How to Design a Logo (For Beginners)

Creating a business logo doesn’t just happen, or at least, it shouldn’t happen overnight. If you want your brand to resonate with potential customers, your logo needs to be well-researched and well-designed. So, where do you get started? Learn how to create a business logo that connects with your specific niche.

Updated June 7, 2022

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What is a Logo?

A logo is a visual representation of your brand. It can be an image, graphic, wordmark, or emblem and it helps potential customers recognize a business or brand.

Designing a logo for your business? Connect with a logo design agency to get started on your project.

Additional reading, ‘50 Famous Graphic Design Companies To Check Out in 2022.

Why Does Your Business Logo Matter?

  1. Your business logo is your brand’s visual identity
  2. Your business logo sets the tone for who you are
  3. Your business logo informs graphic design

Your Business Logo Is Your Visual Identity

The primary reason that your business logo is so important is that it is the core of your business’s visual identity and reflects your brand personality.

In the same way that friends recognize you by your face, customers will recognize your business by your logo. Whether on social media, on flyers you produce, or on your actual storefront, your logo tells people that they are interacting with your business.

Because many situations require customers to recognize your logo at a glance, it should be unique and striking enough that people remember it.

Think about some of the most popular brands around the world — Coca Cola, Nike, and Apple, for example, all have logos that customers instantly recognize. 
 

Well-known logos
 
These logos are iconic, and they are emblazoned on products, advertisements, and branding materials around the world. As a result, they’ve helped cultivate some of the strongest brand name recognition for companies in their respective industries. 

Your Business Logo Sets The Tone For Who You Are

If your business logo was an afterthought, your customers may feel like your business is an afterthought, too. Just as people judge books by their covers, they judge businesses by their logos.

If your logo is unprofessional, boring, or outdated, you may be losing customers simply because your logo doesn’t appeal to them.

On the other hand, having a unique logo that really represents your brand will help customers know what to expect when they interact with you.

Establish trust and give customers a visual representation of who you are with a logo that matches your brand identity.

Your Business Logo Informs Graphic Design

Whether you do your own graphic design (flyers, business cards, website, etc.) or you hire someone else to do it for you, your business logo will play a large role in determining how all your branded elements look.

When choosing a logo, be sure to choose colors and fonts that can be used in a variety of different places. Having a logo that doesn’t match the rest of your branded elements will confuse customers.

Instead, make sure everything ties together with the same colors and fonts for a cohesive brand identity.

Do you need help designing your logo (or other parts of your brand identity)? Search our database now to find a designer or design firm to help with your project.

How to Design a Logo (In 10 Steps)

  1. Define your business values and brand identity
  2. Define your target audience
  3. Check out the competition
  4. Choose your colors
  5. Sketch ideas
  6. Experiment with typography
  7. Get feedback
  8. Refine your ideas
  9. Finalize your logo design
  10. Launch your new logo

Define Your Business & Brand Identity

Before you start building your brand, you need to have a good understanding of your business and brand identity.

Your business logo design will play a central role in all of your branding, from your signage and displays to your website and business cards. Your logo design should reflect the way you want customers to view your business.

During the logo design process, you will choose fonts, colors, icons, and elements of the story and voice of your brand.

Therefore, the first step in identifying your brand is to answer these questions:

  1. What are you going to be selling?
  2. Where are you going to sell it?
  3. How would you describe your business?

These are all critical elements of a business plan, and they should inform your logo design. Ideally, potential customers should be able to recognize your business, know what industry you’re in, and get a gist of your brand values all from your logo.

A great way to brainstorm how you want your business to be perceived is by creating a list of adjectives that describe your brand.

Keep in mind that these words should reflect your industry as well. The words we’d use to describe a healthcare company wouldn’t be used

Still, a clothing company could be fun, energetic, and fashionable, but it could also be sustainable, comfortable, and durable.

Once you’ve picked adjectives that describe your brand best, use them to inspire your logo design.

Define Your Target Audience

Knowing your customers and how they will respond to your brand can make or break your business.

Take some time to figure out who your ideal customer really is. How much money do they make? What are their lives like? What other businesses do they trust and frequent?

This information will play a critical role in your brand development and help you choose a business logo design that appeals to your intended customer base.

