Anthony Savino is the CEO of Benjamin Marc Corp., a web design and digital marketing agency in Long Island.
Creating a logo for your business takes tremendous planning, research and thorough execution. Whether you are hiring a professional creative agency or you decide to do it yourself, I hope this article will help shed some light on a few central elements to this process.
The key to a great logo is to create something that is timeless. In 15 years from now, your logo should be able to not look antiquated. Try not to use the same graphic ideas as everyone else within your industry. Keep in mind that when your target audience sees your brand, you want them to get your message right away.
Selecting the right colors, fonts, graphics, slogan and design team are among the most important factors to creating a logo that will stand the test of time! Here are some tips to follow when creating a logo design.
1. Color Scheme
Picking a color—seems easy, right? Do you know how many different colors there are in the RGB or CMYK color wheel? This step will involve research. How particular you are with your color scheme will determine how long this will take you.
Why do color schemes play a vital role? For one thing, the colors you choose may very well set the tone for the entire look of your business. For instance, the colors you select for your logo can and should be copasetic with your website, screen printing, print media, even the look of the interior and exterior of your business location. So yes, color selection takes research.
My tip is to go to any search engine and research “CMYK color picker” or “RGB color picker.” There are several sources that will give you options to select a color. Once you are happy with your colors, you can move onto the next step and send the color codes to your designer if necessary.
2. Font Selection
Much like picking the right color scheme, selecting a font for your logo is another key step in this process. This process can be time consuming, but it is very important.
My tip when selecting a font is to look into licensing. Each font comes with a license. Some can be expensive, while others are very affordable or even free. Most fonts come with different levels of license uses, such as commercial, desktop, etc.
While in the process of choosing the perfect font for your logo design, be sure to look at the license instructions. In most cases, websites that sell fonts will have instructions on what font license to buy for your circumstances.
3. Graphics
When creating a logo, you have the option to add a graphic to go along with it. This graphic can coincide with your industry genre. In some cases, an acronym is used to crown the design in place of a graphic.
If you’re working with a logo design company, be sure to do your research prior to equip them with as much information as possible regarding your desired graphic. The more information you are able to give your designer, the better outcome you will have with your logo.
4. Selecting A Logo Designer
These days there are several ways to get a logo design created. Your needs will determine the route you want to take. If you’re the type of person who likes to work one-on-one with a design agency to create your logo, then hiring a graphic designer might be the best option. An alternate route would be to go online where there are great logo creation software options.
If you are looking to hire someone, I would suggest to research the agency you are looking to hire first. Look through their portfolio on their website, as well as their social media. You can really gauge the skill level and design style of the designers by looking at both their social media and their website.
5. Files
Once the logo is finalized, you want to be sure that you receive the proper art files and licenses. Whether you worked with a design agency or you went online, the proper files should be delivered to you.
No matter what program the designer worked in to create the logo, the files you should ask for are the original art files. The reason for this is that if you wanted to make any edits or adjustments to your logo in the future, you’ll have the original artwork. You can then download the software used to create the logo or bring it to another designer to make edits. Some other popular file types to ask for are PDF, PSD, AI, JPG and PNG.
I hope that these tips to follow when creating a logo design help you in the process.
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