28 Jan 5 Mistakes to Avoid when Designing Your Logo
What makes logo design good? What makes logo design bad? Does it even really matter?
Let’s put it this way, your logo is the impression you leave on a room full of people you don’t know. Are they impressed and intrigued? Are you quickly and easily forgotten? Do you make people cringe? A good logo is not necessary to close your first sale, but it is important for growing your business beyond the people within your network. We’ve seen a lot of logo mistakes in our day. To create a timeless logo for your business, here are 5 mistakes to avoid when designing your logo.
Trendy Colors Or Fonts
Trendy is not always timeless (and often not easy to read). Think of some of the bad Powerpoint Presentations that you’ve seen. The ones that made you squint your eyes because the colors were so light or bright making them difficult to read. Especially for users with color-blindness or aging eyes. Save experimentation with creative colors or trendy fonts(all design trends in general). for special promotions or graphics that can later be swapped out or dumped if they are not working. Keep your logo and brand fonts timeless and accessible.
Dated Colors
Dated colors make for cheap-looking logos. While you can still embrace your love of a once-popular color in your brand, these should be secondary or tertiary in your brand’s color palette Instead, anchor your logo with timeless neutrals as a primary color palette. You can also update the shade of a now-dated color to make it more modern and timeless.
Lots of Intricate Details
Small details don’t scale well, up or down. They often make your logo look cluttered – again, making your business look cheap and less memorable. Stick with a clean and simple core logo and then consider graphic treatments that you can add or remove based on the season, audience or where the logo is being used.
A Long, Horizontal Layout
Other mediums and platforms often require different aspect ratios that are not long & horizontal. While a long, horizontal logo will often work best on your website, all social media profiles are square. Having alternative versions of your logo is a smart idea and we often create both horizontal and stacked logo variations.
Not Following Design Rules
Have you ever looked at a logo and immediately disliked it, but you weren’t sure why? It’s likely because a rule of design has been broken. It could be the spacing, sizing, layout, balance, and so on. The naked eye of a non-designer can’t quite see what it wrong but we know we don’t like it. Meaning a whole heap of other people won’t like it (or your company) either. All the more reason to invest in a professional for your logo design.
Considering a logo design update or want to get it right the first time? We’d love to help! Schedule a FREE Discovery Call to get started. You can also sign up for our True North emails, featuring our tried and true advice about building an intentional business and life.