How to make a logo?

Many decisions need to be made when creating a company logo, namely: colors, fonts, and symbols.

It sounds like a lot, right? That’s why we created this free logo creation guide which helps you go out confidently and create the best logo for your business or for any kind of startup project.

1. Research

Do a research on how your competitor logos look a like.

2. Learn

Learn about logo design.

3. Get logo ideas

Get ideas for colors, fonts, and symbols.

4. Make it

Lastly make a logo.

If you want to start making your own logo right away, you can always start here by getting to know how the professionals are doing it.

Step 1: Research look alike companies logos

Most of us don’t like doing research – why can’t I start already ?! – but it is an important step in any big project. For your logo to be successful and long lasting, you will need to build a solid understandment how are your competitors doing and what can be done better. And to build a solid foundation, you need to do research. It’s just it. Nothing else.

By building a strong brand identity, your company gains credibility and becomes recognizable as it grows. Before immersing yourself into logo design, take some time to consider the following questions:

What are adjectives that describe my brand?

The next step in your journey is to create a list of attributes for your brand. This list may also include specific features, values, and benefits that you want your company to be known for. Here are some examples:

  • Innovative, friendly, easy to use
  • Sympathizes with the highest quality customer service
  • Witty / smart marketing and #tag in the social space

Write them down and use them to make your brand more vibrant.

What is my company name? Will I use a slogan?

If you haven’t already, it’s time to validate your company name and decide if you want a slogan that could be a description of your business.

When you come up with some good business name options, ask yourself these five questions about each:

  1. Is it original?
  2. Is this the future proof? (aka how will it evolve with your business?)
  3. How convenient and easy is it to write?
  4. Is it available (domain, social channels, etc.)?
  5. Do I like it?

If the answer to each of these questions is “YES!”, Then you are one step closer to starting your logo design!

Where will I use my logo the most?

Where you plan to display your logo, this will have a direct impact on your design. You may have a construction company and plan to use your logo on t-shirts, truck stickers and signs.

Or maybe you’re a consulting company that will use your logo mostly online – your website, landing pages, social media channels, and Skype. Think about the programs that are most important and what type of logo will stand out.

In almost all cases, a simple logo design and a clean layout will help ensure that it looks great everywhere. Here are some common uses for the logo:

  • Online: Website headers and icons, e-mail signatures By mail, invoices and receipts
  • Social media: profile photos, cover photos, videos, ads
  • Print: Business cards, brochures, posters, car stickers, clothes, packaging

You may need multiple logo variations to adapt to different media, but talk about that later.

Step 2: Learn about logo design

Contrary to popular belief, creating a company logo is entirely possible! You don’t need fancy editing software or years of design experience. Believe it or not, you can create your own logo in five minutes through an online logo maker!

But before you embark on the journey of creating a logo, you need to know that you trust the process.

What is a good logo?

Although the quality of a logo is subjective, there are certain elements that make a logo good or bad.

Some of the best logos of all time are simple, memorable, unique, versatile and relevant to the industry and target market your business serves. They should also be easily recognizable and clearly represent the brand.

By comparison, bad logos are trend-oriented (or copy other famous logos), complex and confusing, leading to poor brand recognition and versatility. They can also be boring or common (don’t confuse them with ordinary ones).

Looking at the examples below, the example on the left clearly shows what a company is and which is easy to read and remember.

The one on the right is creative and fun, but it’s incredibly hard to figure out what the company is even doing!

What is a visual hierarchy?

The visual hierarchy first directs viewers to the most important information, then through visual cues such as fonts, colors, sizes, etc., they point to the rest of the content.

For example, if you have a company name and slogan, you will want the company name to be bigger and bolder than your slogan to create a visual hierarchy, as seen in the logo at the top left.

Why? The name indicates how people will refer to your brand, and your slogan is an appealing addition to help describe your brand.

The three main types of logos

Logo design can be divided into two categories: logos that consist only of text (denoting a company name or initials), and logos that contain both text and a symbol.

Here’s a breakdown of the three most common logos – there are a few more, but we want to do it simply!

1. The Wordmark logo

The most classic form of a logo is a word mark, which designers sometimes call a “logo.”

