Although it may seem like a small symbol, a logo can make or break the image of a business, showing just how powerful this symbol is. A logo acts as the graphical representation of a brand. Sure, you offer the best services to your audience and you have the top-quality products. However, you will not see the same results without an on-point logo.
Even experienced and professional designers can make mistakes when it comes to designing a logo. In this post, we’ll cover six major mistakes you should avoid when designing a logo.
Focusing on Trends Only
Being too fixated on trends is an all too common mistake these days. There is nothing wrong with following the latest design trends, but you need to remember that your logo should always represent your brand. It must be relevant to your (or your client’s) services, products, and company values. It is okay to follow a trend, but don’t get so bogged down in these modern fads that your final design ends up being completely irrelevant to the brand.
If you design your logo based on the latest trends, then it will not last long. Trends might stay for a while, but are unlikely to stick around for the length of time you’d like your logo to last. This means designing a logo around the latest trends could date quickly and cease to be effective. Try to stick to an eye-catchy, relevant, and unique design. For most companies, the logo is a long-term investment: they look for a design that can last for years rather than a season.
Choosing a Complex Design
As tempting as it sounds, designing a complicated logo just to show off your talent will do no good to your image. There is no point in going overboard with the design when you can attract your audience with a simple and elegant logo. Remember, the most important thing is the efficacy of the logo, not the level of skill in demonstrates.
a minimal design as it has quite a few advantages. For example, a simple but effective logo will help your audience to understand your brand. Secondly, simple logos are easy to remember.
Imitating the Logo of Other Brands
Many designers copy all or some part of their competitor’s logo design. You can’t be a truly excellent designer if you rely on someone else’s design. It is much better to create unique and 100% original designs. For instance, you can use the colours Google has used for its logo, but do not expect your audience to like your work.
What’s more, you do not want to end up in court for breaching intellectual property laws. What if the company files a law suit against you for copying the logo? Your client will really appreciate your work if you put in the effort and design an original logo.
Using the Wrong Typefaces
If you are designing a logo for a law company, then you can’t use Blackadder ITC, Cosmic Sans, and other such fonts, as these are not appropriate or on-brand. These are the last fonts a legal firm appreciate as they are far from brand-appropriate. On the other hand, a client like this will appreciate a font that is professional and minimal.
The most important thing is to thoroughly research your client. You should be clear on the primary message they are looking to convey to their audience, as well as thoroughly understanding their services. These insights will help you to design a logo that resonates with your client’s brand.
Selecting the Wrong Colors
There are a plethora of features that make up logo. However, whether featured on a website, poster or custom stickers, your audience will most likely only notice a few key features such as the colours, fonts, and the typography. Using the right colours is critical, but don’t get carried away. The colours you use for a logo should resonate with the company’s brand story, and generally speaking, two or three colours only is ideal for a logo.
Using Raster Graphics
Logos that have issues with pixel quality don’t make a good first impression. That being said, raster graphics or bitmap would be a bad choice. That’s why most designers use vector graphics for logo designing.
Since vector graphics do not use pixels, they deliver consistent high quality and editing vector graphics is much easier compared to bitmaps. Even if you are using traditional graphics, a logo image made of raster graphics will look blurry when used on larger marketing materials such as banners.
The Bottom Line
A logo is your company’s calling card. An effective logo can help you to grow your business while a poorly-designed logo can greatly damage your marketing efforts. Take care to avoid the common mistakes mentioned above and you’ll be able to design a spectacular logo to support for marketing efforts.
