Read this with the tune of Baz Luhrmann’s Sunscreen song in your head.
Calling all business owners – welcome to a small guide to designing a logo. I will dispense this advice now.
Please realise the importance of a well executed, refined and relevant logo/brand identity and the value it can bring to you and your business if researched and designed by a professional designer.
Hire a professional. You are not as good at design as you think you are.
However, if you are going to attempt to do it yourself, please make sure it doesn’t look like you have done it yourself.
Be pragmatic and examine it from the eyes of your customers. And be honest with what you have done.
Spend time on it. Refine it and tweak it. Sometimes the first one you do will not always be the best.
Now, if you are thinking ‘I don’t have time I just want a quick fix’, then ask yourself one question – what would your customers think if they heard you saying that?
Remember your brand identity (not just your logo – and if you don’t know the difference then you really shouldn’t be doing it anyway) is going to be a reflection of your business as you are not always going to be there to sell your product or service.
Get it right.
Look around and see what your competitors are doing, and make it different.
Make sure it embodies the characteristics of your business. Make sure it is unique enough to make your customers think you know what you are talking about.
Design.
Don’t think it is easy, it is not. Designers spend years creating logos and brand identities for other businesses. They know how it’s done and they know how to get the best from asking you the right questions.
Maybe you’ll hire a designer, maybe you won’t. Maybe you will decide to design it yourself and end up making a pigs ear of it. Maybe you won’t. But if I can suggest one thing – hire a designer.
Trust me, when you compare the cost of your time when doing it yourself to that of a designer, it will probably work out cheaper – and quicker – to get it done by a professional.
Don’t pick a random typeface and add a stupid little symbol beside it. It will look stupid!
Avoid Comic sans – it will only make your customers angry.
Typeface choice is important. Do not use free logo websites. They will only make your customers feel sad.
Get it wrong and it’s a poor investment of both your time and your money.
Trust me. Use a designer.