Words only use your business name – no characters or monograms – in the current or custom font. These types of logos are best if you have a short, unique company name and no slogan.

2. Monogram logo

A monogram is a logo that contains one to three letters, usually the company’s initials or the first letter. The monogram can act as a symbol in the logo, and the company name is below.

In the case of well-known brands, the word is dropped: for example, P&G – Procter and Gamble, VW – Volkswagen or LV – Louis Vuitton. However, most new businesses would keep their company name under or next to the monogram to create a name recognition feature!

3. Combined logo

Combined logos are exactly what they sound like: a combination of a word and a symbol.

This type of logo makes it easy to identify your brand by using two design elements that reflect your brand (and can be used separately if necessary). Not surprisingly, this is the most common type of logo.

Logo shape and layout options

Form plays an important role in the aesthetics of your logo because they have special associations in the human brain. This allows brands to use forms to help convey a message or feeling to their target audience.

Forms can be used as containers and symbols to create a logo.

What is a container?

In the cache, your logo will be limited in space and neatly packaged for visual use. It’s important to note that while containers are visually interesting for your logo, they can sometimes cause challenges with scalability because the logo resides in a smaller space.

Make sure your business name is still readable in the cache when you change to different sizes.

Here are some values associated with some of the most common forms of the logo, and design aspects of each:

  • Circles of Friends:
    Represents unity, security and protection. They are best suited for shorter titles or monograms and should be used in large print to ensure readability when zooming up and down.
  • Squares + Rectangles:
    Translated into feelings of stability and balance in the human mind. This more traditional form is suitable for longer names and is popular with large corporations.
  • Triangles: Assessed as a more aggressive form related to strength, conflict, and speed. They can be used to reflect direction and movement or as a substitute for the letters “A” and “V.”
  • Vertical / Horizontal Orientation:
    Vertical lines and shapes are associated with aggression, strength, courage, and dominance, while horizontal shapes take on a calmer and calmer feel.
  • Organic shapes: these shapes give them a natural feel and provide warmth and comfort that you can’t fully achieve in other shapes!

Other logo layout options

There are several other ways to think about the layout of a logo that is unrelated to the shapes. These include:

Stacked Text: One way to add intrigue to a more classic logo is to use stacked text. Words can be stacked vertically to get your attention, although sometimes this layout is combined with horizontal text to create more style options. Remember that it is best to use stacked text when the words in the logo are almost the same length.

Symbol location: The symbol location can change the overall look of the logo. Is it in the center? To the side? At the top of the word? Included in the word mark? If you use a symbol in your logo, be sure to consider all the options and find out which location best suits your brand and logo.

Slogan Location: If your logo has a slogan, it will almost always appear below your company name. But will it be centered or grounded on the left? In a different font than your word? Depending on the length of your slogan, you can try different options to find out what looks best.

Step 3: Get ideas for colors, fonts, and symbols

It’s finally time to dive into creating your own logo!

By using logo research and the ideas above, you should have a good understanding of your target market and brand attributes, as well as the style and layout of your desired logo. Let’s go into colors, fonts and symbols!

Logo colors

Choosing a color for your logo design doesn’t just mean what looks good on you. Think about how your audience will understand this and where it will appear.

Different colors evoke different feelings and emotions, so choose them wisely. Do you see that your brand is in cold tones like blue, green and purple, or in warm tones like red, orange and yellow? Or maybe you’re more inclined to black, white, and gray to match your brand identity. Pay attention to the colors used by your competitors, you will want to remain colors well known to your industry, but at the same time differentiate yourself from the competitors.

To help you decide, here are some emotions and descriptions related to some of the most famous colors:

  • Black: Power and sophistication. It can also show elegance, formality or mystery.
  • Blue: professionalism and success. Commonly used in company logos, but works in many industries.
  • Orange: joy and optimism. The result is an enthusiastic and excited cognitive association that is also great for attracting attention.
  • Green: balance and peace. Most commonly used when brands want to emphasize the connection to the environment, well-being, health and tranquility.
  • Pink: feminine and nurturing. Depending on the hue, it can have a mild and calming effect, triggering a cognitive connection with safety and nurturing. However, other shades are more likely to be associated with love, flirtation, and femininity.
  • Purple: Royal and spiritual. Throughout history, purple has been considered the royal color. The connection with royalties led to a purple cognitive association with wealth, nobility, and luxury.
  • Red: Confidence and Ambition. Often used to reflect masculine energy and found to stimulate appetite and energy.
  • Yellow: happiness and positivity. Often very bright and often eye-catching. Designed to improve self-esteem and thought to be like red, it also stimulates appetite and boosts energy.
  • White: pure and simple. Traditionally associated with purity, purity, innocence and simplicity.
  • Gray: classic and serious. Becoming a more popular style, gray is a great color to use to achieve a mature look.

