Your company'due south logo is the foundation of your business branding. It is probably the first interaction that you will accept with your customers. An effective logo tin can constitute the right tone and ready the proper ethos. Subsequently years of crafting logos for dissimilar projects, I've come up up with a set of questions that I always ask myself before delivering a new logo.

1. What emotions does the logo evoke?

Above all design guidelines, the well-nigh important criterion is whether the logo reflects the character of the company. The emotions that the logo evoke should be appropriate to the company values. For example, the Disney logo evokes a sense of happiness and optimism. The curvy, fun typeface is appropriate for a company that has been making cartoons and animated pictures for kids. All the same, a similar logo mode on a sales platform would not exist appropriate.

Designers should empathize the psychology of colors and the consequence that typeface has on the design of a great logo. For example, dark-green promotes relaxation and normally reflects growth, wellness, and the surround. Blood-red, on the other hand, may evoke danger and passionate emotions. Similarly for typefaces, Garamond, Helvetica, and Comic Sans all arm-twist very different sentiments. Serif fonts like Garamond promote the thought of respect and tradition, and are hence more suitable for an surroundings that demands integrity such as a university or a news publisher. Sans Serif fonts like Helvetica are clean and modernistic, and are well suited for high-tech businesses. Casual script fonts similar Comic Sans are probably best left for fun companies such as toy companies. A good agreement of the psychology of colors, typefaces, and shapes is an important part of making a great logo.

The styling of the Disney logo is appropriate for a visitor that aims to be fun, but such a style would non be appropriate for a sales platform company.

2. What's the pregnant behind the logo?

Behind every dandy logo is a story. A keen logo is not most slapping your business organization proper name on a generic shape, which is why choosing from ready-made logos is a poor idea. A logo has to have a meaningful story. A good designer kickoff understands the culture of the company, the tone of the product, and the vision of the business, much before embarking on ideas for the logo. The finish issue of a quality logo is reflective of the philosophy and values of the company.

The pointer in the logo represents that Amazon sells everything from A to Z and the smile on the customer's face when they buy a product.

iii. Will the logo stand the exam of time?

How will the logo await in two, 10, twenty years? Designers should avoid getting sucked into flavor-of the-month trends. Trends like ultra-thin fonts and apartment shadows are design styles that volition probably not stand the test of time. Unproblematic is far better than circuitous. A unproblematic yet memorable logo can be used in xx years without looking dated.

A good mode to test the logo is to let it sit down with you for a while earlier releasing it. Some logos abound with you–the more you wait at it, the more you similar information technology. Some logos offset to feel nauseating later on a while–the more you lot wait at it, the more you lot hate it. If later on a couple of weeks with the logo you discover information technology boring, the logo is probably not strong or timeless plenty.

The simplistic outline and shape of the Apple Inc. logo allows it to endure the test of time. The first prototype of the logo would definitely not be suitable today.

4. Is it unique? Can it exist instantly recognizable?

A smashing logo is distinctive, memorable, and recognizable. Even if you have only seen it once, y'all should withal be able to recollect what it looks similar after a period of time. A practiced manner to test this is to testify your logo to a friend, then comprehend it upwardly and have your friend describe the logo in a calendar week. A fresh pair of eyes can exist very effective in figuring out the about memorable components of a logo.

In improver, if the logo reminds you of others you have seen, it is non singled-out plenty.

The logos of Path and Pinterest are very like.

5. How does it expect in black and white?

When I begin designing a logo, I always start in black and white. Designing with this limitation first forces you lot to make sure that the logo is recognizable purely past its shape and outline, and not by its colour. A strong logo is one that is even so memorable just past its contours.

A ane-color logo likewise provides the do good of using your brand easily in multiple mediums with different backgrounds and textures.

Information technology is much harder to recognize the National Geographic symbol once we remove its signature yellowish color.

6. Is it clear and distinct in small-scale dimensions?

Another way to brand sure logos are simple and recognizable is to scale it down dramatically. Even at tiny resolutions, a stiff logo should still be recognizable at a glance. This is also a good examination to make sure that the logo is non complicated with unnecessary blueprint flourishes. Hither, you lot run into that the Nike, McDonalds, Twitter, and WWF logos are all the same very distinct at small sizes. The GE and Starbucks logos are far more cluttered, and less recognizable when they are small.

These are not hard-and-fast rules, just guidelines for making an constructive logo. It is however possible to brand a potent, complicated logo, but understand the merchandise-offs.

This article was edited and republished with permission from the author. Read the original hither.