What to Know Before Developing A Logo

With that much importance, it’s no wonder that some of the most famous brands of the world are so instantly recognizable. Logos can tell much about a company, its products/services, its culture and its value, just with a grouping of words and well-thought out graphics. But before you dive into creating a logo for your company, there are a few things to understand that will make the development process far more successful!

1. Your brand comes before your logo. Your logo is a visual icon of your brand. It must authentically and accurately display the essence of your company. In order for it to do that, your brand must be established before your logo. You can find out more about branding in my post What Makes A Good Brand so we won’t go into too many details in this article about the branding process. Just know that your values, core beliefs, why you’re doing what you’re doing, and who you’re doing it for are all key components of building a brand. A brand designer can use the answers to these questions and conceptualize how they can be illustrated in a logo.
2. Create a logo project brief. The development of your logo will be far more efficient if your designer understands the details of your company. You know your company like the back of your hand, but your designer probably does not. They need to understand your brand goals. They need to know your company’s strengths, what you’re working on to make it better, company goals and of course, all the info you can give them on your brand development and identity.
3. Understand the investment of creating a branded logo. Getting a logo on the cheap (like for $100 or $200) will actually hurt your brand. You get what you pay for and good brand designers have to devote hours to distilling the brand information you supply down to a few visual choices. There’s also a refining stage where time is taken to fine tune the chosen design while adding color to further communicate the brand message. Purchasing pre-made logos are also not a good choice as they can’t properly and authentically reflect your unique brand. Thousands of other companies will have nearly the same look as you, making the money spent just as useless.

   You need to invest in working with a brand designer (over a general graphic designer) because they have the unique, conceptual design process mastered and can develop logos based on brand knowledge and extensive branding experience. Depending on what you have created, whether it be just the logo and a color palette or a full visual brand package (with brand guidelines, fonts, stationery designs, etc.), expect to pay anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

4. Be sure it’s NOT a team decision. Because your logo can be such a powerful visual, many businesses like to involve multiple people in the company (or worse, get family or friends involved) to help them make the final decision on the logo. While it might be tempting to hear what others think, remember that they probably haven’t been deeply involved in the research and discovery that happens in the process of conceptualizing logo ideas. Having multiple people driving the bus causes concessions and compromises, often because of personal feelings, and can dilute and muddy the brand message. If you must have another opinion, pick someone who can look at the logo with the company and brand goals in mind and without personal preferences.
5. Your brand doesn’t stop with your logo. Remember that to visually build a brand, you can’t just create a great logo and call it done. You need reinforcements! Everything, from your business card to your social media profiles to your website, all need to reflect your brand’s visual message to successfully capture your target audience. Your brand designer is the best person to create these items as they are already familiar and in line with your brand. They will be far more efficient than having to re-educate a new designer.

As with so many things, it’s far less costly to do it right the first time. And since you only make one first impression, your logo is a key component in making that valuable consumer connection.