For a tiny little graphic, there is a lot of creativity, passion, thought and love that goes into a logo! Even the company name in a select font can take days to develop, as different possibilities for colours, angles, wrapping, gradients and shadows emerge, are considered, and either incorporated or not. As different as many popular logos look at first glance, many share common characteristics either in their design, or the process used to create them. Here we give you insider tips on creating an effective logo for your business card printing, brochure printing and other corporate materials.
1. Abstract images (inspire emotion)
Usually, your product or service itself will not inspire great emotion in people looking at your logo on business card printing. For an engine machinist, for example, a car engine is a fairly bland image, compared to the remembered feeling of speeding along a narrow road! Use the feeling of speed in your logo... not an image of the engine that gets a person there. This creates an immediate engagement with your brochure printing and flyer printing for customers.
2. Sketching the logo first
If you are a designer, you probably remember well all the hours you've spent fiddling with the anchor points along a line, trying to get them to convey just the impression you want. It is infinitely easier to sketch out a logo idea, and then transfer that to the computer screen. We have evolved to use our hands, not a mouse button! Besides, this leads up to our next point...
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3. Start with black and white first
For some products, you'll be able to cut down your trade printing costs enormously by using single-colour or two-colour printing. Sketching out your logo with nothing more than a grey lead pencil ensures that colour doesn't interfere with the basic concept of the design, which should be clear no matter whether the logo appears in your business card printing in full colour or black and white.
4. Keep it simple
If you can clearly see what a logo represents when it is downsized to around an inch square, it is simple enough to be effective. This point is both a practical one, to aid in the quality of products that are sent to your trade printer, and also a marketing-oriented one. Simple logos are easier to remember. You can bring Google's logo to mind immediately - because there really isn't that much to remember!
5. Always do a design brief - even for yourself
Professional logo designers will always do a design brief. Even if you are designing your own logo, you should create a design brief, to help crystallize your thoughts about the logo and provide a frame of reference during the design process. You should set down ideas like
* Your company's branding
* What you want to convey with the logo
* Your target market
* Your point of difference/unique selling point
* Sizing
* What printed materials it will be used on - business card printing, flyer printing etc
6. Research trends as well as traditions
You don't want a trendy logo... unless you want to change it every few years, or risk having something that looks dated. But don't ignore the trends - actively research them so that you aren't subconsciously influenced.
7. Make your logo easy to update as years go by (simple and text-based)
You'll notice that many memorable corporate logos are little more than the company name, in a specific typeface and colour. This is fine! It makes the logo much easier to update, and easier to fit in around the design of other materials. Text based logo work best with brochure printing, for example.
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