When you finish your logo, you should also have a black and white version where the use of a color logo does not apply (e.g. when you place it on top of an image). So you want a black version of your logo, so try it out before you finish your own!

Tip: Want to use a specific color in your logo? You will need to know the exact HEX code (a string of numbers and letters that indicates that color). When working with the logo design, you can copy the HEX codes into the Tailor Brands editor!

How many colors should I use in my logo?

Most brands use 2-3 colors, one of which is black or white. Of course, there are several companies (like Google, eHarmony, and Slack) that have many colors in their logos.

Feel free to try more colors, but make sure your logo looks good in black or white again!

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Logo fonts

With thousands of fonts to choose from, choosing a logo is not an easy task. Each font conveys something different and should match your brand attributes and identity.

Let’s look at the different font styles and what their visual differences mean for branding and communication.

1. Serif fonts

Fonts with few “legs” at the edges are called serif fonts. These are timeless, high-end, classic fonts associated with tradition and fitness. The most famous sheriff is Times New Roman. Due to its timelessness, it is often used to attract more mature demographics.

2. Sans-serif fonts

These fonts don’t have small legs like serif fonts, so they tend to be cleaner and more modern. They are easy to read and work well on all media.

3. Script fonts

Handwriting and script fonts give the logo a lot of personality and tend to look formal, elegant and feminine. This is one of the more difficult styles to select because script fonts are harder to read at first glance, but when done properly, they can make your logo unique and iconic.

4. Modern fonts

Modern fonts are sans-serif fonts that have a certain sophistication and rigor. This makes them most effective in younger demographics and is popular among software and technology companies.

5. Display fonts

Finally, the fonts displayed are usually a broad category of non-conventional fonts that provide significant visual impact. They can be sparkling and fun, or nervous and futuristic, but beware of using ultra-fashionable or out-of-brand personalities.

You can also have custom fonts created just for your company, so your logo will be 100% unique. Custom fonts are usually an additional cost when working with a designer to create your logo.

Logo symbols

Symbols are another design element you can add to your logo to help people recognize your brand.

Symbols can be figurative and literal (e.g., animals or bulbs) or geometric and abstract (e.g., hexagons or overlapping circles). Just make sure any symbol you choose doesn’t confuse or mislead your audience.

For example, if you’re a fitness trainer, there’s no point in using a grocery cart symbol in the logo – something like a heartbeat line could communicate your services more clearly.

You also want your character to match your font style – so if you use a modern, sans-serif font, you probably don’t want to combine it with a hand-drawn, antique-looking character.

As discussed in the Layout section, you’ll want to see what looks best to experiment with the layout of the character. Try putting it to the left, right, top, or bottom of the business name – you can even try it in the middle of the word.

Step 4: Make a logo

“You’re telling me I can finally start creating my logo?”

Yes, yes we are. Not sure how to create your own? Here are three DIY options:

Option 1: Create a logo from scratch

If you already have design experience and have access to software like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, then you can create your own logo from scratch.

Hiring a designer to create your logo from scratch can be expensive, fast! With your tools and knowledge, you are completely free to evaluate your design as well as save money.

Option 2: Buy a logo template and customize it

Another option is to go with a template. There are several companies and websites that offer free or paid logo templates that you can customize by editing your company name, colors, and more.

There are two possible problems with this method: 1) These templates may not be very customizable and 2) There may be hundreds (maybe even thousands) of other companies whose logo design is almost identical to yours.

Logos, like people, are unique. Every business should be recognizable and memorable. As soon as your logo looks like someone else’s, your brand awareness decreases!

