When you look at a check mark, a mermaid, or the letter “m”, immediately, there are certain brands you associate with them. It does not matter whether these icons appear to you in raw form or drawn using company colours, the first thing that would still come to mind are Nike, Starbucks, and McDonald’s.

That is the genius of logo design. People no longer needed to be told what or who those icons represent; just one look gives consumers a certain kind of expectation attached to the brand. For this reason, companies are very particular with where their logos are stamped on. But more than just protecting their brand reputation, a lot of work went in creating a logo, no matter how simple it looks.

A logo is a company’s visual identity, it influences how they are perceived by customers and their purchasing behaviour. For those of you who are now in the design process of your business or individual brand, there are tips and rules that you can follow in order to create something that is truly effective and top-of-mind.

Sketches and inspiration boards are important

The first step in designing anything is drawing it on pen and paper. Ask the team members what they think would be a good logo design and have them sketch it for you. Then you can ask a professional designer to create a draft on an Illustrator program so you can get a good idea of what the final design will look like. To help you get inspiration, you can also create a mood board. This will allow you to go back to your brand and the target audience. What images can be associated with your industry and brand? How about colours or symbols? The mood board will be your aesthetic guide as you finalise your logo design.

Typography is everything

You might not realise it yet, but choosing the best font type to use is harder than some people would think. If your final design includes a text, you will probably have to scour for the best font type to use and testing them. When choosing a font consider the following:

• Never choose Comic Sans – it will look very silly and you run the risk of not being taken seriously.
• Do not use more than two types of font.
• Make sure that it is readable (scale down the logo to see if you can still read it).

Another idea would be to create your own font style. Granted it will take considerable amount of time to finish, but you can at least make sure that your brand is very unique that way.

Learn all about how colour can affect perception

There is a whole psychology behind colours, and it would be wise to at least familiarise yourself with it. Just choosing a bright colour because you want to get people’s attention or a dark one because you are sticking to an aesthetic may do more harm than good. Certain colours incite certain emotions, for instance:

• White – simplicity, clean and pure
• Blue – tranquility, medical and professional
• Red – energetic, sexy
• Green – natural and organic, growth
• Black – powerful, sophisticated

A combination of different colours can send a message, and if done right, hopefully it’s the right message. But it does not just stop there. Here are a few reminders to keep in mind:

• Play around with different combinations of colour, but limit it to just two
• Make sure they are easy on the eyes
• Use colours that are near each other on the colour wheel

Do not worry, you can always ask a professional designer to help you with logo and branding. But knowing all of these will help you guide your designer as you work on a final logo.