Feb 18 2008

How to create a good business logo

Written by Alex Ashman

Monday, 18 February 2008

Having had our logo designed for our website, we thought it would be useful to go through a couple of quick tips on how to effectively design your logo. This post looks at some popular logos, analyses why they are successful and provides some lessons we can learn from this.

Successful Logo Observations

These are just a few of the logos I have within eye-shot of me as I sit at my desk. Recognise most of them?

company logos

I thought so!

It's not surprising that some of the most successful and recognisable logos have certain things in common.

Wikipedia, that ever useful resource, defines a logo as being for "immediate recognition, inspiring trust, admiration, loyalty and the implied superiority..."

Bearing this in mind, here is a list of a few observations that applies to the logos shown above. They...

are simple iconic recognisable designs
are unique
convey a message about the company
can be reproduced at different sizes
can be printed in either full colour, flat colours or black and white

Given these common features, it would make sense to ensure that your chosen logo designs and graphics follow similar principles to ensure they have maximum impact and can be used to their full potential for the benefit of your business.

It is important to emphasise the need for the ability to simply reproduce the logo in different formats and sizes. Although a particular logo design may look great on a flyer for example, if it is difficult to reproduce clearly at smaller sizes, or in black and white like at the top of a letterhead, then the logo's use suddenly becomes very limited.

Logo Design Tips

Here are a few ideas you might find helpful when looking to design your own logo whether you do the work yourself or get someone else to do it.

Do some research - What are you favourite logos? Why are they your favourite? Have a look through logo pond or some logo design tutorials for some ideas...
Establish what your perceived core business values are - For Good web practices we came up with results, hardworking, community, friendly...
Try to tie these into your logo - Images, colours, fonts and all the other selections you make can all give different impressions of your brand...
Sketch some rough ideas down - Even if your artwork skills aren't what you'd like, it can be helpful to have visualisations of your ideas in front of you. This enables you to experiment with layouts, arrangements and sizes...
Contact a graphic designer - Outsourcing is a great way to get the whole process done quickly and well if you don't feel up to the job yourself. Be sure to hand over as much existing material as possible to the designer (website details, brochures, business cards...) so they can have a complete picture of your business and all that it stands for.
Does the design match the 'successful logo observations'? - Be sure your logos are simple, memorable, unique and reproducible!
Get as much feedback as possible - Your opinion may not be the same as others, and it is sometimes easy to make isolated decisions. Remember who you are the creating the logo for - primarily customers. Take on board as much feedback as you can. And finally...
Don't be afraid to change your ideas completely - We seriously reworked our logo design halfway through, totally scrapping our initial ideas based on feedback we received. Don't be afraid to do the same! If you pursue a particular path, don't feel you have to stick with it, so keep trying different ideas until you are happy!

Hopefully this post has given you a few ideas on the some of the thought processes that should go into creating a logo. If you'd like to read more about our particular logo design post you can read about it here: How we designed our logo. Good Luck with your designs!!

Do you have any tips you could share with us about how to create a good website logo?

7 Comments



TomEV May 05, 2008 Votes: +0	Hi,Great article! My only question is... where do you find a good Graphic designer? I am slightly ok with designing graphics but no where near a professional. I find this to be one of the most diffecult things in being a entrepreneur who is trying to setup his business online. There are so many websites that offer freelance services but you never know who's behind the screenname and what really happens on your server when they are working on it. So my question is how can you find a good graphics designer and web developer to help setup a business? report abuse vote down vote up


Alex May 06, 2008 Votes: +0	Hi, Tom - Thanks for your comments. I think the key to finding a good graphic designer would be to check their portfolio. There are some incredible graphic designers around - check out smashingmagazine.com for some great examples. I think crucially you should be looking for someone that has experience in the area you need. This may sound obvious, but someone who is amazing at logo design for example may not be the best person to do all of you website graphics. I guess you need to be looking for the complete package. Have a good look through a designer's portfolio, and don't be afraid to ask questions before any commitment is made from either party. Their response time to emails and helpfulness is a good indicator of their professionalism and the success you may have with them. Often having a helpful, responsive person may be more productive than perhaps having the most technically gifted designer. This is also a key time to check their english skills - as of course the designer could be operating from anywhere in the world. With regard to trust, most freelances would rather not touch someone's server - for fear of something going wrong and being blamed. In my experience most sites are developed on a temporary host, then handed over when they are completed. This avoids the issues you mentioned. I hope that helps a bit, be sure to let us know when you site is done so we can have a look report abuse vote down vote up


David T May 06, 2008 Votes: +0	Hi Tom, good question! I sourced our graphic designer and was impressed with his work. Here is the post I wrote about it: http://www.goodwebpractices.co...-logo.html When working with Schneider Electric I sourced a website design and data input project in India and an order fulfillment project in Spain. In my experience it is really important to be able to chat with the company you are working with over the telephone... Otherwise, Alex makes great points about checking their profiles and importantly their level of English. Communication is definately a huge factor to take into account when sourcing designers. report abuse vote down vote up


TomEV May 07, 2008 Votes: +0	Hi Alex and David, Thanks for your tips. I am currently in a major redesign and strategical approach for my company website. I have been doing everything myself but this only is holding me back. I tried the technical side and spent hours but now I need to more forward with putting everything together. I will check out the designer details. As for the outsourcing I am still somewhat hesistant to move forward with "far away" developers, not so much because they are not competant but just the fear of miscommunicating a key element of the project. There is also the language barrier. Curious to hear about your thoughts on this. When working with developers abroad where is the contractual commitment? Word of mouth and reputation is a must. If you guys know anyone who is a pro in joomla let me know. report abuse vote down vote up


David T May 08, 2008 Votes: +0	Hi again Tom, You're right - word of mouth and reputation is really important... If you put your project on Joomlancers you might well be disappointed. If you give me a call, I can recommend some excellent Joomla developers. I look forward to learning more about your company's website. report abuse vote down vote up


TomEV May 14, 2008 Votes: +0	Hi David, Thanks for all the help on the phone! You really helped me with the next step of my project. Now I have a qualified team of developers and graphic designers which are going to start working on my site soon! You really are connected in the Joomla world. It took me forever to find someone and he wasn't even good, but you already had a list a of great trustworthy guys! Keep up the good work and thanks again for helping us out! I'll be sure to contact you for some SEO help! :-) Cheers Tom report abuse vote down vote up


David T May 14, 2008 Votes: +0	Hi Tom, Happy to have been able to help. Sourcing web development work can be really difficult, it's important to have trustworthy contacts. Looking forward to learning how it will go. David report abuse vote down vote up