Your logo is your brand’s face. It’s what people notice first and what they remember most. Whether you’re beginning a company, starting a blog, or opening a YouTube channel, making a great logo is essential.
But a designer can be expensive. What if you are inclined to create your logo? Having graphic design skills isn’t necessary. With clever tricks, the right tools and a willingness to get your hands dirty, anyone can crank out a professional-looking logo in just a few minutes.
Here is an easy way to try out your next logo design.
Step 1: Understand Your Brand
Identify your brand before designing anything. Ask yourself:
- What do I do?
- Who is my target audience?
- What are my values?
- What response do I want to invoke when people come across my brand?
Your logo should convey your brand identity. For example, your logo should be trustworthy and serious if you own a law firm.
List 3-5 words that describe the brand. These words will be the gauge of your design decisions.
Step 2: Look for Inspiration
Already you start designing, look at other logos. See which things you like, and what you don’t.
Look at:
- Your competitors
- Logos from related industries
- Pinterest or Behance, if you need some design inspiration.
- Look at shapes, colors, fonts and arrangements. Save and study logos that you like.
Step 3: Pick Your Design Type
Every logo has a style. Think of the vibe you want:
- Classic: Timeless, traditional
- Modern: Clean, minimal
But if you ever get tired and need professional help, you can always look for the top logo designing services in Pakistan for inexpensive, high-quality outsourced ones.
You don’t even have to be a graphic designer. With a little savvy, the right tools and a willingness to muck around, pretty much any old Tom, dick or Harry can churn out something resembling a professional-looking logo in no time.
Here’s a quick how-to for you, to fit your
- Fun and quirky: Playful, creative
- Bold: Strong, eye-catching
- Stylish and luxurious Normal icon design
Your brand voice should inform your writing style. Choose a style or two and stick with them throughout a design.
Step 4: Pick the Right Colors
Colors affect emotions. Shades have different ways of making your logo feel friendly, serious, energetic, or calm.
Here’s a quick guide to what colors mean:
- Red: Passion, energy, excitement
- Blue: Confidence, calmness, reliability
- Yellow: Good feelings, youth, positivity
- Green: Progress, health, stability
- Black: Power, elegance, formality
- White: Cleanliness, simplicity
Step 5: Choose the Right Font
By choosing the right font for your brand, you can tell a lot about it. A tech company, for example, could go with a contemporary, sans-serif typeface. A luxury brand could use a fashionable, serif typeface.
Normal fonts fall into three categories:
- Serif: Classic and Serious (like Times New Roman)
- Special fonts; Script styles [e.g., Brush Script]
- Restrict the lettering in your logotype to 2 or fewer fonts. Keep readability in mind.
Step 6: Design your logo layout 6.
Now it’s time to put it together: Your name, icon (if you have one), colors and fonts.
Familiar logo types include:
- Wordmark: The brand name (i.e. Google) only
- Lettermark: Acronym or initials (such as HBO and IBM)
- Icon-symbol (with or without text, e.g. Apple)
- Combination Mark: Letter Mark/Word Mark and an Image (e.g., Adidas)
Begin hand sketching some logo ideas. Do not stress yourself out, drawing ideally, focus on ideas. Experiment with multiple designs and scenes until something clicks.
Step 7: Use a Logo Maker or Design Application Instead
Once you have a rough idea, please bring it to digital tools. You don’t have to be some pro designer. The following are some of the free as well as cheap logo design tools:
- Canva (Free and easy to use)
- Looka
- Hatchful by Shopify
- Wix Logo Maker
- Adobe Express
You can work with templates and customize colors, fonts, icons and other layouts, as the following tools will allow. Start from a template and then make it your own.
The more advanced among you can even try out Adobe Illustrator or Corel DRAW if you have some design on you.
Step 8: Get Feedback
Before making it final, get feedback on your logo. Seek the opinion of friends, family or people in your target market.
Ask questions like:
- What originates from observance when you see this logo?
- Does it feel right for the brand?
- Is it easy to read?
- Is it memorable?
Make slight changes if necessary using feedback.
Step 9: Save Your Logo in Multiple Formats
After you’ve designed your logo, download it in multiple file types:
- PNG (transparent background)
- JPEG (for general use)
- SVG / PDF (for printability and scaling)
- Also, create versions for:
- Light and dark backgrounds
- Square and horizontal layouts
- With taglines (if any) / Without taglines
Keep your logo files organized and backed up. You will need them for social media, websites, packaging, and more.
Step 10: Stay Consistent
Your logo is only a piece of your variety and uniqueness. After establishing it, use it to create consistency everywhere you appear, from your site to your social media to your business cards and products.
Draw up some basic brand guidelines, including:
- Logo usage
- Color palette
- Fonts and spacing
- Reliability builds gratitude and trust.
Final Thoughts
Creating your logo is a big, great entity. It helps you know your brand better and exposes you to creative power. You may not have $460,000 in venture funding, but simple tools and a little planning can lead to a logo that looks professional and feels uniquely your own.