t use your logo. This brand document should also include the colors that make up your brand and the typefaces associated with the brand. All of this helps build a cohesive look and feel across your whole business and customer facing materials.( Look out for a future post about brand guidelines that will take a deeper look into what they should or could look like.)
- You bought it, make sure you own it!
Once you have your new logo this next step is very important. Make sure you have the rights to your logo that you paid for. We always give our customers full ownership of logos and collateral.
- Delivery of the final product:
Finally is the delivery of all final assets. You should receive a folder that contains a PDF of your brand guide. You should also have your logo file in an .AI file format (this is the program that your logo was created in). Never get a logo designed in Photoshop, you want a scalable vector file. You should have folders for the following.- PNG (this is a transparent image / photo file)
- SVG (this vector file is for web or digital usage.)
- EPS which is a vector file for printing.
We always deliver the logo in all of these formats as well as all of the variations that might be included in a logo.
In conclusion, the logo is a key part of your brand and can be the face of your business. If you do this step right, not only will you have a quality logo that you’ll love for years to come, but you will be able to control your brand’s look and feel across all mediums. This process is not an overnight process, it takes time to do it right. So when you’re ready to pull the trigger on logo creation, make sure to give yourself plenty of time.