Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Dakota Berg

Let’s set one thing straight up front, a logo in itself is not a brand. A logo is a piece of a brand. Even the concept of a single logo for a company is antiquated. Brands going into 2018 are going to need a logo system. This generally consists of a variety of colored logos, grayscale logos, single-color logos, animated logos, logo extensions, logotypes, logomarks, favicons, app icons, social media avatars, animated icons and more. Sound like a lot? That’s why you hire somebody like us.

In this post, we’re going to dig into 7 questions to ask yourself and keep in mind while designing, deciding or debating on your logo. The reasons for the principles range from usability, scalability to aesthetics. Not every principle needs to be followed to the T, but knowing the principles helps you know when you can go outside of the lines and intentionally break some rules.

1) Can it be inverted?

One of the first things to consider is whether the logo can easily work on both light and dark backgrounds. Oftentimes you may need multiple color versions, but if your logo can’t reverse onto a dark color or visa-versa, you might want to reconsider it. There will come a time that you’d like to put your logo on something but don’t want to include a colored background box around it. It creates a lot of unnecessary headaches. Business is hard enough as it is. Don’t make it any more complicated. You should also look at the logo upside down, backwards, skewed and any other perspective you can think of.

2) Does it scale gracefully?

A logo may be used as small as a website favicon or as large as an outdoor billboard. It’s likely going to be printed on a shirt, thrown on a social media page and printed on business cards. If you’re lucky, it might get embroidered on hats. You might see it flying by on the side of a truck or mounted to the side of a building. A logo floating on white background may look good, but it’s not going to likely look the same when it’s a tiny 16x16px favicon in your browser tab. Give it context.

Look at the logo completely zoomed out, zoomed in and everything in between. If it’s an app icon, make sure it looks good alongside other popular apps that will likely be on your users phones. Make sure the logo is going to work in the context that it’s going to be used in. Consider things like line weights, line breaks, shadows, colors and the negative space that the logo creates.

3) Is your logomark unique?

It’s a good idea to test if your logomark is similar to any popular brands available. Your logo shouldn’t just be a knockoff of a popular brand because you couldn’t think of anything else. That’s just lazy. And it opens you up to a lawsuit. Don’t ask us to create your “version” of somebody else’s logo. And don’t even think about buying a stock logo for $5 or you’ll be sharing that logomark with a thousand other companies selling everything from fanny packs to off brand teas. Think about your logo as an investment, not an expense.

One way to check the uniqueness of your logomark is to drop it into Google Image Search in a few different colors and see if anything similar comes up. If you just made a simple, meaningless abstract logomark using basic geometric shapes, chances are that somebody else has too. Bulletproof your logomark and make sure your brand is your brand. You want your customers to think of your brand when they see your logomark, not Starbucks.

4) Does the design style suit the company?

I have worked with a wide variety of companies over the years and each one is unique. The design style of the logo should be a direct reflection of the brand and the people that work there. A glossy web 2.0 style logomark is probably not the best choice for a diesel mechanic. The typography also plays an important role in setting the voice for the brand, while the logomark is generally the thread that ties the entire logo system together.

This should go without being said, but if you use Comic Sans or Papyrus, you will be chastised by the design community and anyone that took Graphic Design 101. Watch this SNL skit for more information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVhlJNJopOQ

5) Is it timeless?

This one directly contradicts the concept of “trendy”. Although design styles may come and go over time, certain styles are more timeless than others. Generally speaking, try to avoid visual effects like drop shadows, bevels and embosses, lens flares, gloss shimmers and textures, among others. Logos that use these effects rarely last more than a few years before needing to be updated, which can be an extremely costly undertaking. I’m not suggesting that companies shouldn’t change their logos, as many have done so successfully over the years, just that they should consider how the trendy decisions they make today may make an impact later on.

6) How is the footprint?

That is, how much vertical and horizontal space does it take up? Generally speaking, logos that are extremely wide or extremely tall can be tough to work with. The easiest footprint to work with across the board is a square (a circle takes up the same footprint as a square). Remember that your internal team members are not the only people that may be using your logo, it may show up in a list of event sponsors or in a news article written about you. Consider how often Facebook’s or Twitter’s logos are used on websites. Look, I’m as rebellious as anybody, but make your logo easy to work with. Again, avoiding unnecessary headaches is a good idea.

7) Is it easy to draw?

This isn’t one that people always consider, but some logos are much easier to draw than others. The logo process should start with sketches anyway. It helps quickly get out the bad ideas and formulate new ones. If you’re using fancy computer-generated effects to “add something” to a bland logo, you’re going down the wrong road. Based on the simplicity of it, I remember drawing countless Nike swooshes in my notebooks in elementary school, that’s like free advertising, people! Your logo doesn’t have to be easy to draw, take the Starbucks logo for example, but it’s not a bad idea. Generally speaking… if your logo is easy to draw, it’s been simplified down to just the most important elements. Then keep going.

Check out THIS little experiment conducted by Signs.com where they asked 150 people to draw 10 famous logos by hand… and the results are kind of fascinating.

As the owner of DKTB Design, I have helped dozens of companies develop their identities. If you would like to work with us to develop your brand, reach out on our website and let’s chat!

About the author

Dakota is an entrepreneur & designer from the Pacific Northwest. Owner of DKTB Design, Partner at Black Hatchet & Lead Designer at SportsCastr.

7 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Logo was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

7 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Logo

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