Guide to Top 3 Tips - Designing the Right Logo

Tips to ensure you get the best out of your logo

By Russell Arsenault, Director, Marketing and Business Development, LogoBee, Inc.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Keep it Simple!

This is one of the most important pieces of advice as it ties into almost all of the forthcoming tips. A complicated design will not only make your logo difficult to reproduce and maintain, but you will also fail to engage your audience. Your logo is the ultimate ‘elevator’ pitch to potential clients and business partners. You don’t have time to recite your entire business plan in an elevator pitch, and the same concept applies to corporate logo design.

I recommend: Johnny Flash elaborates well on the importance of simplicity in a logo. In short, it will allow you to resize the image without losing fidelity, change colors to black and white etc.

Engage your Audience

A good logo should above everything entertain and engage your audience. Your design should not be so literal that the message is spelled out for them. They should be given the opportunity to discover the meaning and intention of your logo themselves. If people are able to discover the ‘trick,' or hidden symbolism of your logo, this will help to create a memorable and entertaining experience between you and your audience.

I recommend: One great example of hidden symbolism can be found within the FedEx logo. Did you ever notice the 'speedy and efficient' arrow before? If not, your subconscious may have!

Logo Longevity – Think Ahead!

The overall lifespan of a logo is worth considering. Although it’s impossible to see into the future, it is useful to picture your company 10-15 years down the road, and think about what kind of products and services it will offer, if any at all! Even the strongest of companies need to freshen up their logo every once in a while, but the changes will often be subtle in nature. Very seldom will they take on a radical re-design.

I recommend: The IBM logo is probably one of the best examples of a logo that has stood the test of time. It's a very memorable design, and it has been speculated that the term 'Big Blue' originated from its logo design.

On the other hand, changing a design radically can have very adverse effects. The most talked about update right now is the new Buffalo Sabres logo.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Although simplicity is one of the founding principals of logo design, some web-based companies have adopted more complicated logos that use gradients, 3d effects and even complicated mascot illustrations.
• •  Getting back to the first tip of simplicity, some of the most memorable and long-standing logos in history have been one color designs.