2021 - My new business part 2 - Logo's
Right, so you have your business name sorted (if you don't check out my previous post here) - great. What's next?....... Logo's
Well there is definitely something to be said for getting a professional graphic designer to create your logo, but, if you're on a budget that's not always an option. Either way, here are a few practical points to consider.
Once again do your research, check out the competition. Think about some of the big name brands... what catches your eye? What sticks in your mind? What piques your attention? Lots of logos start out complicated and with elements that mean something to the company owner. Lets take a look at Mercedes....
Well after the original merger between Daimler and Benz, forming Mercedes-Benz in the 1920's the logo looked like this (left), but became the iconic symbol we know today. (right)
And if you're really interested check out this:-
Merc's 3 pointed star stands for land, air and sea domination - who knew!
Yes, but what does all this have to do with your logo? Well your logo can say alot about your company, but if it needs explaining then it may be too much.
Some practical points to consider:-
Colour
Size
Font
These are the three main things to think about when designing your logo. The colours you have in your logo are going to have a direct impact on the colours for your website and social media. Choose something you like!
In general your website designer will need at least three colours to use on your website. This doesn't mean that you need 3 colours in your logo, but you will need at least one. A good designer can then choose shades of, or complimentary colours, when building your site. Chosen a black and white design? Not a problem but you will need to think of a signature colour to be used for highlights on your site.
Not sure what your colours are? No problem, head over to Color Picker upload your logo and write down the codes.
On to size, now I'm not talking file size or pixels here. Although you do need to make sure you have your logo available in several sizes good enough to print for later on when you might need leaflets, t-shirts, banners etc. (much later on)
Sizing - you may have chosen a great logo - be happy with the colour and the shape but is it suitable for use? Will you be relying on social media to build awareness about your brand or drive customers to your site? Well, have a look at the requirements on them. The different social media platforms require different sizes and shapes of logo. You may have chosen a nice rectangular one - but how is that going to look on Facebooks circular profile photo?
This doesn't have to change your whole logo though - you could have a 'social media' logo which is adapted slightly to fit. For example:-
Or you could just pick an element from your logo and use only that - In this example just the Bull's head.
One last point to consider - font. Ok so you really love that brush style calligraphy swirly font, (we all do) but..... can it be easily read? And what does your business name look like in it? Can it be understood?
What does this say?
This makes more sense. Don't forget to consider punctuation including Capital letters or lower case - it all makes an impact.
Not all fonts are equal. Once you've decided you may need to purchase your font so that it can be used on program's like 'Canva' that use their own fonts. Or you may need to find a close match.
Great your logo is sorted! Congrats. One final job - you will thank yourself for doing this later. Create a style sheet. Which is....?
Head on over to word and open a black document. In here stick a copy of your logo, or logo's if you have more than one variation and write down which ones are used for what. Website, letter heads, social media etc. These are just for reference.
Next, grab those hex codes and write them down. Finally, add in the names of any fonts used. At this point you might only have one, however, you will end up with at least two once your website is being created. You can always add to this document later.
Done? - this is your style sheet. It contains the basic look of your brand. Hand it over to any VA, web designer, printer as and when you need to.
One thing to note is that you will need to provide them with separate high quality files of your logo, don't ever just use the copied and pasted versions in this style sheet. They won't be high enough quality, they are just there for reference.
Look out for the next post in this blog series - Social Media and Networking
If you enjoyed this then you might like to join my Facebook group - Demystifying IT for Small Business Owners for lots more helpful tips