What is the relationship between a great logo and effective branding? How do you want your brand to make people feel? Why should there be consistency across logos, branding, and content?

In this podcast episode, Sam Carvalho offers ten tips for designing a memorable, attractive, and marketable logo.

Podcast Sponsor: Brighter Vision

How would you like to fall into cash this month? Every year, my friends over at Brighter Vision kick off the fall season with a month-long digital conference event they call ‘Fall Into Cash’.

For the entire month of September, they’ll be teaming up with the top brands, consultants, and coaches in the mental health industry to provide you with the best advice, tools, content, podcasts, and giveaways; all centered around one main theme – helping you grow your practice and make more money.

Plus, in celebration of the 5th anniversary of ‘Fall Into Cash’, they’re also offering a very special discount exclusively for Practice of the Practice listeners. From now until the end of the month, they’re offering new websites for only $49/month for your whole first year plus no setup fees – that’s a savings of over $200!

For more information and to take advantage of this great offer, head on over to brightervision.com/joe.

1) Know your brand

Before you set out to design your logo, make sure you have insight into your brand. Keep in mind that the logo must reach a particular set of people, which is the target market and target customers. Write down what your business, brand, and market are all about.

You can make use of a brand style guide to encompass the theory (for example, your brand vibe, etc.), as well as the visual side of your branding.

2) A picture paints a thousand words

A logo is a visual representation of your brand, so why tell people what you do if you could just show them?
Use simple – but not clichéd – icons to communicate who you are.

3) Use empty space to keep your logo design clean

Coco Chanel once said, “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off”. The same thing applies to design. Your logo design is only complete once you find you are unable to remove any further elements from it. (Sam Carvalho)

Make sure that people can read your logo from a distance, and even when it is small. Keeping your logo “clean”, with a lot of space, will help to ensure readability.

You do not always need a lot of colors or symbols to create a great logo. Keeping your logo is “clean” will make it a lot easier to integrate your design seamlessly into different layouts and formats.

4) Use shapes to think inside the box

Shapes are a great way to make your logo stand out. Shapes help with cross-platform branding; as a “boxed in” logo works well digitally, or on letterheads, presentations, and merchandise.

If you want to take your design to the next level, shapes with interesting gradients or textures can be used to make your logo stand out even more. Remember tip number three mentioned above – less is more.

5) Color is key for good logo design

Monochromatic does not have to mean black and white. Sometimes, black and white can seem harsh on our eyes, especially if we’re trying to create a calming feeling. Instead, you can use various shades of the same color to create subtle contrasts within your logo.

On the other hand, you can create a standout logo with a pop of color. You could do this by making the first letter of your name a different color, or even the whole word. Adding this small pop of color stops your design from feeling flat.

6) Be literal with your logo

If your name is a thing, make that thing your logo. Do not be afraid to lean into the obvious without falling into clichés. There is a reason that Apple’s logo is an apple.

Working literally does not always mean boring.

7) Be authoritative with your logo

Be literal, but make sure it fits your organization.

Some companies, such as non-profits, demand a level of seriousness that a production company or ice cream shop can get away without.

Ask yourself: if I saw this logo for the first time, would I trust this company? (Sam Carvalho)

Muted colors and serif fonts can help in stopping a logo from feeling too cartoonish.

8) Do not be afraid to rejig the wheel

Pepsi has been around for 120+ years as a brand. However, the modern Pepsi logo we know is drastically different from how it started. Nonetheless, the transformation from then to now was a gradual one.

Pepsi was always building on the brand it had established, and it does not trade its old brand for a new and shiny one.

It’s okay to be bold and try new things. Use patterns, overlapping shapes, and contrasting colors to create a modern logo. However, remember that modernization does not have to be overwhelming to work in your favor.

9) Choose the type of logo

Do you want a logo that has your company’s name as the main feature? This is known as a logotype. Logotypes have your company name available and visible to customers immediately.

Alternatively, you can make use of a combination logo that has both the symbol and company name. Then, should the marketing material warrant it, you could have instances where you just make use of the symbol, instead of including your full logo every time.

