A logo is that important element of your business that lets people identify and distinguish you. Its purpose is to represent the company as well as its values in a miniature form.
A professional logo is an investment rather than simply an image to fill up space on your business card or letterhead.
People often go for a DIY logo thinking that they’ll save a lot of time and money. This shortcut of avoiding a professional logo designer can cost you more in the longer run. But, worry not, you can count on us if you require any professional help. We’ve got a team of expert brand strategists and designers to help you out!
Here’s why logo designing should be done by a professional who knows that they’re doing.
Branding
A logo is an important element of your business, it represents the personality of your brand. You use them everywhere, on social media, on printed marketing materials, on office buildings, on business cards, on company vehicles, and more. This requires your logo to be unique.
For example, our client, PEDRR (Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction) is an organization aimed to promote and scale-up implementation of Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction. Their logo speaks about the global alliance of UN agencies, NGOs and specialist institutes together in holding up the idea of eco-friendly solutions. This is the logo we had designed for them. Even their website was designed and developed by the people here at Vividreal.
A logo is the first thing that someone notices about your brand, which means the logo should reflect the company’s identity and what it intends to communicate with its audience.
Company Values
The logo should have an element that speaks about the values that the company holds up. Suppose you are running a cafe that uses only organic-pesticide free, farm-fresh products. Your logo can include elements that represent concern and compassion to living beings and the world.
The basic idea behind this is to have an understanding of your target audience while the logo is being designed. And that is exactly why hiring a professional logo maker is advised because they have a deeper understanding of your industry and product.
For example, Hope for African Children Initiative (HACI) is a non-profit organization to protect the health interests of the poorest and vulnerable children in the world. Their logo communicates the value they wish to deliver to the world.
Logo Ending up Being Unprofessional
Most DIY logos can end up being an amateurish one. You may possess artistic skills and would probably think of giving it a try. But designing a logo also has a technical side to it.
Using royalty-free elements available online can make the logo look unfinished or unstable. The free resources available from the web are accessible to all, so you can’t blame anyone when these are used by someone else too. This destroys the uniqueness of your logo.
For example, you made a logo using a royalty-free vector available online just because you like it so much. If it’s such a likeable vector, most people would be using them for their blogs, slides, websites and other public platforms. Now, the uniqueness of your brand logo is lost and people may not recognize your brand as a credible one.
Colour and Font Choices
The next common mistake that DIY logo creators make is choosing the wrong colour combination and font styles. Most people who attempt to make a logo choose colours of their personal choice rather than thinking any further. But the fact is that each colour is said to have a personality, each reflects a thought or an idea. A lot of theory and consideration is there behind every successful logo.
The colours used to create the logo should have some associations with the idea behind the company. Also, people recognize brands based on their logo colours. For instance, blue is a colour used by a lot of popular brands because it represents confidence, calmness, and credibility. And that is the reason why it is used by banks and insurance companies.
The colour red portrays power, energy, and excitement; for the same reason brands like Coca-Cola stick on to red colour regardless of the number of times they have altered their logo.
Use fonts that complement your logo design. Also, using too many font styles under a single logo looks odd and highly unprofessional.
Convey a Message
Professional logo designers have a clear understanding of design fundamentals, colour combos, ratios, grids, and typography. They know how to design a logo that has an optimistic first impression on people. They can easily differentiate between the minute elements that people appreciate and dislike.
DIY logos are risky since they may communicate the wrong messages to your audience. Often, small scale companies think that they can start with a self-designed logo and then hire a professional designer once they become established. But, they fail to understand the fact that the first impression is the best. It’s always better to start with a professionally designed logo rather than a logo designed by you.
For instance, Amazon, the world-famous eCommerce giant has a yellow arrow on its logo pointing from the letter “a” to the letter “z”. They wish to convey the message that they sell everything from a to z. Also, the arrow represents the smile with a dimple (the arrowhead!). It symbolizes the happiness felt by people choosing to buy from Amazon.
Versatility
A logo is an element that represents the brand in various visual media platforms because it’s something that the brain can process quickly. Most brands design their websites, social media platforms, marketing advertisements, etc deriving elements from their logo.
A logo is made considering its versatility, i.e, creating it in such a way that it doesn’t look odd when its size is scaled down on a business card or on the Twitter feed. Not just that, there might come instances where there is a need for a scaled-up version of your logo; your logo should be ready to use even for this requirement. A logo becomes versatile when it is compatible to use anywhere.
For example, Beats Electronics, the makers of audio products, designed their logo such that it speaks about the company as well as it is in a form that can be scaled to any size or used anywhere.
Time
Most small scale business owners may not possess all the technical skills required for designing. They have a huge list of tasks to be accomplished and logo designing is one among many of their tasks. For this, they’ll probably allocate a short period, say, 30 minutes. But, even the professional logo designers require hours to get it done. A lot of research and effort goes into the designing process so that it conveys the idea that one wishes to convey through their brand name.
Also, without the complete knowledge about tools, or skills, logo design can become time-consuming.
Wrong File type
Creating a logo on PowerPoint is lame. If you want to use the logo on a project or even for printing, you’ll require a certain file format. Even the printers have issues when it has to print a logo with a file format that is not within the industry standard. So, it’s appropriate to use proper logo creation tools that support standard file formats.
Raster Images
Use vector graphics software, such as Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw for logo designing since it’s much easier to reproduce vector graphics over raster graphics. Raster graphics elements appear pixelated when zoomed in while it won’t happen with a vector graphic since it is made up of mathematically precise points. And these precise points ensure visual consistency across multiple sizes.
Vector visual elements make it easier to scale the logo to any size without losing quality; moreover, it’s convenient to edit and use them in other media in the future.
Conclusion
A logo is a medium through which you tell your customers about what to expect from your business in terms of products, services, and general buying experience.
Here are the ones you shouldn’t trust with your brand’s logo designing with: Online companies offering cheap logo designing, getting it done through online design competitions websites, an acquaintance who claims to know a bit of graphics.
Professional designers know what is trending in logo design and what isn’t appreciated by people whereas an amateur will fail to understand this.
A professionally designed logo has a longer life span and it won’t require to be altered or redesigned now and then. Other than that, it would be a much easier task to reproduce it in the future.
Do not give too much thought on the trends going around, since they come and leave instantly. This is because once these trends leave, your logo will be left outdated.
Finally, do not try to mimic any popular brand logos because then the personality of your brand is lost. All the elements on your logo must work together to represent your company and not someone else.
Still clueless? We have an expert team who can help build your brand. Do check us out.
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