What Makes a Good Logo?

by | Mar 1, 2021 | Design, Marketing

If you’re trying to use a logo to fix a business visibility issue or use it as a marketing channel, you’re looking in the wrong place. A good logo won’t instantly fix a poor marketing plan, generate sales, or improve your website’s Google ranking. What it will do is help people recognise your business, remember your brand, and build trust over time. That’s what makes a logo valuable.

If you’re wondering what makes a good logo, it comes down to a few key design principles that help your brand stay relevant for years to come. Sounds simple from someone who designs logos, but people choose businesses they recognise and trust.

Recognition, that’s it.

What makes a logo effective

A logo doesn’t need to explain everything about your business. Its job is to create recognition first, allowing your branding to support the broader brand identity and build meaning over time. If your logo still works in black and white, it’s probably simple enough to remain recognisable across every platform.

Before finalising a logo, take the time to understand your business, your audience and your competitors logo designed. This is necessary to not end up with the same or somewhat similar logo to your competitors.

After designing logos for businesses across the Hawkesbury, Sydney and throughout Australia, we’ve found that the strongest logos consistently share these six things in common…

Keep it Simple (Stupid)

The old acronym, KISS or Keep it Simple Stupid. Every extra shape, colour or decorative element competes for attention.

If your logo still works in black and white, it’s probably simple enough to remain recognisable across every platform and does not have too many elements crammed in. Simplicity in logo design means maintaining a proper balance between positive and negative spaces. Also, avoid overlapping shapes, and if your company has a tagline, then the logo should be designed in a manner that it looks simple and effective both with or without the tagline. The more adaptable the logo, the more useful it becomes across different marketing materials.

Colour Psychology

What good is a logo that can’t reflect the true nature of your brand? Colours play an important role, as they are associated with many connotations. Different colours are associated with different emotions and expectations. If your business is associated with the environment or the mission of your company is related to creating eco-friendly products and services, green would be the ideal colour. Fast food logos usually have some, if not a lot of red, while a lot of tech companies are blue, blue is a standard colour for trust, and stability.

The right colour palette can help communicate your brand personality before someone even reads your business name.

The Role of Imagery

Imagery helps tell your story, even when colour isn’t available. When you are getting your logo printed in black and white, it is not the colour that will convey the story, but the illustration. Use appropriate imagery in contrast with your business niche. It is important to keep the illustration original and get it designed first-hand to avoid copyright issues, even a simple swoosh, an apple, three lines, or the letter M might have a registered trademark or copyright against it.

A good layout

A well-designed logo has proper proportions beneath it. There are a lot of layouts that you can follow, from rectangles and squares to overlapping shapes. Some extremely famous logos are based on the Fibonacci spiral, Apple’s logo in one such example. Whatever it is, the layout should feel balanced and intentional. Many of the world’s most recognisable logos use underlying design principles and proportions to create a clean and timeless appearance.

Works across different platforms and media

A good logo works everywhere, neither too small nor too large. When a logo is being made, its size matters because it would affect marketing across traditional and digital platforms alike. Complicated logos often lose detail when displayed at smaller sizes, particularly on mobile devices. A very small logo would not appear or cause an impact on Instagram, for instance, as most of the users view Instagram on their phones. And it goes for the same for billboard prints or in magazines or any other form of media. A strong logo remains clear, legible and recognisable regardless of where it appears.

Appropriate font

Typography can completely change how people perceive your brand. Say your brand or business focuses on toys developed for small children. In such a case, a bubbly and colourful font would be more attractive to children and will convey the purpose of the brand. On the other hand, for a fashion brand, an elegant and simple font would be more appealing.

Choosing the right font will create a different impression of what your business is. Subtle but strong.

Logo designing can get very tricky, so don’t leave it for yourself. It’s better to get a designer to do all the work. If you are looking for logo designer, then look no further, fun/serious provides logo design as part of the graphic design service offering.

We create logos that are designed to work across websites, social media, signage, print materials and other marketing channels, helping businesses build a stronger and more recognisable brand.