You might think successful businesses rise to the top based on distribution networks and price alone, think umbrellas or your popular local street vendor, but you would only be half right.
Building brand recognition among the target market is also another contributor to business success. It’s the result of the business value proposition embodied in its company logo and brand typography to imprint the brand on the audience’s minds. The real power of a professional logo design is served when the customer or the audience is able to recognize it outside of context, for example, in the super market isle or out on the high street.
Think of big brands like McDonald’s. The iconic ‘M’ of McDonald’s logo, is one example of how famous company logos hold such power. Most people can identify top brand’s fast food logo with golden arches anywhere, along with the famous tagline, “I’m lovin’ it”. While the current logo didn’t always look so polished and minimal, it’s a good example of great logo design, the average business owner or professoinal can take a lesson or two away from.
In this article we will walk you through six design mistakes to avoid when creating a new logo.
01 Messy Typography
The experts pay a lot of attention on the typography of the logo. They should as it makes or breaks a logo. The font chosen must be effective, simple yet appealing. Try not to make things complicated to understand through abstract or ultra-thin fonts. The experts should also focus on the weights, kern, size and the spaces in the typography. The key to succeeding here is to plan your work before you start doing it.
02 Using the Wrong Color Scheme
The business color palette of a logo has a direct impact on the audience. It either steals their attention or makes them go away. The color contrast and scheme of the logo must be creative and attractive. What many people do wrong here is that they choose a dull and conservative color scheme. Though the logo design is not entirely dependent on the color contrast but it does play an important role in bringing the customers to see it. Thus, make sure you come up with a new, playful and attractive color palette than an old and boring one.
03 Trying to Drop a Bomb with Visual Clichés
Are you using the visual clichés all over again, a bulb for the lighting effect or an image of a pencil to show creativity? You aren’t wrong in doing so but it’s time to leave behind the old cliché design practices and come up with something original and trendier. It’s widely understood that a pencil or a canvas portrays arts which are why no one would remember your logo because it wouldn’t be anything different. On the other hand, showing colors or portraying the idea of arts in an unusual innovative manner would put forward different results.
04 Making it Too Complex to Understand
Isn’t your logo design working? There must be something that you’re doing wrong. Is your logo easy to understand? Test it on your target market! Making the logo too complex or using it to portray more than one idea is what brings it down. A logo usually has a picture or graphic symbol along with a tagline to help convey the value proposition. Make sure your logo has it too but it must be easy to understand.
Why is it necessary for a logo to be simple and effective?
Many designers are often confused regarding this issue. The simple answer to this question is that a simple logo has an instant impact on the viewers. It makes it easy for them to memorize it and you can reproduce it in different mediums and in varying sizes a well.
05 Using Stock Images or Premade Illustrations
One of the major typical pitfalls in creating a logo design is losing one’s own originality. Copying the work of other designers or reframing them as your own is a critical mistake to make. Many designers often copy the style of other logos. They also use the pre-illustrated or stock images in their logo which makes it unattractive and, instead of putting up a good impression, it does the opposite. DesignCrowd has provided graphic designers with clear guidelines on the design quality standards all submissions must adhere to when submitting designs.
Thus, a good logo designer must draw the whole image from the scratch and add her own effects in the logo to make it look original, vibrant and attractive.
06 Excessive Client Input
It’s important for client’s to learn how to provide specific feedback to designers throughout the design process. In the process of logo designing, the initial stage is the time when you need to ensure you have clarity on the design brief, and to hear out your client’s ideas but later on you should work as an expert and deliver quality logo to the client yourself. As the professional design process is iterative, you can show your work to clients in intervals and get their review. As a designer, you should understand your work and must know what is best for your client’s brand. Make sure you deliver all the ideas and your views about it with respect and honesty to your client and then wait for their response.
Now is a great time to reflect on how you work with your designer and make improvements for the year ahead. Use these six design tips as a practical framework for your next design project.
Want more?
6 Tips to Turbo-Charge Your Design Project on DesignCrowd
Logo Design Tips Every Small Business Owner Should Know
Five Key Trends in Logo Design
Tips For Designing Your Company Logo
35 Sophisticated Logotypes from the World’s Biggest Brands
Written by Jo Sabin on Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Jo Sabin is Head of Designer Community at DesignCrowd. She’s led the company’s public relations and social media programs since 2012. With more than ten years’ experience working with Australian and international tech startups in the creative industries, Jo has been instrumental in meeting DesignCrowd’s objectives in Australia and abroad. Get in touch via Twitter.