Anyone with a new business idea will start doodling logo designs on a napkin or the back of an envelope as soon as they get the first seeds of a solid business concept. It’s completely natural because the logo is the most visual element of a business, the central part of a brand identity and the way everyone will come to recognise your business, assuming it becomes successful.
So you’ve thought of a brilliant business idea and need a logo, but you know that developing your brand identity could make or break your business, and it’s a minefield out there. There are many ways in which you can get your logo design wrong, and some business owners might have the financial side sorted, but simply aren’t cut out for the creative side of things and don’t have a handle on marketing in any way, so where do you start with developing a logo design for a new business?
Understand your market
Your logo represents your product or service, and therefore it has to appeal to your target market. So who are they? There is no point having a bright and colourful logo with trendy fonts and up-to-the-minute design if you are a solicitors, or an undertakers, or have invented a gardening tool or a surgical instrument. Your potential client base won’t be expecting that and it won’t appeal to them. Similarly, using literal graphics, dull colours and ancient fonts will be a turn-off if your market is young, hip and trendy. So work out who you are selling to and think about images, colours and taglines which will catch their eye and properly reflect what your product or service provides.
What is your message?
A logo is the most important part of your brand identity, and so it needs to reflect your personality, your story and your principles. Your logo and your brand is your message, so what is your message? Does your product have green credentials? Is it fashionable? Does it serve a health or fitness need? Ideally, your logo needs to be consistent with this message so that when someone sees it, they have half an idea what the product is or what you are trying to achieve; after all, a logo is the first visual contact a customer will have with your product. Combining your message with your logo is the first step to creating instant brand recognition, which is an important function of a logo.
Get creative
You will have done this already with your initial doodles, but nothing is off limits with a logo design except for the fact that it must be unique and original and must not copy or be a naff reproduction of something else. The last thing you want to do is come across as a cheap and unimaginative version of something which already exists. Think about some of the most famous logos out there; Nike, Apple, McDonalds, they are really simple, but also unique. So don’t overcomplicate it and don’t try to be too trendy, think about the longevity and evolution of your product and your brand and create a logo that can follow the development of your product and grow with it.
Think about different platforms
Any new business needs to be represented visually on many different platforms, and this means your brand identity must be able to be scaled-up so that it works on the product itself, but also on adverts, packaging, social media, websites, literature and maybe even premises. A good logo will work in all these formats, but this requires you to think about graphics, colours and detail very carefully.
Test on the market
Whatever logo designs you come up with, don’t keep them to yourself. Some of the biggest logo disasters have come about because someone thought they had a brilliant idea but they didn’t share it with anyone and therefore didn’t get any market feedback. The people closest to you will be the most honest, but you also need to test a logo on your intended market. So find people your product relates to and see if your logo works for them, before you get too far down the development road.
Use a professional
I can give you all this advice about avoiding common pitfalls, but the best way to do that is to find a professional logo designer and someone with skills in building a brand identity from scratch, and they will be able to do a lot of this work for you. Of course you will need to talk to them about your product, its market and your message, but they will then have the skills to apply this to a suitable logo design; one which relates to your market, tells your story, is transferable to all platforms, is unique and will help your product stand out against its competitors.
So while there are five really important steps here in getting started with logo design for a new business, perhaps the most important one is step six. Find a professional logo designer such as Rebus, and contact them today, because logo design and brand identity is too important to get wrong, so get the professionals on to it.