Brainstorm Your Brand: Your Logo

When you’re first start­ing out as a solo or microbusi­ness own­er there are so many dif­fer­ent deci­sions to make that it’s easy to become over­whelmed. Espe­cial­ly when it comes to build­ing your brand and cre­at­ing the over­all impres­sion it leaves on your tribe. And, your logo is a big part of that.

It’s the face of your brand. It’s the most eas­i­ly rec­og­niz­able visu­al rep­re­sen­ta­tion of who you are as a busi­ness. And along with your mis­sion and vision state­ments is the one thing your tribe most asso­ciates with your brand.

A well-thought-out and designed logo can give your tribe a sense of famil­iar­i­ty and trust. It’s also a great way to stand out from the com­pe­ti­tion and cre­ate a unique iden­ti­ty that’s instant­ly rec­og­niz­able. A great logo can help you build and main­tain a strong brand pres­ence and can be used across mul­ti­ple plat­forms and chan­nels. From your web­site to your social media, your mar­ket­ing, and beyond.

An Art Form

Cre­at­ing a logo that speaks to your tribe and accu­rate­ly rep­re­sents your brand is an art form that takes con­nect­ing cre­ativ­i­ty and strat­e­gy. Not the eas­i­est thing to do. Your logo has to be mem­o­rable and eye-catch­ing and con­vey the per­son­al­i­ty and val­ues of your busi­ness. It should be sim­ple enough to be eas­i­ly rec­og­niz­able, but also cre­ative enough to make an impact.

Ulti­mate­ly, your logo is an essen­tial part of your brand. It can be used to make a last­ing impres­sion, dif­fer­en­ti­ate you from com­peti­tors, and cre­ate a sense of famil­iar­i­ty and trust among your tribe help­ing you to cre­ate a busi­ness that will endure.

How to Create a Great Logo

Research your brand: Start by under­stand­ing your brand’s mis­sion and vision, its val­ues and goals, and know your tribe. This infor­ma­tion will be essen­tial in your design process.

Choose your style: Decide what type of logo you want, such as a word­mark, let­ter­mark, brand­mark, or icon­ic. Con­sid­er exact­ly how you want to rep­re­sent your brand, the emo­tions you want to evoke, and the mes­sage you want to convey.

Use col­ors wise­ly: Col­ors have a psy­cho­log­i­cal impact on peo­ple. Choose col­ors that reflect your brand and speak to the emo­tions you want your tribe to feel.

Con­sid­er typog­ra­phy: Just like the col­ors you choose, fonts can impact the tone, emo­tions, and per­son­al­i­ty of your logo. Choose a font that reflects your brand and is legible.

Keep it sim­ple: A sim­ple logo is eas­i­er to rec­og­nize and remem­ber. Be con­sis­tent and avoid using too many graph­ics, fonts, or colors.

Make it ver­sa­tile: A logo should be ver­sa­tile and work well across all dif­fer­ent medi­ums, includ­ing print and dig­i­tal. This ver­sa­til­i­ty is impor­tant because your brand’s logo will appear on a vari­ety of mar­ket­ing mate­ri­als, from busi­ness cards and brochures to web­sites and social media.

Test it: Show your logo to friends, fam­i­ly, and col­leagues. Ask for feed­back and make changes as needed.

Be con­sis­tent: Your logo is the key ele­ment in main­tain­ing brand con­sis­ten­cy. It helps to ensure that all mar­ket­ing mate­ri­als and com­mu­ni­ca­tions have a con­sis­tent look and feel, which rein­forces your brand’s image and helps to build a strong brand identity.

Be cre­ative: The aver­age per­son sees a logo every 15 sec­onds. If your logo is bor­ing, unin­spir­ing, and doesn’t cap­ture the essence of your brand it can affect how your tribe per­ceives your busi­ness. It’s o.k. to be rad­i­cal­ly dif­fer­ent in a good way as long as your logo rep­re­sents what your brand stands for.

Get Help: If all that goes into cre­at­ing a logo is too over­whelm­ing con­sid­er hir­ing a pro­fes­sion­al graph­ic design­er. Humans are visu­al crea­tures. We always have been and, to a large degree, we always will be. It’s not just an evo­lu­tion­ary necessity.”Visual DNA is much more rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the brand’s per­son­al­i­ty than text alone.” Just one more thing to con­sid­er when cre­at­ing a logo that will become the face of your brand.

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