How to Create a Logo for Your Business
As a lifelong artist and student of the arts I want to convey as much as I can to relevant people so they can use it as well. This should be a good preliminary source for beginner logo creation decisions.
For this project you will need:
- Adobe Illustrator or similar tool
- Pencil and paper
- Cardstock (for presentation)
- Foamboard (for presentation)
The process for designing a logo I use is planning, visual research, ideation and feedback, and finalizing. You should know and be able to use the principles of effective graphic design. A knowledge of how utilize your selected online graphic design tool will save you significant time and allow you to create better designs. While you can create the logo for your business always consider letting a professional do it so you can be confident it will appeal to your audience.
Planning
Find logos that appeal to you such as on Logo Lounge or through a simple google search. Identify what makes them work.
Determine a mascot and have your business function in mind. The mascot can be a plant or animal. The mascot makes your logo unique and brings life into the logo which in turn adds visual interest.
Identify common characteristics of your target audience and record them. Also record the emotions you want to instill in your audience based on the message you are trying to get across to them.
Other primary design considerations you will address throughout the design process include:
- Color — Three or less colors based on a color scheme that fits your audience.
- Value — The darkness of each color should be distinguishable from each other and emphasis the most important part of your logo.
- Font — If you decide to include text with your logo it should naturally fit in with the logo based on its shape and color.
- Simplicity — In many cases a simple design appears more like a logo. Viewers will only see the logo for a second before they decide whether or not to act on it so simplicity conveys the message with less processing time.
- Identification — It should be clear what the viewer is looking at even when they are at a distance (unless it is an online only business).
Other design elements and principles also play a vital role so keep them in mind as you are designing.
The main value a logo offers is its ability to attract and retain customers through appealing design for your target audience. Secondary values are conveying the function, meaning, and being easily recognized and associated with your business. These secondary values are only useful if the design appeals to the audience.
Visual Research
Keeping your plan in mind, research effective logos with similar characteristics to your own such as the mascot, business type, emotion, or target audience. Record the logo and reason it was appealing to you. Be prepared to implement these ideas into your own work. You should spend at least an hour recording these logos and details if this is your first time working with logos.
Ideation and feedback
Form word lists which identify words that come to mind for your plan details. For example, if your business type were bookstore for college students you could include book, bookshelf, college, textbook, assurance, depth, notebook, etc. Don’t worry about how to implement it or how well it fits yet. Right now, you just want to get as many ideas out as possible.
Form a word map using the words from your word list to organize your thoughts. Choose which words are most relevant and useful for your design and star them.
Create at least thirty sketches based on words from your word list, mascot, and business. These sketches are meant to be quick and rough as again you are just getting all your ideas onto the paper.
Obtain feedback by asking how each sketch makes the person feel, what message they think it is trying to convey, and if it appeals to them. You should get feedback from people in your target audience if you can. You also want feedback from other graphic designers. Other people often interpret differently so you want a good ten or more people’s feedback to get an accurate idea of what is working and what is not. This is also why you can't rely on your own design intuition. To find people to give you feedback you could post to an online site such as Behance, ask friends and family (only for getting basic feedback on rough sketches), or find professional contacts through a trusted source. By keeping your work rough you allow the reviewers to feel comfortable giving feedback that may include major changes to the design.
Loop back to sketching or other previous parts of your design. This is a good idea at this point and why you did not invest too much time in the previous phases. Continue this loop several times until the feedback you get instills confidence that a few of your design iterations are appealing to your audience. Choose three of these designs to take to the next step.
Finalizing
You are now ready to invest time in creating drafts using Illustrator. If you are not familiar with illustrator there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube, Linkedin Learning, SkillShare, and other skill development sites. Recreate your three designs on different artboards in grayscale to ensure the emphasis is appealing. You will want to obtain more professional feedback on these as well but there should be less things you need to change. Continue to iterate between design and feedback. Based on the feedback you obtained select a final design.
If applicable, present your design by printing it on solid reflective cardstock. To do this make sure your artboard is the intended size and save it as PDF. Find a local printing store such as Alpha Graphics. Use spray adhesive to connect it to foamboard. Using an Exacto knife with a fresh blade cut out the cardstock and foamboard. You can use this to get assist in getting buy in from investors or partners.
Add your logo mark to your website, advertisements, display boards, and in your business to let it play its role. Congratulations on creating your logo and strengthening your business!