Logos and branding are essential elements of graphic design that communicate the identity, values, and personality of a business or organization. They can also attract, engage, and retain customers or clients. But how can you create better logos and branding that stand out, resonate, and last? Here are some tips and best practices to help you improve your logo and branding design skills.
Before you start designing, you need to understand who you are designing for. Who is your target market? What are their needs, preferences, and expectations? What are their pain points, goals, and motivations? How do they perceive your brand or industry? Researching and analyzing your audience will help you create logos and branding that appeal to them, connect with them, and solve their problems.
Starting with a purpose is a significant initial step. Connecting your brand with the audience is crucial, and having a purpose can greatly assist you. Some time ago, a client approached me, requesting to create a logo and a visual ecosystem for their brand that encompasses six concepts, yes, six concepts. After engaging in a practical creative exercise, we consolidated everything into just one. This allowed me to craft a brand that resonated and connect with a distinct aspect of the consumer. The work proved successful, resulting in a brand distinct from all competitors.
Also important to study the competition and know what your client is up against. How do they compare? How are they different? How is their competition better than them? What can your client do to stand out above his competition? Dig deep to figure out what your client's strengths are and how they are unique in their industry. Use your research data to develop a unique strategy and plan tailored specifically for your client. It's important that your finished piece will work well and position your client as an expert. Understanding your audience is critical and must be done prior to developing any design or visual assets.
Create a mood board. So you can visually explain the voice of the brand and explain to your graphic designer what you want you brand identity to feel and look like. It helps you add to the conversation should be having with your designer.
You should always start with a Pencil and paper trying to sketch as many ideals as possible, than Couse the best one you like and develop it into vector art with mockups. (don't spend more than 3h) Than have an open meeting with the client about your ideals and prosses. be open minded to scrap all of your sketches now that you understand your client better :)
Every design project starts with a problem. The problem may be defined by a client (individual or group), or may stem from the designer’s empathy towards an issue. The design process follows simultaneously multiple directions through investigation and research that involves primary and secondary data collection and analysis. This includes the target audience in its context in terms of space, place and time as well as the client’s desires and preferences. More particularly, the process, for it to be successful, would better include the client/target audience through a participatory and bottom-up approach (inclusive design).
Your logo and branding should reflect your brand identity, which is the essence of who you are, what you do, and why you do it. Your brand identity includes your mission, vision, values, voice, tone, and personality. It also influences your brand name, tagline, color scheme, typography, imagery, and style. Defining your brand identity will help you create logos and branding that are consistent, coherent, and authentic.
Who is who? Don't marry the first one. In one of my projects, we all believed that we had the right personality for a brand that was about to be born. However, thoroughly analyzing it helped us discover that this personality didn't resonate with a significant portion of the target audience we wanted to reach. So, we decided to alter the personality, incorporating a sub-category, which allowed us to build a consistent brand across all its communication aspects.
Logo design is a complex and creative process that requires a balance of art and science. There are some basic principles that you should follow to create effective and memorable logos. These include simplicity, scalability, readability, relevance, originality, and versatility. Simplicity means using minimal elements and avoiding clutter. Scalability means ensuring your logo works well in different sizes and formats. Readability means choosing clear and legible fonts and symbols. Relevance means aligning your logo with your brand identity and audience. Originality means avoiding clichés and plagiarism. Versatility means making your logo adaptable to different contexts and media.
For logos that include a symbol along with a wordmark, it can be helpful to try to combine two ideas in the symbol (more than two usually results in a mess). Examples: instead of just a paperclip, make the paperclip in the shape of the client's initial. Combine leaf shapes to make a crown. Hide an arrow inside a negative space. This practice separates the mark from being just another piece of clip art. It makes something unique and ownable for your client. And when you embed the opportunity for their audience to make a discovery, they will subconsciously associate that "aha!" good feeling with the brand.
? Logo design is very complex to create - however your finished product should "appear" simple and clean. ? Don't overcomplicate. Logo should only have 1 icon together with the actual company name. ? The lettering and fonts (typography) chosen for the company name must match the icon both in style and feel like a unit that they work well together.
A brand style guide is a document that outlines the rules and standards for using your logo and branding across different platforms and channels. It specifies the dos and don'ts of applying your logo, colors, fonts, images, icons, and other elements to your website, social media, print materials, and other touchpoints. Creating a brand style guide will help you maintain consistency, quality, and recognition of your logo and branding.
