As someone who grew up in a small farming town, my first time traveling abroad was a bit overwhelming. I remember standing in the street, stunned by the different languages, unrecognizable landmarks and illegible (to me) restaurant, bar and store names. Until I saw something very familiar amidst all the unfamiliarity—a Starbucks logo.
While my recollection of my first time abroad may be dramatic, it does show the power of brand recognition in a world of chaos. Think about all the most recognizable brands. Now visualize their logos. Easy enough, right?
Quite often, a logo is the first thing a potential customer will notice about your business and the only thing they’ll remember when they leave. It forgoes language barriers and provides an opportunity to command attention, gain brand loyalty, and, in my case, emotionally resonate with your audience anywhere and everywhere they may go. And a well-designed logo can convey to potential customers that your business is professional, trustworthy, and provides consistent quality goods or services.
Which makes the process of creating one correctly pretty darn important.
But where does one start? As with anything creative, at the drawing board. Preliminary work is where good design begins, and rework is where great design is completed.
When creating a logo, we strive for two things: simplicity and clarity. We start the process by researching the company’s audience and brainstorming 30 different logos that fit, and refine from there. A great logo should:
- Be legible at any size
- Look balanced
- Use a style that’s fitting for the company
- Break the rules of design and take risks
- Leave out any unnecessary elements
- And most importantly, clearly show the audience your company’s values while remaining unique and ownable
As NY designer Frank Chimero once said, “People ignore design that ignores people.” If you don’t have an ownable logo reflective of your audience, then you are missing an opportunity to make your business stick in their minds.