Some of you may not have a logo for your business yet. Before developing a logo I would highly recommend you discover your why before you think about how your going to brand your business.
Logos are about communicating an idea, and function rather than just looking cool. You can have the best looking logo in the world but if it doesn’t represent the idea behind your business and communicate effectively its about as useful as a plain piece of text.
KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)
Most of us dive into our logo designs wanting the fanciest thing in the world. But the best logo’s are often the most simple. Think of Nike, Apple & McDonald’s. All have very simple branding, yet very effective.
The Nike Logo doesn’t have a tick with sparks flying off it and rainbow colours everywhere and 5 different images around it. Its a simple ‘swoosh’ that communicates the idea of movement and speed. The design is commonly used in black or white but also seen in many varieties of colours depending on the way its used.
The Apple logo: The designer of the apple logo Rob Janoff says ” I designed it with a bite for scale, so people get that it was an apple not a cherry. Also it was kind of iconic about taking a bite out of an apple. Something that everyone can experience. It goes across cultures. If anybody ever had an apple he has probably bitten into it and that’s what you get. It was after I designed it that my creative director told me: “Well you know, there is a computer term called byte”. And I was like: “You’re kidding!” So, it was like perfect, but it was coincidental that it was also a computer term. At the time I had to be told everything about basic computer terms.
The McDonald’s logo is symbolic of the arches that were the substance of the newly-constructed architecture of the first franchised restaurant in 1952. After Ray Kroc took over the business in 1961, he incorporated the two arches to form the new McDonald’s logo that looked like the letter “M”. This remained the brand identity of the McDonald’s for more than fifty years.
McDonald’s uses the Golden and Red as primary colours in its logo design. The Golden colour represents the famous arches of its first franchised restaurant, while the red colour represents the food industry of this company. The synergy of both of these colours creates the great brand identity of McDonald’s.
The McDonald’s logo uses the McLawsuit font in its name. It is the simplicity of the fonts that make the name of McDonald’s look appealing to the eyes.
Colouring
When developing branding for your business colours matter. Most designers understand the communication and use of colours already but if your not experienced in it this article may help.
Warm colors include red, orange, and yellow, and variations of those three colors. These are the colors of fire, of fall leaves, and of sunsets and sunrises, and are generally energizing, passionate, and positive.
Red and yellow are both primary colors, with orange falling in the middle (making it a secondary color), which means warm colors are all truly warm and aren’t created by combining a warm color with a cool color. Use warm colors in your designs to reflect passion, happiness, enthusiasm, and energy.
Orange is a very vibrant and energetic color. In its muted forms it can be associated with the earth and with autumn. Because of its association with the changing seasons, orange can represent change and movement in general. Orange is also strongly associated with creativity.
Yellow is often considered the brightest and most energizing of the warm colors. It’s associated with happiness and sunshine. Yellow can also be associated with deceit and cowardice, though (calling someone yellow is calling them a coward).
Cool colors include green, blue, and purple, are often more subdued than warm colors. They are the colors of night, of water, of nature, and are usually calming, relaxing, and somewhat reserved.
Thinking Ahead
When developing a logo its important to think ahead of how we are going to use this logo. Where is it going to be displayed? How is it going to be used? and what are using it for?
I always recommend whats called a Badge or an Icon. If your businesses is a Plumbing business for example, called ‘Platinum Plumbing’. Not only do you want a logo with the entire business name, but lets also think of a clever approach to brand this.
Part of your logo may be a unique style ‘P’ in the logo. Well lets develop a little sticker with just that unique “P” on it. Now we use that icon on our website, business cards, stationary, tools, or even when we finish a customers job, we can simply stick the P sticker on the job. You could even go a step further and add your phone number to it so customers can recognise that P and your number is right underneath it.