How To Make A Good Logo

Time after time I have seen and heard of people spending valuable time trying to come up with the perfect logo design.

Now you may say that’s pretty fresh coming from me as my background is in design, but the reality is that logo design is a lot easier than most people think.

All you have to do is think like a designer and not like a business owner and that is how you will make a good logo. Quite simple really.

How To Think Like A Designer

As a business owner you consume your thoughts with what your business does and how it operates. Typically if your business is fixing computers you will want your logo to reflect that so into your logo will go a computer and a spanner placed inappropriately around it. I understand your thinking behind this, but this is clearly not a good logo.

A logo is an icon of your business an avatar of what your business can achieve.
It needs to be:

Simple
Timeless
Memorable
Versatile
Appropriate

I want you to now think of 5 logos.

Got them?

Ok, I am sure that the 5 logos that came to your head immediately are all simple, timeless, memorable, versatile and appropriate. I can almost guarantee one of them was Facebook’s logo and another one was probably McDonald’s and or Coca-Cola.

The 3 logos I just mentioned all follow the 5 essential good logo design criteria.

Simple Logo

The Nike tick is just a tick. Nothing complex there and I doubt they are struggling financially. Simple logo designs are easier for people to understand and thus makes your business more easily identifiable.

You have probably all heard the K.I.S.S principle (Keep It Simple Stupid), well K.I.S.S was made for logo creation. The more simple and basic the design is the more people will identify with it.

If you were speeding pass this logo on a bullet train (or in the passenger seat of my car) you will still be able to identify what logo it is because its simple.

Timeless Logos

A logo should not follow any trends or fashion. It need to be a logo that will still be relevant 10, 20, 30+ years from now. Coca-Cola’s script font logo has been around since 1900. Yes there has been tweaks here and there, but essentially the script based logo has stood the test of time and this is what any good logo needs to achieve.

Memorable Logos

They don’t come more memorable than the McDonald’s logo. Probably the most identifiable logo in the world. Why is it so memorable? Because it is simple and it follows these design principles.

Note McDonald’s make burgers and fries. Do you see any reference to burgers and fries in their logo?

Subject matter is not required when making a logo. However it does need to be appropriate.

Versatile Logos

If your logo is tiny on a business card it will still work. If its huge on a billboard, it will still work. If its many different colours (and this I do not recommend this) it will still work and if it is just one colour it will still work.

Versatile logos can go well anywhere at any size and still be easily identified. If your logo is complex this will not be possible.

The BBC logo is a great example of versatility.

Appropriate Logos

Toys R Us is a logo designed for its market which is children. The logo is appropriate and suits what you would expect a business selling children’s toys to be. If on the other hand Toys R Us sold adult toys, well, their logo would then not be so appropriate.