Designing a logo is more than just creating a pretty looking icon or choosing fonts and colors. A lot of time and consideration should be put into how you want your logo to look and {more importantly} WHY you want it to look a certain way. Before you even get started on the design, you should take some time to decide on the design direction of your new logo to make sure that you are properly representing your business and starting your brand off on the right foot. Here are a few steps to get you started on creating a design direction for your logo:
Find your target audience and appeal to them
The first step when setting a design direction for your logo is to figure out who your target audience is. Ask yourself, who is your ideal client and what will appeal to them? If your target audience is 30-40 year old female entrepreneurs, then your logo design is going to look quite different from someone who is marketing to 18-25 year old video-game-obsessed males.
Remember, while you want to love your new logo, you also want it to appeal to your target audience. They’re the ones you’re trying to draw in! Think about the adjectives you want your customers to use to describe your business. Trustworthy? Professional? Friendly? The feeling that you want to convey to your audience can help you decide on visual elements like fonts, colors, or other imagery to help communicate your core message.
Research. Research. Research.
Gathering inspiration will help you figure out where you want to go with your new logo and brand. Start a Pinterest board, search Google images, or browse through a logo design gallery and save anything and everything that you are drawn to. Once you’ve found a bunch of inspiration, think carefully about why you like these images. Is there a color or font that you are drawn to? Maybe you’ve found a particular style or layout that you like? You will probably start to see patterns emerge that will help set the direction for your own logo.
You’ll also want to see what other people in your industry are doing. Look at your competitors and take note of any trends that you see: similar fonts, colors, or ideas that are being communicated. These are important because they most likely have a similar target audience to you.
While you want to be aware of what others in your industry are doing, you also want to be sure to set yourself apart from them. What makes you different or better than your competitors? And how can you communicate that through your logo?
Get down to the details
Once you’ve defined your target audience and done your research, you can start getting into the nitty gritty details of your logo design direction. This is the part where you can really start forming a concept for your logo.
Decide if you have a specific image or theme in mind. Here are some ideas that you might want to consider for a theme:
A concrete idea or object in your business name that could make a great graphical element or icon
Maybe you have a particular service that you want to highlight visually
A unique origin story for your business that may set you apart from others
A less concrete idea (like trust, energy, or commerce) you might want to incorporate in a more abstract way
Your logo should have a clear message and appeal to a particular target audience (yours!). Before you get started on the design for your business, it’s important to have thought through these pieces so that you have a solid understanding of what you want your logo to communicate. Part of my design process is to talk about design direction with clients as soon as possible so that we both are on the same page throughout the logo design process.
Will you or did you think about your design direction before creating your logo? Do you think it helped keep your message strong and clear?
