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 That sounds like a lot of pressure, but don't worry! We will guide you step by step and at the end of this guide, you will know the essentials to create a logo that speaks to your target audience, that generates trust and acts as an ambassador for your brand.

1. What is the role or function of a logo design?

To start designing a logo, the first step is knowing how to distinguish between 2 determining factors, which are:

 A)- Its function.

 B) - Her CARACTERISTICS.

The main characteristic of a logo is that it must be striking, but its función It refers to the fact that it must communicate something, in addition to giving identity to a person, company or brand. 

Among the main functions of a logo we can highlight the following:

-To be a symbol of identification, belonging and inspiration for the people who work internally.

-Summarize the message that your brand wants to communicate to your target audience

-Facilitate communication and recall of a message.

A very common mistake is to assume that “one function of the logo is to capture the public's attention”, which is not only wrong, but can lead to wasted time and money.

2. Why is logo design so important?  

The logo is the first symbol or graphic element that potential customers or consumers associate with a company or product. It gives them a first impression and, without a doubt, it must be a good one. The goal of the logo is to connect people with the brand. 

But what is a logo? A logo is a graphic element that should immediately identify a brand symbolizing its essential values; making it as memorable as possible. This can be an icon, an emblem, a word, a phrase, or a combination of the above. 

Successful brands typically have an easy-to-remember logo strategically created to maintain consistency in important aspects such as brand positioning, tone, design, message and story.

3. What are the elements of a logo that contribute to its meaning?

A logo is made up of several elements that together seek to communicate something through: colors, typographic or calligraphic fonts, illustration styles, shapes and historical references. 

A good logo will be easily identifiable and will play a very important role in the psychology of your consumers and potential customers. I detail below some of the most visible elements: 

Color: This is perhaps the most used and easy to remember aspect in the universe of brands. The fact of choosing the tonality of a logo does not in itself create the corporate identity, but it plays a very important role when it comes to aligning this identity with the brand's strategy and communication. 

In addition, the color of the logo has the ability to create powerful sensations and psychological associations in people's minds, two factors that are undoubtedly reflected in the emotions that they perceive.

Font: When the name of the company or activity is present in the logo, choosing the right font can be decisive; as it will have a huge impact on the way people interpret the business. For example, there are futuristic typefaces that convey innovation, while others, being classic, refer us to the old.

Symbols: The goal here is for people to easily remember or identify your brand just by seeing the symbol and never mistake it for something else. For this reason, a logo must be unique, striking and direct. Among the best examples of symbols are Nike, Coca-Cola or Apple.

4. What are the current trends in logo design?

If you are serious about developing your brand, creating your own logo is a critical step. Your logo, no matter how small, is undoubtedly the representative face of your brand. Over time, it will become the most recognizable part of your business, and you will use it in all of your marketing activities such as your website and business cards.

The fascinating thing about making a new logo is that design trends change all the time, so you will not be short of creative and innovative ideas to find the way to represent your brand in the best way.

Currently, logo styles show an optimistic message, and will implement new visual tools while wistfully reinventing some concepts from the past. 

Without further ado, here are the current top trends for logo design:

hand drawn images

Back to basics (with a little twist)

overlay text

Recovering the classic symbols 

Optical illusions

Analogous color schemes

Breaking the rules of composition

Incorporating images of nature

5. What are the file formats and components of the logo suite that you should request from the designer when the job is done?

There are 2 very important things to note, delivery formats and logo versions.

The logo must always be delivered in vector format. The vector format, explained in a simple and easy way, is the original file with which the logo has been designed, it is a type of file that can be enlarged as much as necessary without it coming out pixelated, for example, if the logo has to be printed. logo on a 5 meter x 2 meter canvas could be done without losing any quality at all. The most common vector format today is .ai (Illustrator) Other well-known formats are: eps .pdf .fh11 (Freehand) or .cwd (Corel draw). 

You must also request common formats to be able to open them and use them on a day-to-day basis, among which we find:

.ai vector format.

.eps vector format that can be opened in any program.

.jpg in high quality and low (for web).

.png with transparent background.

.tif file that unlike the jpg never loses quality when opened (Loss of quality in jpg files)

6. What are the best tools to help you design your own logo?

Creating a logo is something that more and more people face on a daily basis. If we are going to undertake, we will need to have an image of our company or business, however, we may also want to design a logo for our own brand, website, blog, online store, etc. In this case, there are many who turn to a professional to provide them with ideas and develop the design of their company, but the truth is that on many occasions, we can do it ourselves. I will show you below the best applications to create logos in a simple and totally free way.

canva

It is a fairly complete online tool, since in addition to having a section especially dedicated to logos, it offers many other functions such as creating a collage of photos, posters, posts for Instagram or Facebook, designs for documents, covers, resumes, etc. cards, infographics, etc.

Logaster

It is a website specially designed to offer an online tool or applications. With the simple fact of entering the name of your company and the type of activity, it is able to generate many clip art images for you to choose from. It allows you to edit them to adapt them to your liking, being able to change the text that appears and once finished you can download it. Of course, downloading images in the highest quality or without a watermark, you must pay a small amount of money.

Genie Logo

It is another good alternative when you are looking for a simple program to create your own designs for free. It is one of the most intuitive and easy-to-use sites or platforms, without this meaning that you cannot obtain a professional result.

Once you register, you must choose the category that best suits your business, then add the name of your company and choose one of the designs that it offers you by default. You can then customize it however you like. It will allow you to change the font, size, color, icons of the logo, add a background or certain elements. Once you have it ready, all you have to do is save it on our computer.

a good logo It must be designed with great care, be original and at the same time stand out from the competition. You must previously define the target client so that based on that you can make your design and connect with it. 

In short, it is essential to try to design a logo so that whoever sees it does not have difficulty identifying it. In a market as saturated as the current one, getting customers to recognize a brand at first sight is really a challenge but not impossible.

Do you need help with this or any other issue with your business? Follow me on @grlbuzz or write me at: dahlia@grlbuzz.com

“Design is the silent ambassador of your brand…”  

Paul Rand. Paul Rand was one of the first American commercial artists to embrace and practice the Swiss Style of graphic design. Art director and graphic designer, best known for his corporate logo designs, including the logos for IBM, UPS, Enron, Morningstar, Inc., Westinghouse, ABC, and NeXT.