It goes without saying that your logo is the key to building a successful brand and marketing your small business.
Whether you are designing your logo for the first time, or re-branding an existing design – here are the top 4 mistakes to avoid along the way.
1. Being a ‘Focus Group of One’
While your logo should reflect your brand’s identity and you should partner closely with the logo designer in the creation process – don’t get too close to the process by falling into the common pitfall of becoming a focus group of one. The easiest mistake to make is catering to your own preferences instead of thinking of the qualities that your business wants to be known for. If you’re trying to satisfy your own tastes without your target customer in mind and the broader picture of what your brand stands for, you’ll likely create a logo that is only appreciated by a very small group of people – or worse, misconveying the purpose of your business.
An affordable yet powerful route to small business logo design is to look at crowdsourcing companies such as 99 Designs where after completing their simple online brief , hundreds of thousands of creative designers begin to brainstorm ideas tailored just for your business need.
2. Making your logo too busy
Some entrepreneurs mistakenly believe that logos need to include copious amounts of detail. Including as much information as possible might seem like the best idea, but you’re creating a simple graphic, not necessarily an artistic masterpiece.
Your logo should be memorable, something consumers can easily recognize. If you add superfluous content to your logo, it’ll be difficult for customers to memorize the finer points and for your small business to develop brand recognition.
3. Using too many fonts
Many logos include some text elements. For instance, you can write your business’ name under the emblem to ensure that consumers remember it. However, you shouldn’t go overboard with text by using multiple font styles. Keep it Simple.
Smashing Magazine explains that you should use two different fonts at most. This will improve the readability of the text components of your logo. Additionally, if you include a slogan in your logo, you should use one font for the name and another for the catchphrase.
4. Creating a logo that doesn’t work in multiple formats
Finally, your logo must be able to work in multiple use-cases; horizontal, vertical, and other factors such as ensuring that the logo will look just as impactful in color as it does in grayscale. In some cases, color won’t be available, so the image will have to appear in black and white. If you’re relying on a color scheme to make your graphic stand out, consumers won’t be able to develop brand recognition from newspaper ads and other resources. Graphic Design Blender recommends creating a logo that works great in color and grayscale.
These missteps only scratch the surface of mistakes that small business owners make when designing a logo.
What are some other examples of errors that you’ve noticed lately?
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