Keep in mind what your customer base likes and try to appeal to their senses.

Check out the competition

While your logo should stand out from others in your industry, you should carefully examine the look and feel other companies are going for.

Your goal isn’t to replicate their logo design — instead, you can use it as market research to help you get a better understanding of what your potential customers are looking for when they begin their search.

This can be everything from the type of logo they use to their brand colors.

Additionally, this can help you spot logo design trends that can inspire a modern look and feel for your business.

Remember, though, that you want to carve out your own niche in the market. Make sure your logo design is unique and stands out. In doing so, your brand will instantly become more recognizable.

Choose your colors

Colors can have a huge impact on how potential customers view your business. In fact, recent studies have shown that colors can influence buying decisions and improve brand recognition.

Color wheel

Source: Pinterest

Consequently, it’s incredibly important for companies to create a complimentary color palette for their logos.

If your business already has a set of brand colors, it’s best to work with them but pull in a few others to create contrast and dimension.

You should also try a few different variations, possibly with different background colors, so you can determine how the logo will look if you print it on different colored backgrounds.

For example, you’ll likely want to print your new logo on t-shirts, business cards, notepads, and coffee mugs. You will probably want a color palette that can stand out on dark, white, or colored backgrounds.

Check out these trending logo colors for your business logo ideas.

Experiment with typography

Typography is how designers arrange text to make it visually appealing, easy to read, and representative of a brand.

Coca cola, FedEx, and Google have typographic logos

Source: Creative Bloq

Most companies want to be able to pair their brand name with their logo on products or branding materials. Others even utilize typographic logos — logos that are comprised solely of text.

Either way, designing the text of your brand name is important for branding and is an essential part of your logo design.

The typeface, color, kerning, and size can impact how users perceive a brand.
Consequently, it’s important that businesses experiment with different typographic designs during the logo design process.

Here are four tips when using typography in your logo design:

  1. Select the right font
  2. Think about readability
  3. Focus on logo voice
  4. Ensure the text and logo compliment each other and are on-brand

Additional reading, ‘Typography in Logo Design: 4 Key Essentials.

Sketch ideas

With a solid foundation of how you plan to represent your business, you can start designing your logo.

Start by sketching a few different ideas and hone in on the aspects you like. Here are 6 popular types of logos to help you think about different ways to represent your brand:

  1. Pictorial logos
  2. Mascots
  3. Abstract marks
  4. Combination marks
  5. Typography logo
  6. Emblems

Try sketching a few different concepts and then narrow it down to a few you like the most. Then use logo design tools to create a digital and more professional version.

Additional reading, ‘6 Types of Logos to Grow Brand Awareness.’

4 Digital Design Tools To Help You Create Your Logo

  1. Canva
  2. Adobe Illustrator
  3. Photoshop
  4. LogoMakr

Refine your ideas

With feedback from internal and external stakeholders, you can adjust your designs and narrow your options down a little further.

Maybe you should increase the size of the font under the logo or remove it altogether. Maybe in one draft, your mascot logo looks a little creepy to consumers, so you may want to go with a design that is a slightly different style.

Remember, it may take a few iterations to get the design you like most.

Finalize your logo design

Finally, you should narrow down your options to just a few different designs you really love. Then you can discuss them with internal stakeholders to select the business logo that represents your brand best.

Launch Your New Logo

Now that you’ve officially chosen a new logo design, it’s time to share it with the world.
Announce your new business logo with a press release or launch it on your company’s social media profiles to capture your audience’s attention.

Once it’s been launched, you can include it in your brand materials such as your business cards, email signature, brochures, advertisements, and more.

Additional reading,How to Launch a New Logo in 10 Steps.’

Creating Your Business Logo

Once you’ve defined your business, ideal customer, and brand, it’s time to start creating your business logo.

You can use graphic design software to design the logo yourself, but if you are unfamiliar with business logo design, we recommend working with a professional designer.

Check out our directory of top design firms to find the right partner for your business logo design. We rank the design firms on our site so you can find the best fit for your business.

Want to see your design firm listed in our directory? Learn how to get ranked.
 

Need help selecting a company?

Based on your budget, timeline, and specifications we can help you build a shortlist of companies that perfectly matches your project needs. Get started by submitting your project details.

Get Started