We’ve all heard the advice: invest in your logo. And while it may seem obvious to some why it’s important to invest in a well-designed logo, many entrepreneurs and small business owners don’t really understand why logos are so important.
In the simplest of terms, a logo is a design, icon, or mark that identifies your company. Your brand is more than just your company’s name and logo, but a logo is an important part of a company’s brand. It’s the visual cornerstone of the brand.
Before we look at the important elements you’ll want to have in your company’s logo, let’s first look at how a logo helps your company stand out in a crowded marketplace.
1. A good logo helps customers to identify your company.
The most important job of a logo is to help customers and customer prospects identify your company. That’s why the best logos are simple and memorable. Just think about how many logos you are able to recognize in your everyday life! Those logos serve as a reminder that Nike was the brand that made your shoes, or that Apple is the reason why you’re reading this on a Macbook.
We love this logo for First Five Affair, a fundraising event focusing on supporting children in Georgia. We originally recognized the logo in one of our Fresh From The Spring posts, and it caught our eye because of its clear message. The connection to the event name makes it even easier to identify, and the arrow going up mimics a financial graph.
2. A good logo helps to draw attention to your company.
Another important job of a logo is to draw attention to your company and its products and/or services. Logos don’t only identify what your company does or stands for, but they also catch people’s eyes. People remember great logos! Again, it’s all about association. If people associate a specific symbol or font with your brand, then they will instantly recognize it wherever they are.
The very best logos are paired with strong brands so that they can stand alone by themselves. It’s pretty difficult to forget things like the McDonald’s “M” or the Nike “Swoosh”. But we especially love this logo we featured about two years ago. The Back Barn logo is easily recognizable for a number of reasons! The clever, back to back letter B makes a cow and also stands for the company’s initials.
3. A good logo helps to differentiate your company from its competitors.
One of the best parts of a logo, assuming you’re not using generic templates, is that it can only be associated with your business. It doesn’t matter if a different company is similar to yours, what matters is that your logos are different. As a result, you have an opportunity to make a unique first impression. Often, a logo is one of the first defense barriers against competition. Besides your company’s name, it’s the first difference customers and prospects will notice. That’s why it’s important to avoid generic and cliche logos.
We love this logo for Yetito, a Filipino bubble tea/coffee shop. Instead of a typical cup or mug logo, this company chose to go with a fun mascot design, which would be hard to associate with any other bubble tea cafe.
We’ve discussed why logos are important to a company’s brand. But what important elements should you look for in a logo?
Logos have a number of important elements that help them make businesses identifiable, recognizable, and different. And while there is no magic recipe for the perfect logo, many logos use a mix of imagery, symbolism, typography, and colors.
Imagery and Symbolism
The most common elements in a logo are images and symbols. Whether it’s a character like the Yeti in Yetito’s logo or the glyph symbol in Google Chrome’s logo, images and symbols are a powerful way to get your message across visually. This means that logos can be abstract, literal, or anything in between. The best part about these logo elements is that they can be in any style that makes sense for the company. Some logos are geometric, and some are softer. Some use lines, dots, and
The best part about logo elements is that they can be in any style that makes sense for the company. Some logos are geometric, and some are softer. Some use lines, dots, and swishes to decorate the logo typography while some stand alone. Imagery and symbolism provide lots of creative freedom in logo design, as you can see in this winning design from a crowdSPRING logo design project for Bither Braun Studios.
Typography
But good logos are not just about creative illustrations and drawings! Many companies use typography in their logos either instead of or in addition to images and symbols.
When incorporating words or phrases, logos often play with the font, style, size, and even letter spacing. Some logos include the company’s full name, while some just include an initial. Some don’t include any letters or words at all, but traditionally use a specific text style for those elements. Either way, typography is essential to making the words behind your company synergize with the other graphic elements of the logo. You can see a good example of this in one of the proposed logo designs in Blue Ladder Studio’s logo design project on crowdSPRING.
Color
The final important element of a logo is color. Color is important in imagery, symbolism, and typography, and is often the detail that customers will remember the best. Studies show that color increases logo recognition up to 80%, and logos can include as many or as few different colors as a company wants. We love this design in the Let It Beet fast casual restaurant logo design project on crowdSPRING.
Logos can be cute, stylish, graphic, or shocking. The best logos combine different elements in a way that makes sense for that specific company. Logos connect what you do and who you are with how people can best remember you. And though they can’t solely speak for your company, they are often the first thing that will make people listen. Invest in your brand today to be more successful tomorrow.
Your company’s brand deserves a first class logo. Let crowdSPRING’s team of 200,000+ designers help you find it. It’s easy, fast and your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed – just click below to get started for as little as $299.
