How to Design a Logo for Beginners (With a Free Worksheet!)

This Article was first published in looka.com/blog

Creating a perfect logo for your company involves a lot of decisions, namely: colors, layouts, fonts, and symbols. But learning how to design a logo doesn’t have to be hard – and you don’t need to be a designer!

To help you capture the essence of your?brand identity?and business in one iconic design, we’ve created this logo design guide: so you can confidently create the best logo for your business, side hustle, or passion project.

We’ve broken down how to design a logo in five beginner-friendly steps:

1. Research your brand
2. Learn about logo design
3. Get color, font, and symbol ideas?
4. Make a logo?
5. Test and finalize

If you want to play around with a new logo design right away, you can jump into our?logo maker?at any time — it’s free to try! But if you want a bit more guidance and preparation, you’ve come to the right place.

We spoke to expert branding and logo design agencies to give you the best logo design tips as you begin making your own logo.

What is a logo?

The term “logo” is often used as a catchall to define?any emblem a company uses to visually represent its brand. Your logo isn’t your brand, visual identity, or an indicator of success. It’s simply the first step to creating your?visual identity!

“A brand is not a static logo. It’s the emotional and collective space your organization holds within your audience’s mind. The logo is a spoke in a larger wheel. It acts as a springboard to a larger brand story and experience.”?– Sunny Bonnell, Founder + Chief Vision Officer at Motto

How to design a logo in 5 simple steps

Get a pen and paper ready, we’re diving into how to design a logo for your business!

Step 1: Research your brand identity

Most of us dislike doing research — why can’t I just get started already?! — but it’s an important step in any major project. To make your logo successful and long-lasting, you’ll need to set a solid foundation. And to set a solid foundation, you need to do your research.

Creating a strong?brand identity?helps your company gain credibility and become recognizable as you grow. Before you dive into your logo design, take some time to think through these questions:

Who’s my ideal customer? What brands do they like?

Figuring out your ideal customer and target market will help you better understand your messaging and logo vision.

Start here:

• What age range is my ideal customer in?
• Which social platforms do they use the most?
• What hobbies do they have?
• What?impacts?their buying decisions? (price, quality, sustainability, etc.)
• Which pain points do they experience?

Jump into our?logo design Google doc?and start answering the questions above! Envision your ideal customer as you go.?

If you’ve already got a few customers (or friends who fit the persona you’re targeting),?don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and talk to them?about their lifestyle, buying decisions, favorite brands, and insights related to your product or service.

“The best branding connects to the most specific target market possible — not everyone. A highly focused visual directed at that target will connect the brand to the audience. Focus on who you’re attracting.” – Kyle Golding, CEO & Chief Strategic Idealist, The Golding Group

What’s my competition doing?

An excellent way to get logo design ideas for your business is to divide up a few of your competitors’ logos and websites into styles you?like?and styles you?don’t like.

Start here:?

Research your competitors and?create a moodboard?of all their logos to familiarize yourself with the colors, symbols, fonts, and layouts they use. This will help you understand how to stand out visually, while still associating with your industry.

Jump into your?logo design worksheet?and fill out the information below:

• What font type is dominant in your industry?
• Which colors are most common?
• What symbols are currently being used?
• Which layout is most popular?

“The biggest question I ask myself when critiquing logos is ‘What’s the competition doing?’ A lot of research goes into logo design, and your competitors have already gone through the process. Is everyone trying to give off a similar impression? What is it?”– Kenneth Burke, Marketing Director, Text Request

This will help you understand what direction you want to go in as you learn how to design a logo.

What are 3-5 adjectives that describe my brand?

The next step on your journey is to create a list of your brand’s persona attributes. This list can also include specific features, values, and benefits you want your business to be known for. Here are a few examples:

• Innovative, friendly, easy-to-use
• Compassionate with superior customer service

Witty/clever marketing and #killingit on social

Write these down in your?logo design worksheet?and use them to help bring your brand to life.

Learn more about creating a?brand personality!

What’s my company name? Will I use a slogan?

If you haven’t already, it’s time to?finalize your company name?and decide if you want?a slogan, which can be a description of what your business does (e.g. gluten-free cookies) or a catchy phrase (e.g. cookies for health nuts).

Using a business name generator is a fun and easy way to come up with company name ideas.?Looka’s Business Name Generator?helps you find a spot-on brand name while checking domain availability and generating logo designs!

Once you’ve come up with a few good business name options jot all of your ideas into your?logo design worksheet, and ask yourself these five questions:

1. Is it original?
2. Is it future-proof? (a.k.a. Will it evolve with your business?)
3. How user-friendly and easy to spell is it?
4. Is it available (domain, social channels, etc.)?
5. Do I love it??

If the answer to each of these questions is “YES!”,?then you’re one step closer to starting your logo design journey!

Where will I be using my logo most?

Where you plan to display your logo will have a direct effect on your design. Maybe you own a construction company and plan to use your logo on T-shirts, truck decals, and signs.

Or perhaps you’re a?consulting business?that’ll be using your logo mostly online — your website, landing pages, and social media channels. Think about the applications that matter most and what type of logo will stand out.

“ We develop logos with context in mind: where will it live? What products will it need to be applied to? It means the finished product feels like the living, visual version of their brand story.”– Amanda Lee Smith, Partner at Monday creative

In almost all cases, keeping your logo design simple with a clean layout will help ensure it looks great everywhere. Here are a few common?places to use a logo:

• Online: Website headers and favicons, email signatures, invoices, and receipts
• Social media: Profile photos, cover photos, image posts, ads
• Print: Business cards, brochures, posters, car decals, clothing,?brand packaging?

You may need multiple logo variations to adapt to different mediums — but more on that later.

Check out our recommended?logo size guidelines!

Step 2:?Learn about logo design

Contrary to popular belief, designing a company logo on your own is totally doable! You don’t need fancy editing software or years of design experience. You can make a logo by yourself in five minutes with an?online logo maker!

But before you start your logo design journey, here’s what you need to know to feel confident about the process.

What makes a good logo?

Though the quality of a logo is subjective, there are certain elements that make a logo either good or bad.

A good logo is:

• Simple
• Memorable
• Unique
• Versatile
• Appropriate for the industry
• Relevant to your target market

They should also be easily recognizable and clearly represent the brand!

“A logo is “great” when it works. Those characteristics are memorable, recognizable, and functional to the project. ” – Pierpaolo Chiaravalloti, Head of Branding at Desircle

In comparison, bad logos are trend-focused (or copy other famous logos), complicated, and confusing, which leads to poor brand recognition and versatility. They can also be boring or generic (not to be confused with simple).

Looking at the examples below, the one on the?left?clearly communicates what the company is and is easy to read and remember.

The one on the?right?is creative and fun, but it’s extremely hard to figure out what the company even does!

Visual hierarchy?directs viewers to the most important information first, then guides them through the rest of the content with visual cues, such as fonts, colors, sizing, and more. You’ll want your company name to be larger and?bolder?than your slogan to create a visual hierarchy.

The three main types of logos

Logo design can be broadly put into two categories: logos that only consist of text (denoting the name or initials of a company) and those containing both text and a symbol.

Here’s a breakdown of the three most common?types of logos?— there are a few more, but we want to keep it simple!

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Looka is an innovative online logo maker that empowers businesses, entrepreneurs, and individuals to craft visually stunning and distinctive logos. With its user-friendly interface and robust AI-driven technology, Looka simplifies the logo design process, making it accessible to everyone.