Hiya Margo

UPDATE: Since becoming the Director of Communications for Emerald Coast Writers, I have decided to pause this series. Instead, I am working with ECW to turn these blogs into a series of talks where I break down the 10 steps to Social Media Marketing. Stay tuned!

Logo design is one of those things that appears like an easy thing to do until you have to do it for yourself. A good logo should be five things: simple, versatile, relevant, timeless, and memorable. Every great logo, from the McDonald’s M to the FedEx hidden arrow, follows these five principles.

However, this is much easier said than done. Making an effective logo design is much like climbing a mountain: done one step at a time. Before you can get to your final logo design or even build the foundation to get you there, you have to know what you’re making. 

In order to illustrate this process, I have included references to a project I completed as part of my associates degree in graphic design that I earned at the University of West Florida. In that course, we specifically had to rebrand a local Pensacola restaurant, of which I chose Taylor’s Breakfast and Lunch. This was not an official collaboration with their business. However, the project is a perfect layout to how you can design your own logo.

Step #1: Know What You’re Making

There are three steps you can take in order to know what kind of logo you want to draw: research, mind map, and sketch. These three steps will help you figure out the “what” and “why” of your business and therefore, your logo. 

Research

This first step involves researching several topics related to your business. As this project involved designing a rebrand rather than making a brand from scratch, some of what I researched may not apply to your situation. However, this is still a great guideline for helping you research everything you need to know.

You need to start by identifying your problem. What is it that you don’t like about the current state of your brand? If you are just starting to create your brand, what are some problems you see from similar businesses in your industry? 

After you have your problem, you have your audience, also known as the people who will help you solve your problem. When it comes to branding, the customer is always right; if your customer base prefers blue over red, you should probably incorporate blue into your branding. Understanding who you are trying to impress is instrumental in determining how you want to present yourself to them. 

Next, you’ve got your message and objective. Your objective is what you want to do, and your message is how you convince your audience to do it. At the end of the day, marketing is just trying to convince people to do something that they wouldn’t otherwise do. How are you going to persuade your audience to endorse your business?

Lastly, you’ve got your market. Specifically, you want to study your competitors and what they are doing to highlight their branding. For this, you are going to want to study multiple aspects of their businesses. In the case of a sit-down breakfast restaurant, you may want to analyze their restaurant layout, menu design, and food packaging such as takeout containers. What exactly you need to research is going to change depending on what industry you are in, so it’s best to search key terms for your industry into Google and analyze the top three results – often referred to as the “three pack” – so you can understand what is working in your industry and how you can put your own creative twist on those success stories.

Mind Map

Once you have done research into your brand and your industry as a whole, it’s time to start laying out your mind map. This process is best done on a piece of paper with a pen or pencil. To make a mind map, you are going to start by writing your business name in the middle of the paper. From there, you are going to draw lines out from your business name and add words that are related to your business. 

Some of these words may come naturally to your industry. For example, in the case of Taylor’s Breakfast and Lunch, because they specifically specialize in serving delicacies from the Southeastern United States, terms related to the local culture like “y’all” may be important to include. Additionally, words to describe their audience, such as “family”, would be important to add to the map. These words and terminology should naturally come up during the research phase, so return to your research notes if you are looking for inspiration!

Once you have a few words drawn out from the title of your restaurant, you are going to want to expand on those ideas. Using “family” as an example, you may extend that to include “community”, “children”, or “tradition”. You may also want to draw some symbols related to your business, such as drawing stick figures holding hands to symbolize “family”.

Your mind map may look messier or cleaner than my example. Some people choose to draw circles or boxes around different ideas to demarcate different things, such as words that they want to feature prominently in their branding materials. Whatever process works best for you is what’s best for your company.

Sketch

You’re almost done with the first big step to creating your own logo! For this last step of the process, we are going to begin sketching out some ideas for logos based on the words and ideas you laid out in your mind map. Keeping the pencil-and-paper method from designing your mind map, you are going to draw out at least 10 logo ideas without using any color or other tools to add detail to your design. Remember, a good logo is a simple one, so sticking to simpler shapes and concepts will serve you well. 