If you still want to try this method, we encourage you to try an Tailor Brands online logo maker as well, as their price can be very similar, but logo makers give you much more flexibility in creating your design.

Option 3: Use an online logo maker

If you want a unique custom logo but don’t have the design experience or the time to do it yourself, using an online logo creator is probably the best choice!

Instead of working with a template, these tools allow you to create your own design with a much more intuitive and intelligent design platform. We recommend Tailor Brands.

Step 5: Try and finish

Once you’ve created a logo (or multiple!), It’s time to take stress tests. Here are some questions you should answer before you finish designing your business logo:

Is my logo changing?

With a resizable logo, you can display it anywhere and wherever your heart desires (well, almost anywhere). Want to put it on a huge billboard? 

How about your business cards?

When you get a resizable logo, no matter where you decide to put it, it will look clean and crisp (not pixelated) and remain easy to read and recognize. Make sure your logo works in both large and small sizes and is readable.

Another must have a resizable logo: a vector file.

Vector files are essential because they act as master files that you can endlessly scale, edit, or send to a designer or printer. They are created in programs such as Adobe Illustrator and can then be converted to any other file format you need, such as PNG or JPG. Examples of vector files are SVG, EPS, and PDF.

Does my logo look good in black or white?

It is necessary to have a completely black and white version of the logo with a transparent background. Why? Because it allows your logo to be more versatile and work in a variety of visual environments.

When the background of the logo is transparent, it gives you the power to put the logo on any colored background, including images and videos!

If your logo is not well translated by changing it to completely black or white, consider adjusting it slightly. Does the font have to be bolder or does the character have to be simpler? Would a different layout make your logo easier to customize?

Does my logo look good in the apps I use it the most?

This can affect the design of your logo, depending on your company and where you interact most with customers.

Are you planning to put in the effort to build a strong social community? Think about what your logo (or logo variations) will look like on your social media profiles. From profile images to banners to posts, you want your logo to look great in all of these social environments.

Or you can plan to display your logo mostly on prints such as car stickers, business cards and posters. Does your logo look well reduced on a card, or enlarged in a large print? Does it contain complex elements that need to be simplified?

Think about what your logo will look like in all major apps, and make the appropriate changes to ensure the optimal look of your logo.

Can I use different variations of the logo?

This leads to logo variations that make your logo more versatile and user-friendly. With a distinctive word (typography) as well as a unique symbol (image), you can use the elements together or separately to represent your brand. The brand below uses the rhinoceros symbol to help represent your brand on all platforms.

So the logo you have as a Facebook profile picture can only be a symbol version or just a monogram version, and the logo you print on the t-shirt will be a “full” logo – although different, they mean the same brand.

After creating and testing your logo, it’s finally time to implement it. After all, a beautifully designed logo is not valuable if it is not applied to anyone! 

Here are some great places – online and offline – to get you started:

  • Social media profile image and banner
  • Website title and favicon
  • El. Postal signature
  • Business Cards
  • Transfers
  • Package
  • Stationery
  • Invoices and receipts
  • T-shirts, hats, cups and various twists

Remember: If you are printing something with your logo, please send us a vector file (EPS or SVG). If you work with a printer, they usually ask for it. If not, still send them so they have everything you need to make your prints look fragile.

Do I have brand guidelines?

Finally, once you’re done designing, you’ll want to create brand guidelines. Brand guidelines are a set of rules for representing your brand across all channels and assets, helping your business grow in trust and recognition. Brand guidelines should include:

  • title page
  • Logo Guidelines
  • Color palettes
  • Typography
  • Examples of use

They may also include mission layout, visual rules for images and icons, brand voice guidelines, and e-mails for assets such as packaging. Email Marketing, etc., Specifications.

(If you create a logo using Tailor Brands, you can immediately generate brand guidelines to make sure your logo always looks its best.)

Let’s repeat – to create an amazing logo, it’s helpful to explore your brand, learn the basics of creating a logo, explore colors, fonts, and symbols … and then create! 

When you have the opportunity to work with two, try your logo in different sizes and different layouts to make sure it meets your needs. Improve as required and show it to people you trust if you need help making a decision.

By following these steps, you can be sure that you have a strong logo that you can show the world. You have it!