The Importance of a Logo
It’s important to establish that look and feel to your company. What better way to do that than with a logo!
If you have a brand and are trying to figure out what the first steps are, then look no further. If you are a graphic designer and would like to pick up your own clients, then look no further for the starting line! We’re here to give you some insight towards branding and marketing.
Before we get into it, there’s a distinction between the clients that come to us WITH a logo and those WITHOUT a logo. Without: We want to get to know you, your business, who your target audience is, and who you want to reach with your business. Building from the bottom up! We start with a list of questions (think: colors, fonts, basic in-your-head information to help us make you stand out). Post-questionnaire, next question is how are we going to get you started? Key words help! Geometric? Floral? Purely text-based? Imagery?
From there- we take to the computer to progress. Canva is a very fun site to experiment with when compared to more traditional mediums. Illustrator, on the other hand, is a bit more complex but great for logo-building.
If your logo can work in one color, then it can work in full color. It is best to start designing in black. Sometimes what we like to do is give a couple versions when we help clients. Different layouts will need stacked, landscape, etc. that require different file sizes. Building a brand book helps with this!
When clients come in with a logo, then we help to understand your branding. Questionnaires are still applicable, and then a deep dive into your brand with you will help build out a brand book that helps with implementation. Marketing items are explained so consistency is maintained!
This all boils down to finding the essence of your brand and business. Aesthetic, feels, and description can be built out rather quickly when clients come with a starting place.
So, should you build the brand THEN logo, or vice versa? There’s no “right” answer per se, but our eGuide Andy prefers logo first. There’s a lot of passion in a logo, and it comes directly from brain to computer. It’s a much larger representation of self.
Questions about the brand can help the client dive deeper into themselves, too! Having others analyze with you can reach a broader and more intricate understanding. “Weird” words like “severe”, “fuzzy”, “cozy”, that you might associate with the brand can help expand these intricacies. These create feel practices is a totally acceptable place to start.
However, with anything, there are pitfalls. Subtle changes without thought can be detrimental to your brand. Don’t practice “ask for forgiveness, not permission” when it comes to the world of infringement and trademark. Want an example? Check this out.
TLDR: Inspiration is great, but you cannot take others’ established ideas. Beyond the potential lawsuits, this robs you of the opportunity to really explore your own individuality. Also, people will judge you as the knock-off brand, which already gives a potentially bad first impression. Our suggestions include finding three entirely separate businesses’ logos to bring to a graphic designer to remix.
Bottom line: just do it! Reach out to a designer, log into Canva, and have at it. Don’t let frustration keep you from doing what you want to do. Art is subjective. If one person doesn’t like it, that doesn’t mean it is wrong!
Best of luck in all your creative endeavors!
Want to see a video walkthrough on this subject? Check the following video out from our YouTube channel!
Help Someone. Have Fun, Be You. Learn & Teach. Finish What You Start.