Also, while you should sketch out at least 10 ideas, it is highly recommended that you draw more. For this project, I drew (insert # here) ideas, and I highly recommend you go through a similar process. Push yourself creatively; that’s how you get the best stuff out. This part of the process may also take a few days of sketching, walking away, and coming back with new ideas. Don’t stress yourself out with trying to get this entire step done in one session.

And just like that, you have completed the first big step to creating your own logo! At this point, you should have a better understanding of both your brand and your industry as a whole with several ideas not just how to communicate with your audience, but tailor your messaging to their desires. You should also have several sketches for your logo ready to expand upon and develop into the foundation of your brand.

Step #2: Build your Foundation

Now that you have answered the “what” and “why” of your business, you need to answer the “how”: Specifically, how do you want to communicate the answer to your “what” and “why” to your audience. Much like before, this will also involve three steps: analyze, iterate, and layout.

Analyze

Now it’s time to go over your sketches with a red pen – both figuratively and literally. Take a pen that is clearly different in look from your pencil sketches and make notes on your drawings. Note which ones you like, which ones you don’t like, and why you are putting them into those categories. 

Once you have a list of your favorites, pull out your top six contenders. Don’t just pick them because “I like them”; list out your reason why you like that design so much. Here is an example of how I listed out my top six contenders from my sketchbook, but remember, I had to make a booklet with all of my notes; if you’re only presenting this to yourself, you don’t need to go overboard.

Now that you have your top six, it’s time to limit that list down to your top 3 designs. Analyze why they ended up in the top three. You don’t want your favorites: you want what conveys the best message. Once you have your top three contenders and a firm understanding of why they made it to the top three, it’s time to move on to the next step.

Iterate

According to the Oxford Dictionary, iteration means “the repetition of a process or utterance.” In this case, we are referring to both process and utterance because you are going to be doing a lot of repeating. 

Take your three designs and draw them at the top of a piece of paper. Depending on how skilled you are with graphic design, you may do this either physically on a piece of paper or digitally in a program like Adobe Illustrator, which is what I used for this step. 

You are going to start by dividing the piece of paper into five. Then you are going to draw the sketch of your logo in the top fifth of the paper. From there, you are going to work your way down, slowly making improvements on your logo’s design. Between each section of the paper, only make one change. For example, changing the font to cursive is one step. Bolding that cursive is a second step. Incorporating color is a third step. Repeat this until all five sections of the paper are filled. 

If you have done this correctly, the fifth design should be a much improved version of the first design. If you prefer the look of your first design, grab a fresh piece of paper and repeat the process with new ideas.

You are going to repeat this process with each of your top three designs. Below I have included reference images for how I did this, as well as text descriptions explaining what changes I made between each iteration and why I made those changes.

Layout

Now that you have three improved logo designs to choose from, its time to take a step back from your logo and look at everything else that will be paired with that logo. Specifically, we are going to be looking at your color scheme and font choices.

In the case of a restaurant, designing this in a menu format is incredibly smart as it pushes you to figure out titles, descriptions, and additional text like website links that you are going to have typed out nearby to your logo. If you are in a different industry, try making a layout that works with the product you sell such as flyers, posters, or social media posts. Then, duplicate that text and try it out with different fonts to see what goes best with your logo designs. 

You are also going to want to do this same experimentation with color. As I was working from an already existing brand, I had certain colors that were already in use with that business and I simply extended their color palette using a free color scheme generator. If you have colors you know for certain you want to include in your branding, I highly recommend using this method as a way to find complimentary colors that will bolster your brand imagery.

If you are starting from scratch, refer back to the research you did at the start of this process and look at what colors your competitors use. Remember, your goal is not to copy, but creatively twist ideas that are already working. If your industry mainly uses red, you might want to use blue as a way to stand out (Example: Pepsi) or avoid it because it doesn’t make sense with your industry (Example: hot sauce brands). 

With that, you have successfully built the foundation of your brand! At this point, you should have three potential logo designs paired with fonts and colors that suit your business. Now, it’s time to take your branding to the home stretch and finalize your logo design.

Step #3: Finalize your Design

At this point, you have done the bulk of the work. The final three steps are focused on polishing what you have already created: revise, publish, and present.

Revise

Did you know that there are four different types of logos? Me neither, until I took this course. For this step, you are going to take your top three designs and revise them into the four logo forms: Primary, Secondary, Submark, Favicon.