? A brand style guide is most helpful for those who didn't design the logo or for use by non-designers. ? Intrinsically, those who designed the logo should have a good feel on how it can (or shouldn't) be used and without much effort keep the brand aligned correctly.
E Classification; Make it easy for everyone. A guide for the proper use of a brand is mostly read by other publicists, especially designers. In one of the projects I made, the client asked if the brand manual had a minimalist style, to which I replied - "While it's true that less is more, it's really an ABC step for anyone to apply your brand correctly" - The result has been proper handling and minimal feedback sessions in using the brand across various communication channels.
Before you launch or update your logo and branding, you should test them with your audience and stakeholders. You can use surveys, focus groups, interviews, or online tools to gather feedback and measure the effectiveness of your logo and branding. You should also compare them with your competitors and industry trends to see how they stand out or fit in. Testing and refining your logo and branding will help you identify and fix any issues, gaps, or opportunities for improvement.
We Are All Sources of Inspiration. During the creation of a brand, we had the question of which of the proposals would genuinely connect with the target. To solve this, we created products with the brand and put them to the test. The result was unexpected; some consumers associated the product/brand with a prestigious international brand, others as an independent brand. However, one of them managed to connect, receiving clear feedback from consumers. This allowed us to slightly modify the brand but give it a stronger sense of belonging to the consumer with their feedback.
Having an adaptive logo that can be used on different things. Taking into consideration the place where the logo will be used, size and colors.
Logo and branding design is not a one-time project, but an ongoing process. You should always keep learning and evolving your skills and knowledge as a graphic designer. You can do this by following the latest trends, best practices, and innovations in logo and branding design. You can also seek inspiration, feedback, and advice from other designers, experts, or mentors. Keeping learning and evolving will help you create better logos and branding that adapt to changing needs, preferences, and expectations of your audience and market.
The best way to create better designs is by constantly learning, moving, absorbing new info and references, reading visual books, going back in art & design history, walking around, and looking at nature (everything human-made was inspired by nature, our need to improve our lives and help future generations)... The way to improve in any creative field is by living.
Stopping learning is like stopping eating. As time goes on, we all change our perception of what is visually, emotionally, and sensorially more pleasing for each of us. While it sounds challenging, it remains incredible due to the variability of each project. On one occasion, I had to investigate the complete history of a product, from its origin to the present day. This allowed me to see a step ahead, helping me create a brand that could endure and be embraced.
Although keeping in touch with current trends is an essential practice for every designer, we should always keep in mind that the best logos (and designs in general) are the ones that stand the test of time. Trends come and go, but great designs are immune to the passing of trends. By studying the classics, we can see that simplicity, clarity and avoidance of purely decorative elements, paired with an impactfull visual message are usually the best ways to go.
Designing a logo is a thoughtful process that takes time and consideration. The majority of the work is done in the early stages, when the designer is brainstorming ideas, researching the company, and developing the concept. The actual act of designing the logo is relatively quick in comparison.
Personally I always try to remember to think more and design less, to pose to myself and solve as many problems as I can. To constantly challenge even the best results, as they might not be good enough for the project at hand. To let myself free and have fun: sometimes the subconscious can produce surprisingly relevant results. Most of all, to enjoy the process: every project is interesting, every project can produce great results.
Designing compelling logos and branding requires a thoughtful approach. Begin by understanding the brand's essence and keeping designs simple yet versatile. Aim for uniqueness, ensuring your logo stands out amidst competition. Prioritize versatility, choose timeless elements, and harmonize typography to reflect the brand's voice. Leverage color psychology for impactful messaging and maintain consistency across touchpoints for a cohesive visual experience. Incorporate brand storytelling into design, seek constructive feedback, and consider professional assistance if needed. Elevate your brand's identity with these tactics for a lasting impact. ???? #LogoDesign #BrandIdentity
For me, it all starts with being able to adequately defining a budget, as it is crucial for both me as a service provider and my client. It helps set clear expectations, ensures transparency, and contributes to a smoother working relationship. A budget will help clearly understand the scope of the project (is it just the logo, does it include branding elements like color schemes, typography, brand guidelines). A budget will give an estimate of the amount of time and effort I can allocate to researching, brainstorming, sketching, refining and finalizing the design. By defining a budget, it fosters trust and presents a professional image. It lays the foundation for long-term partnership by delivering satisfaction within a budget constraints.