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Logo Design Guide: How to make a great logo?

Poor logos weaken the power of communication. Thus, marketing measures become inefficient and expensive. Especially small businesses with small advertising budgets depend on good logos. What can entrepreneurs do to get a professional logo for their own business? Wou will find out in this Logo design guide, where i share all my experiences as a longtime graphic designer with you:

This guide shows entrepreneurs the most important basics of logo design in a compact way and helps to avoid expensive mistakes when dealing with their own logo. Additionally, helpful tools for the design process are included. Among them are a template for briefing the designer and a comprehensive checklist for testing the quality of the logo. A list of resources shows where companies can find suitable designers and which software can also be used to edit logos themselves.

About Logo Design

Logos have tremendous power. They can trigger emotions in a fraction of a second, communicate values, generate attention or create trust among the target group. It’s not for nothing that large corporations invest a lot of money in agencies that create first-class logos with a team of marketing experts and designers.

But what can smaller companies do that also want a professional logo? They don’t have the time and financial resources of a corporation, but they are just as dependent on a good logo to best communicate their company values. 

Good business owners focus on their strengths, which is why most delegate logo design for good reasons. Still, there are a few things an entrepreneur can do with a manageable amount of time to significantly impact the quality of their logo.

Poor Logo Design

The main cause of bad logos is unclear objectives for the logo design. Before the design phase, it is crucial that an entrepreneur knows the most important quality features of a logo and establishes the requirements for a great logo. This will save a lot of time, money and hassle in the long run.

Because time is a scarce commodity for any entrepreneur, I have taken great pains to keep the chapters compact and present technical issues as simply as possible. This series of blog entries is a practical tool for entrepreneurs who are aware of the importance of a good logo, but do not want to invest endless time in this topic.

The structure of the guide is strongly practice-oriented. The aim here is explicitly not to turn readers into ultimate logo experts. Rather, it’s about getting to know the quality criteria and typical design flaws of a logo with a manageable amount of time and deriving requirements and briefings for the design of one’s own company logo.

Important Topics

I have done my best and hope you enjoy reading, but above all, I wish you success in your search for the perfect logo. The following posts will help you dive deeper into the topic so you can find the perfect logo for your business:

Logo Basics: 3 core principles of logo design: In this post, you’ll learn the key design fundamentals that are important for good business logo.

Typical Logo Mistakes: Learn the typical mistakes in logo design regarding strategy and design and how you can avoid these mistakes.

Make A Logo: 3 ways to get a logo for your business.

Logo checklist: Your logo should have the following criteria.

Logo resources: Useful links to help you get your logo design

Summary

Although almost everyone immediately thinks of design when they hear the term logo design, there is much more to the term “design”.

A “real” designer looks for solutions to a specific problem. In the case of logo design, the task is therefore not simply to paint a pretty picture for the company. Rather, the designer is looking for a symbolism that must fulfill many requirements at the same time.

It must communicate the company’s values with full force, be quickly grasped by many people, and still offer a high recognition value.

So a really good logo design is a complex task, where a lot can go wrong and which requires a good cooperation between designer and client. 

We, as entrepreneurs, can significantly influence the quality of the logo if we take the following three key statements of this guide to heart:

1. logo design cannot simply be delegated. 

The core of a logo is the company and brand values. No one knows these better than ourselves. It is worth investing the time to research these values and give the designer a clear brief with the logo design assignment.

A clear brief greatly increases the chances of getting a logo that perfectly fits the company or brand at the end of the design process. The sample design brief in this book serves as an aid.

2. we need to know the most important quality criteria

Evaluating a logo design only on the basis of pure aesthetics is a gross mistake. Aesthetics is only one of many quality criteria. In addition to aesthetics, other features are important: Does the logo work in the long term? Does the logo appeal to my target group? Can my company identify with the logo? Does it communicate our values, etc.

3. through the right handling we can strengthen our logo.

Even the perfectly styled logo that is tailored to the company can lose communication power if we use it incorrectly in everyday life, for example by making typical mistakes in technical handling. The logo checklist in this book serves as an aid for daily use.

All in all, good logos can be used flexibly, work on all common media, and communicate a company’s values and services clearly. I hope that all readers will use this guide to find just such a logo for their own company.

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