10) Make it scalable

Another quality of great logo design is that it is easily scalable. Remember that your logo will feature in a variety of advertisements. It should appear like an impressive logo on all media. (Sam Carvalho)

If the logo loses its sense of proportion and some of its design elements on certain mediums, the logo is badly designed.

Useful links mentioned in this episode:

• The Meaning of Color in Branding | MP 34
• How to Choose Colors and Fonts to Match Your Branding | MP 46
• How to create a brand style guide | MP 57
• Tips and Ideas on how to create a letter logo | MP 61
• Brighter Vision – Receive the first year of websites at $49 a month
• www.practiceofthepractice.com/network
• www.practiceofthepractice.com/branding

Check out these additional resources:

[SAM CARVALHO] Welcome to the Marketing a Practice podcast with me, Sam Carvalho where you’ll discover everything you need to know about marketing and branding your business. To find out more about how I can help you brand new business visit www.practiceofthepractice.com/branding. And if you’d like to see some examples of my design work, be sure to follow me on Instagram at Samantha Carvalho Design.

Hi there. Thanks so much for joining me today on the Marketing a Practice podcast. Today and for the next four episodes, it will just be me and I will be taking you through a design sprint. So it will be four quick-fire episodes where we cover some essentials of design. So in episode one, we’ll be talking about logo design, in episode two web design, in episode three, digital design, and finally print design. If you’re on the move while listening to these episodes, don’t worry. We’ll have all the information available in the show notes. So without further ado, let’s jump into episode one, which is on logo design. If you’ve been listening to this podcast long enough, I don’t need to tell you that logos are important. They are the cornerstone of any good business brand. You want your logo to explain who you are and what you do, why you do it and how you do it. What’s more, your logo will be included on all of your marketing material moving forward.

So in a nutshell, a logo should be eye-catching, be timeless, be memorable, work well, large or small and encompass your brand vibe. So what’s a brand vibe? The brand vibe is how you want your brand to make people feel. This should be consistent across your logo, content and in person interactions. So here are 10 tips on how to create a great logo. Number one, know your brand. Before you set out to design your logo, you need to make sure that you have insight into your brand. Keep in mind that the logo must reach a particular set of people otherwise known as the target market and target customers. So write down what your business brand and markets are all about. If you’ve been listening to this podcast, you’ll also know that I speak a lot about brand style guides, so you can make use of a brand style guide to encompass the theory, for example, your brand, et cetera, as well as the visual side of your branding. You can also refer to previous episode specifically on brand style guides.

Number two, a picture paints a thousand words. A logo is essentially a visual representation of your brand. So why tell people what you do if you could just show them? Use simple, but not cliché icons, to communicate who you are in your logo. Number three, use empty space to keep your logo design clean. Coco Chanel once said, before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off. The same thing applies to design. Your logo design is only complete once you find you are unable to remove any further elements from it. Also, you want to make sure people can read your logo from a distance. Or when it’s really small, keeping it clean, for example, including lots of white space will achieve this. You don’t always need a whole bunch of colors or symbols to create a great logo. Finally, ensuring your loader is clean or make it a lot easier to integrate your design seamlessly into different layouts and formats.
[BRIGHTER VISION PROMO] How would you like to fall into cash this month? Every year, my friends over at Brighter Vision kick off the full season with a month long digital conference event they call Fall Into Cash. For the entire month of September, there’ll be teaming up with the top brands, consultants, and coaches in the mental health industry to provide you with the best advice, tools, content, podcasts, and giveaways, all centered around one main theme, helping you grow your practice and make more money. Plus, in celebration of the fifth anniversary of Fall Into Cash, they’re also offering a very special discounts exclusively for Practice of the Practice listeners. From now until the end of the month, they’re offering new websites for only $49 per month for your whole first year, plus no setup fees. That’s a savings of over $200. For more information, and to take advantage of this great offer head on over to brightervision.com/joe. That’s brightervision.com/joe.
[SAM] Number four on creating a great logo is using shapes to think inside the box. Shapes are a really great way to make your logo stand up. This also helps with cross-platform branding as a box in a logo works well digitally as well as on letterheads, presentations and merchandise. If you want to take your designs to the next level shapes with interesting gradients or textures can be used to make your logo stand out even more. Remember point number two, though, less is more.

