What’s in a Logo: Steps to Creating a Logo with a Lasting Impact

When thinking about what first comes to mind when you hear the word “branding”, many people initially think of a logo — why is that? Probably because a logo is the one thing a brand can use in any and all of its marketing efforts both physically and digitally. A brand logo design is what makes your brand memorable — it’s the first impression of your business on potential customers. Not only can you insert it on virtually anything, resulting in more brand awareness, but your logo also plays into the storytelling of your brand and what you stand for. While a logo may look simple, the work behind it certainly is not. So, let’s talk about how to create a strong logo.

Having a logo design in New York City (let alone anywhere) that stands out, may seem like a tough feat. But with some strategic brainstorming and the right professional help, you’ll succeed. Bestype Printing offers custom printing solutions with both state-of-the-art technology and a professional team of talented individuals to help bring your vision to life! First off, it’s important to remember that your business is always evolving, as is the world. So it’s crucial to keep up to date on the latest and future-predicted trends and events in your company’s industry so that you can create a relevant design. A couple of examples of logos that have shown a strong brand presence while still being adaptable over time are Starbucks and Nike. What do these both have in common? They are simple (but not too simple) and represent what the brand is all about. Nike’s swoosh-like checkmark indicates athletic speed and movement and is named after the Greek Goddess of Victory, Nike. The Starbucks logo features a Siren (Norse twin-tailed mermaid), representing the maritime history of coffee and the seaports of Seattle — the city where Starbucks originated. To begin the process, think about everything your business stands for, or even what your origin story is.

Create your Logo Vision

Do Some Brainstorming

The best place to start when creating your logo vision is always brainstorming. Very visual platforms such as Pinterest are a great place to start. Think about searching for what others in your space or industry use as their logo — do you notice any common themes? What do you like or not like about their logos? You can even search key hashtags across social media platforms such as “#logodesign”. In this brainstorming phase, it is also useful to think about what the use cases for your logo will be. Will you be putting your logo mostly on paper items such as invitations? Or would it mostly be printed on larger promotional materials such as signage? Whether you are a small or larger scale business, Bestype specializes in all kinds of logo design in NYC.

Build Upon Simple Ideas

Generally, you never want your logo to be too complicated. However, you also don’t want it to be too simple that it’s not memorable. Take a few minutes and scroll through your social media news feeds — which logos stand out to you personally and why? What about them makes them memorable to you? It is important to remember that people are exposed to hundreds of different logos and imagery every day — so standing out is essential. However, while your logo is a key part of your branding, there are other elements that make up your brand as well. These are also important to consider when designing your logo. Your brand is also your business’s reputation. What do people think of when they hear your brand’s name? What are they telling others about your brand? How does your brand make them feel? When all of these are put together, they will make up your brand identity.

Think About Symbols

The first thing you would want to do in this phase is make connections. Consider your business or brand’s name and the words and thoughts associated with it. For example, if your company is in the cosmetics industry, these words may include bold, art, make-up, lipstick, mascara, glitter, etc. Then think about the visuals that would be associated with these. Perhaps a beautiful picture of a model in a popular magazine would come to mind. The next step is to think about how you want your audience to feel after they see your NYC logo design. For example, the smile in the Amazon logo represents how satisfied Amazon shoppers usually are because of the quick delivery and wide selection of products. At this stage, now you have some tangible ideas to go off of so feel free to go wild. Think as far outside the box as you would like to! After that, take your top contenders and try to make the ideas more literal. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be too creative with it, only that your logo should be easy to understand for the majority of people when they see it. And if you need to, repeat these steps if you come up with another symbol or group of symbols you’d like to use, and then narrow down your options. Tip — if you think of an idea you’re not entirely sure of, share it with some close family and friends to get their opinions, and go from there.

Select Your Color Palette

This is one of the most, if not the most, crucial parts of the logo design process, so let’s get right to it! Do you want one, two, or even three colors in your logo design? In this phase of the process, doing some research on the emotional effect certain colors have on consumers would be useful. Earlier this year, Sprout Social conducted a study interviewing multiple designers on their thoughts about the logo design process. In this study, they found that various principles of color theory can be key in logo design. They found that different colors evoke different emotions and behaviors from different people — helping create the desired emotional response from an audience. For example, they found that blue inspires trust, dependability, and authority. This is likely why blue is a popular color of choice for companies in the financial services and software industry. Another example was that green tends to evoke feelings of peace, growth, and health. A popular high-end grocer, Whole Foods, uses green in its branding to strategically communicate its level of care for the planet to its audience. So, you need to consider which color or colors will elicit the feelings you want to get from your target audience. This is also when you’d want to use the list you made a couple of steps ago containing where you’d be using your logo the most, and think about if your colors best suit that needs. For example, if you are creating a logo that will go on retail signage, you probably don’t want to use a color such as baby pink that might get washed out and not be very impactful to people glancing at it as they walk by. Bestype is proud to be a lead player in NYC logo design. With a team of 20+ in-house printing and graphics specialists, we deliver professional, fast, and nothing less than exceptional work. Let our team help you with your logo design color options!

Mock It Up

Here is when it starts to get real…time to mock it up! Depending on your budget, you can do this via a free online tool (luckily there are many choices such as Inkscape and Vectr), or you can pay to have a digital graphics designer create it for you. For the latter option, be sure to give clear direction on what you’re thinking in terms of shape, look and feel, and color of your logo — you can even send over similar examples or a sketch to help paint the picture for them. All logos are vector images — meaning that they consist entirely of lines defined by mathematical formulas. This makes them easier to modify and scale. After some tweaking and edits back and forth… Voila!! You have a logo.

Design a Logo for your Audience

Another key thing to keep in mind when coming up with logo design ideas for your business logo design is that you are creating something for your targeted audience — not you. Sometimes it can be hard to view your concept through an objective rather than a subjective lens, so your best bet is to get a firm understanding of who your audience is. What is the age range of the majority of your customers? What are their interests, occupations, and passions? How does what your business offers make their lives better or easier? These are all key things to keep in mind — think of your logo from the eyes of the consumer.
Bring your Logo to Life
Bestype Printing is one of the leading logo design firms in NYC. Let us work with you to help bring your creative vision to life, or even help you create that vision. To create the perfect logo design takes patience, creativity, perfection, and passion — all of which are qualities Bestype is proud to embody. We are conveniently located in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City, also known as THE go-to spot for brand building and logo design. Bestype Printing is one of the leading logo design firms in NYC. We can bring your logo design ideas to life with our custom printing solutions and state-of-the-art technology. Contact us today to get started on bringing your logo ideas to life in print!

We Look forward to creating something extraordinary with you soon!

Image Credit: Freepik @Creative Commons