What exactly is logo design and branding?

 

The Logo is the symbol that represents a company, business or group using visual expression, symbolism and colors reflecting the company behind it—who it is, what it produces, it is the iconic emblem that marks its products and property.
A logo design by itself is very limited, hence the power of Branding comes in to expound upon the the much farther reaching elements that go beyond the logo. Branding includes; the color palette, font and type styles and all the visual elements that form the message and emotion supporting your logo. The logo works with the support of Branding to establish your companies identity. The stronger the logo design, and the stronger the branding, the clearer and more powerful your message is. These form your company identity as a whole to make the most complete first impression.
 
Corporations spend millions to research, formulate, test and perfect the customers responses to colors, fonts, text placement, which words, phrases and slogans will work to best convey exactly what they want potential customers to feel or how to respond when their logo is seen and their brand is used.

Check on your logo and brand influence:

1. Is It Audience Appropriate?

Your logo design should be a core influence of your branding and transfer consistently with across all of you other visual assets. As a symbol of your company, it should also feel authentic to your industry. Carefully choose and check symbols to avoid any cultural confusion to prevent disconnect between your audience and their perception of your products or services. You must know and connect well with your audience, but more importantly, you want them to connect with you.

2. Keep it Simple

Cramming too much info or details into a logo will end up making it look cluttered and confusing, especially when used in smaller sizes. Avoid detailed images that include text or fine lined details, as these not only lose clarity when used in small settings but can also become lost. Will your logo be able to grow with you, as your business grows? Try to stick to one, simple shape or symbol for the maximum clarity and longevity. This is where the term “less is more” can help you refine the lines and composition at its best. Classic and simple will last forever. Avoid the trendy symbols and shapes that follow another brand or influence that could date your image, or lock your identity into the wrong niche.

 

3. Keep It Clear

Don’t lose the meaning and integrity of a good clear graphic logo by applying special effects such as drop shadows, beveling or patterns. Subtle effects can quickly be lost or distorted across devices and platforms and can reduce the effectiveness of an otherwise fine logo design. Use other areas of your branding to expand on styling.

 

4. Color Moves Emotion

All colors carry meaning and create an immediate impression of your brand. For example, for a feeling of fun and energy, use orange and yellow, or to inspire trust and authority, use blue and gray. Color intensity can also convey meaning, with soft pastel shades traditionally being chosen in the beauty and health industries with neon colors picked by brands that want to make a bold impression. Flat color blocks will be more visually effective than subtle shading and grading effects.

 

5. Make It Functional

Your logo design needs to work in a variety of different medias and dimensions. It should withstand being blown up to billboard proportions and yet agile enough to still look great if squeezed into a tiny social media box. A professional vector graphic design of your logo will scale properly where a non-scalable graphic file becomes distorted when resized. Similarly, lots of fine text and detail will quickly make a logo illegible when shrunk to fit small dimensions. We want it to be flexible and look great at any size.

 

6. Brand Protection

After much time, research and hard work have gone into to create a logo design, take care to protect it, to keep it by taking the time to write up brand guidelines that instruct anyone working with your logo, to know how to use your logo. Guidelines can include the exact colors (CYMK or RGB details), the scale and bordering white-spacing surrounding each element of the logo design, including the use of any tag-line and branding you have.

 

 

 

Great Design and Branding Inspires