When I visited LinkedIn this morning, one of the first posts that displayed in my feed was from Andrew:
I’m launching a new business and can’t decide which logo to use. Can you tell me which of these two logos you prefer?
Andrew, I appreciate you asking for my opinion.
And it looks like over 1,400 people have already provided their thoughts on which logo to use, choosing A or B.
But I can’t. And here’s why.
Tell Me What Your Goals Are
Andrew, my opinion doesn’t matter, unless I understand your business goals and strategy.
I don’t know what Andrew’s new business is. He didn’t provide any information and his logo didn’t offer any clues.
He only asked me which logo I liked.
I have no idea what his goals and strategy are for his business. And that’s something that needs to be finalized before designing a logo.
Process of Designing a Logo
One of my favorite posts about designing logos is the first post in a four-part series written by Dane Gonzelez, where he walks you through the steps and process of creating a logo for a photographer.
In Establishing Goals Through Preliminary Discussions, Gonzalez discusses the first meeting with a client about their logo design.
Gonzalez lists ten questions he initially asks clients when discussion logos. Three of his questions:
- Who is your audience?
- What do you want the logo to accomplish?
- How will the logo be used?
would have helped Andrew to get more meaningful responses from his LinkedIn connections.
But Andrew didn’t explain any of that, he only wanted votes for A or B.
And my vote doesn’t matter, without knowing Andrew’s business goals and strategy.
Make Your Logo Memorable
Both of Andrew’s logos had a combination of words and shapes in them, which didn’t make either logo easy to remember.
A complicated logo can be difficult to remember (and may be challenging to reproduce effectively for different sizes).
Make it easy for people to recognize your logo: keep it simple in form.
Your logo is for your audience. What do you want people to think, and remember when they view your logo?
Conclusion
Don’t ask me or anyone which logo they prefer, without explaining your business goals and strategy.
Choosing a logo isn’t a contest or deciding whether to wear a red sweater or blue sweater today. It’s your logo, it represents your company.
It needs to be effective and recognizable.
I’ve gone through the logo design process with a few website clients. Here’s a few more tips to consider:
- Make sure the logo works vertically and horizontally
- Does the logo work in both large and small sizes?
- Be mindful of adding text to a logo, text can disappear when a logo is reduced
- Does the logo display well against a white or black background (without adding a white or black box around the logo)?
Want to learn more about designing logos? Check out the 10 golden rules of logo design from Creative Bloq.