Number five, color is key for good logo design. Monochromatic doesn’t always mean black and white. Sometimes black and white can seem harsh on our eyes, especially if we’re trying to create a feeling of [inaudible]. Instead, you can use various shades of the same color to create subtle contrast within your logo or create a standout logo with a pop of color. You could do this by making the first set of the name a different color, or even the whole word. Adding the small pop of color stops your design from feeling flat. Again, you can refer to previous podcast episodes that I’ve done on color theory.

Number six, be literal with your logo. If your name isn’t a thing, make that thing your logo. Don’t be afraid to lean into the obvious but again, without falling into the clichés. There’s a reason that Apple’s logo is, well an apple. Literally doesn’t always mean boring.

Number seven, be authoritative with your logo, be literal, but make sure it fits your organization. Some companies such as nonprofits demand a level of seriousness that a production company or ice cream shop can get away without. Ask yourself. If I saw this logo for the first time, would I trust this company? Neater colors and fonts can help in stopping a logo from feeling too cartoonish. You can refer to a previous podcast episode I’ve done on fonts if you want to know more.

Number eight, don’t be afraid to rejig the wheel. Pepsi has been around for 120 plus years as a brand. However, the modern Pepsi logo we know is drastically different from how it started. Do yourself a favor and Google the progression of the Pepsi logo. But the transformation from then to now was a gradual one. That’s because Pepsi was always building on the brand it has established. It wasn’t trading its old brand for new and shiny one. Besides a drastic change would have been confusing for its consumers. People might not have recognized the Pepsi brand or product as easily. It’s okay to be bold and try new things. Use patterns, overlapping shapes, and contrasting colors to create some modern logo. However, remember that modernization doesn’t have to be in your face to work.

Number nine, choose the type of logo. Do you want a logo that has your company’s name as the main feature? This is known as a logo type. Famous examples of logo types include the logos of Ray-Ban, IBM and Coca-Cola. If you choose to have a logo type, it will have your company name visible to the customers immediately. Alternatively, you can make use of a combination logo that has both a symbol and company name. Then should the marketing material aligns it, you could have instances where you just make use of the symbol instead of including your full logo every time. If you want to find out more about logo types, again, you can refer to a previous episode that I’ve done on this.

And finally, number 10 is to make it scalable. Another quality of great logo design is that it is easily scalable. Remember that your logo will feature it in a variety of advertisements. It should appear like an impressive logo on all media. If the logo loses its sense of proportion and some of its design elements on certain mediums, the logo is a failure design.

So again, in summary, the 10 tips for great logo design, number one to know your brand. Number two, the picture paints a thousand words. Number three, use empty space to make your design key. Number four, your shape should think inside the box. Number five color is key for good logo design. Number six, be literal with your logo. Number seven, be authoritative with the logo. Number eight, don’t be afraid to rejig the wheel. Number nine, choose the type of logo and number 10, make it scalable. I’ll see you in the next episode of our four-part design sprint.

Thank you to Brighter Vision for sponsoring this episode. Remember that for the entire month of September, they’re offering new websites for only $49 per month for your whole first year plus no set up fees. That’s a savings of over $200. Be sure to head over to brightervision.com/joe to make use of this very special discount.

Thanks for listening to the Marketing a Practice podcast. If you need help with branding your business, whether it be a new logo, rebrand, or you simply want some print flyer designed head on over to www.practiceofthepractice.com/branding. And if you’d like to see some examples of my design work, be sure to follow me on Instagram at Samantha Carvalho Design.

Finally, please subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on iTunes if you like what you’ve heard. Talk to you soon.

Marketing a Practice podcast is part of the Practice of the Practice podcast network, a network of podcasts seeking to help you market and grow your business and yourself. To hear other podcasts like Beta Male Revolution, Empowered and Unapologetic, Imperfect Thriving, or Faith in Practice, go to practiceofthepractice.com/network.

This podcast is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regards to the subject matter covered. It is given with the understanding that neither the host, the publisher, or the guests are rendering legal, accounting, clinical, or any other professional information. If you want a professional, you should find one.