5 secrets to a successful logo design

Logo Design Tips

I often get asked, “What do you think of my logo?”, “Does my logo look good?”, “Is my logo pretty?” and “What do you think of its colors?”.

First things first, we need to get clear that a logo is SO MUCH more than a pretty font and colors!

A good logo design doesn’t just happen because you picked a pretty font and colors. Having a great logo for your small business allows you to stand out and easily get recognized. You want to stand out for all of the right reasons and not create something that is trendy and will last only one season.

We all know Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither should the most used mark in your business! If you want something that lasts, you’re going to need to build something that has all the characteristics of a memorable logo.

You might be the most talented coaches in your field, but if your logo isn’t memorable and just mehh then you are giving off an unprofessional vibe to all your potential clients. They are going to have a harder time trusting you with their time and money. AKA they won’t want to book with you!

It’s your logo’s role in your brand to quickly make that connection to your potential client. Your logo needs to feel well put together and relatable. Having a successful logo will make your small business stand out from your competition.

I know you are probably thinking, that’s easy for you to say because you’re a logo designer. But today is your lucky day! I am gonna share with you my 5 favorite tips to a successful logo design that will attract all your dreamy clients.

So, what makes a good logo?

5 SECRETS TO A SUCCESSFUL LOGO DESIGN

1. A Good Logo Is Designed From the Ground Up

Before you can even start the logo design process, you need to get clear on the foundations of your business. I love to ask my clients the following questions:

What exactly is that you do?
Who really could benefit from your service or product?
And why is it that you are so passionate about this?

These simple questions help us discover the heart of their business and start thinking of elements to incorporate into the logo design. It allows us to start telling the story of your brand. If you take the time to get clear on what you do, who you do it for and why you do what you do, then your logo will instantly feel relevant and unique.

Go ahead, take some time answering those three questions! Once you are done, take a look at your answers. Are there any keywords or phrases that you could incorporate into your logo?

2. Get Inspired By Doing Some Research

When I am working on creating a new logo for a client, I always have some quick ideas in my head but I love to expand on those ideas by doing a little visual research. Taking time to pull some inspiration ensures that your brand and logo line up perfectly!

I like to do the research in 2 steps. First start searching on Pinterest for some keywords and phrases you wrote down in step 1. Then, take a look at your competition’s website, Facebook and Instagram accounts.

When gathering inspiration, you want to be careful that you don’t run down the rabbit hole of “ohhh I love what she is doing!”. You DO NOT want to copy another small business’s logo. Instead you want to make note of what they are doing to ensure that your logo and brand doesn’t get confused with your competition.

If your logo & branding is too similar it will be easy for a potential client to get confused and book with them instead of you! Remember we want our logo to be memorable and not a watered down version of someone else’s.

3. Have Fun Exploring Fonts!

One of my favorite parts of designing a logo is exploring fonts! I can geek out over letters any day of the week. Finding the right fonts for a logo for me is like solving a puzzle.

Different types of fonts (serif, sans serif, slab serif, script, and handwritten) evoke different feelings. The font you pick will instantly set the overall tone and vibe for your brand. A rule of thumb for picking fonts for your logo is to stick with 1-2 fonts that compliment each other.

My go-to place to find fonts is Creative Market. They make it super easy to search and are budget friendly. The best part is, you can test out the font beforehand! You simply type in your business name into the “Type some text..” field and you instantly can see how it will look!

I like to take it a step farther since you most likely will be using the same font used in your logo throughout your brand. I like to test out how it will look with common words that will be used throughout the brand. For example, if I was a health & wellness coach in addition to my business name, I would test out words like health, wellness, nutrition, coach, self-care, and mindset, as these would be common words I would want in my headlines.

If you need help figuring out what type of fonts you should pick for your logo, check out my blog post, How To Pick Your Brand Fonts.

4. Your Logo Should Great in Color and in Black & White

Color plays a major role in our branding, but I like to start designing logos in black and white. As your business expands, your logo needs to be able to grow with you. You may only need your logo on your website right now, but there may be a time where you want it on other mediums – email newsletter, a downloadable freebie, mugs, t-shirts, sign, etc!

5. Keep It Simple

The last but most important secret I have to share with you is simply keep it simple! I can’t tell you how many logos I see that have WAY too much going on. They instantly remind me of my kitchen sink after I did some holiday baking.

When you start adding in too many things into your logo, it starts to look unprofessional, cheap and screams DIY.

Let me give you a quick analogy. Do remember the episode when Phoebe changed her name to Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock?

Sure her name was silly, but can you imagine having to remember all that each time you called her. A complicated logo is like that. It gets lost in the sea of your competition.

Instead of trying to cram everything into your logo, maybe you incorporate some of the key items into your brand’s graphic elements.

So, to recap…

5 TIPS TO A SUCCESSFUL LOGO DESIGN:

Designing your logo based off the foundation of your business
Getting inspired by doing some research
Exploring different fonts for your logo design
Designing a black & white and colored version of your logo
Keeping your logo design simple

Follow these steps and you’ll find yourself with not only a logo that you feel confident about and love. But also a logo that attracts your ideal clients!

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(Well, that and eating pizza. I’m really good at eating pizza!)

CREATING A BRAND THAT WILL GET YOUR BUSINESS NOTICED IS WHAT I’M BEST AT.

I help boss ladies, like yourself, every step in their branding journey.

I understand that visuals attract, but stories are what convert. That’s why I built a branding process that discovers the heart of your business and story.

I create custom logos and branding so you can feel confident in your biz and get back to the things you love! Let’s be honest, you’ve got a mile long to-do list and creating your logo and branding should be the last thing you stress about!