Logos

4 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Having a Logo Designed

Do you need a logo for your business? One argument for having a logo is that it helps people recognise your company through a graphical manifestation. And, as simple as it seems, it can be a powerful way to market your business through brand recognition and an effective way to make your business more memorable than the competition. But before you begin organising a logo for your business there some questions you should ask yourself first:

1. What message about your company or service would you like to convey to your potential customers and clients?

Are you looking at making your business name more memorable or would you like to have an image that portrays your company’s origin, service, products or values? Sit down and write a brief message about your business. If you can’t identify what your company is about or what your service is in a sentence, then you aren’t really clear on what the core service of your business is. Spend some time brainstorming this – it will make answering the following questions easier. An example is: “Stress free accounting for small businesses”

2. Which of these types of logos would best suit your company?

• Iconic/Symbolic: This is a logo that consists of a simple yet compelling symbol that best represents your company. When choosing an iconic logo, decide on three things that best symbolise your business. It could be an object, a shape, or even an action. Of course you wouldn’t use all of these – this would only make your logo appear too busy and hard to recall. The example is an ‘approval logo’ that shows readers of digital comics that a particular comic has been given the ‘thumbs up’ (stamp of approval) by the Comics Monger team.

• Word Mark: This is a logo that incorporates the name of the company into a uniquely stylized font type treatment. If you are thinking of using a logo or word mark type, the most important thing to decide on is the text that will be included in the typeface of the logo.

• Combination Mark : This type of logo consists of both a symbol and text with a font type that compliments it. If you believe that a combination mark would work better for your business than the other two types, decide on the text that will be included on the logo and three things that you would like the symbol to portray.

The colours to be used on your logo are just as important as its words and symbol. Choosing the right colours can represent your business on its own. According to the ‘Psychology of Colours’, each colour represents an emotion. Red represents youthfulness and boldness. Blue represents dependability and strength. Yellow, on the other hand, is all about optimism, clarity and warmth. Before deciding on a colour, make sure that it suits your line of business and the values you want your business to be known for.

For example: Comics Monger is a black and white logo to be in line with the classic comic book industry.

Once you’ve decided on the things you need to consider above, the last step would be to list down three adjectives that would best describe your logo. This will help your designer get an idea of what you want from the final draft. Usually, a designer will provide you with 2-4 drafts to choose from. Each is different, with slight or obvious variations in images, text fonts and colour to give you variety in your selection.