Your statement is not the only thing you should keep in mind. There are some basic guidelines you should consider before designing your logo.
- Examine the logos other businesses in your industry. Tech sector businesses tend to be a bit more conservative, while entertainment sites tend to use flashy graphics. How can you convey the same message as a competitor, but in your own unique way?
- Focus on your message. What do you want to tell about your company? Does it have a serious or lighthearted personality? What is unique about you that would be an advantage over your competitors? What part of the market are you going after?
- It should be clean and functional. It has to be scalable. That means that it will look as good on a business card as it does on a huge banner. It must be easy to reproduce. It should look good in color, as well as black and white (for faxing and photocopying.)
- Your type of business will affect your logo design. If you company name is 'Quick Plumbers', you logo may be made of pipes with bold lettering. On the hand, if your business name is 'Robert's Jewelers', then you might want to use a classy, serif font to accent the letters.
- You logo can illustrate your businesses key benefit. For 'Quick Plumbers', you might slant the letters, add wheels, and put little speed dashes after it to make it look like it is rushing to your client's house.
- Do Not Use Clip Art. I know it is tempting. It is so easy to copy and paste and it can be found for free. But it will make your company look like it was thrown together. Original art will make an impressive statement and set your business apart from others.
- Trends don't last. A good design will last for 10 to 20 years. So, don't get caught up with designing something that may look clever now, but will be dated very fast when the fad is over. (There's a reason bell-bottom pants didn't come back in style.) If you are redesigning your old logo, don't get drastic or you run the risk of confusing your customers. When Quaker Oats decided to change the man on its packaging, they did it over a period of ten years to avoid undermining customer confidence.
Colors
A beautiful five-color logo might look great, but colors cost money with it comes time to produce it on business cards, stationery and brochures. Nor will it work in mediums that allow only one or two colors. The general rule is to not use more than three colors unless absolutely necessary.
You need to consider all of the media that you will be using: signs, advertising, stationery, business cards, delivery vehicles and packaging, are just a few. Examine your logo in one-, two- and three-color versions before giving final approval.