Your primary logo is what you see every day and is the most detailed version of the logo. This iteration will include the brand name, the main logo with all of its details, and any additional text such as a tagline or a date of establishment. This font is likely what is going to be featured on larger applications that will receive a lot of eye traffic such as t-shirts, billboards, or large posters. 

In most cases, you are only going to have one primary logo. However, if you produce multiple lines of product that are significantly different enough to warrant it, you may have multiple primary logos. Take the example of another local Pensacola business, Blazer Boats. They manufacture high performance fishing boats both for saltwater “bay” anglers and freshwater “bass” anglers. For this reason, they use two primary logos in order to tailor their brand to their two unique audiences.

Your secondary logo acts as an alternative to the primary when the primary isn’t applicable. For example, if your main design is mostly horizontal, it isn’t going to work well in vertical applications. Your secondary logo should be the one to step in when the primary isn’t able to perform that job. For that reason, the secondary logo often looks much like the first, just in a different orientation and without any taglines or additional text.

Your submark is the most simplified and condensed variation of your logo and is intended for small spaces such as social media icons, watermarks, or stickers. This logo should be used when there is little room to convey information and focus on efficient, transparent communication. 

The final iteration of your logo is the favicon. This is usually just a symbol with no text, though it can have text on rare occasions. The favicon is great for acting as the tiny icon that sits at the top of an internet browser and should act as a sort of “stamp” to convey that this combination of simple shapes is your brand.

Not all primary logos are going to create great secondary logos, submarks, or favicons. That is why we kept your top three designs up to this point. Treating your final logo design as the primary logo, try to make secondary, submark, and favicon versions of those logos. When you end up with your final form of each, it is likely that one of the logos is going to stand out as the winner.

This isn’t a necessary step, but if you are struggling to determine which of your three designs is the best, using mockups of your logo can be a great way to visualize how it would look in the real world without spending any additional money on materials.

By the end of this step, you should have selected which logo is the winner and will be used in your branding.

Publish

At this point, you should have selected which logo is the winner and will be used in your branding. That’s where the brand book comes in. Even if you are just creating this logo for yourself, you are likely going to need to communicate your branding guidelines to someone at some point. This booklet is meant to act as a branding toolbox where all of the references you need for your branding can be stored in one easy-to-find place.

After your cover page, you are going to want to start with a brand statement explaining the what and why of your business. Then, you want to lay out your primary, secondary, submark, and favicon logos along with where it is appropriate to use each iteration. 

The next part is to lay out the colors and fonts you chose out during the “layout” stage of Step #2. For the colors, I highly recommend listing their CMYK, RGB, and HEX codes so they are easy to find no matter what application you are using. As for fonts, you are going to want to include at least a heading and body text font to use throughout your branding. You may need to purchase a license to use those fonts commercially.

There are other tools you can include in your branding toolbox such as icons, graphics, and patterns. Icons are meant to act as cute little cartoons that may be featured in different parts of your branding such as stickers. Graphics are similar to icons but tend to have more detail and be used when the design requires more detail. Lastly, patterns are designs that may be featured as wallpapers, backdrops, or other large expanses that require repeating designs.

Finally, you may want to include some mockups of your product. There are certain design items you may need right from the start of your business such as business cards, menus, or merchandise. If you are handling these items internally, it can be smart to make mockups of these products so that you can easily communicate visual concepts with vendors.

Present

This final step is only required if you are making a logo for a client: a presentation. The Brand Book is the final product, the presentation is what explains the final product to your client. For my course, I had to make a presentation discussing all three logo designs and showing their different applications through the use of digital mock-ups. If you are presenting your logos and why they should work to someone, then this style of presentation would serve you well for that goal.

With this final step, you have officially completed creating your logo! If you have gotten this far and are still not happy with the logo you designed, I highly recommend taking your sketches, notes, and designs to a professional graphic designer. While most have at least some experience in logo design, I would suggest finding someone who specializes in creating logos or has several logo designs in their portfolio. By giving them your sketches and notes, they will be able to create your logo in a much quicker timeframe, saving you money and resources. Even if you don’t go through this whole process yourself, at least attempting it will give you a headstart when hiring a professional.