Creating a logo is an important step in the branding process, which will usually come very near the beginning of a business venture, and perhaps several more times later on. There are many examples of logos which have become synonymous with the brands they represent, and have evolved into incredibly valuable assets.
Other examples, which are far less effective, are equally easy to find. A business with an ugly or uninspiring logo may be much more negatively affected than you might think. But what are the most common mistakes, as identified by professional designers, that make for really disappointing logos? Here are some examples of what to avoid.
Bad font choices
Almost any logo will feature some form of text. Even alongside a symbol, any company name needs to be presented in logo form, and therefore, choosing a suitable font is essential. A great font choice will typically be easy to read and up to date, although the specifics will vary depending on what message you want to put across about your brand. Meanwhile, basic fonts which are overly common, or over-the-top, distracting fonts are usually the worst choices.
Inflexible colouring
A very common failing with corporate logos is when they only make sense when presented in their original colours, and can’t be shown in greyscale or on a different coloured background. Your logo should ideally use simple, flat colours without the need for glowing or shadow effects to distinguish key points.
Overcomplicated design
Your logo should be recognisable and easy to understand at a glance. If it contains too many words or design elements, it will probably look cluttered and unprofessional. Having too many constituent parts in your logo will probably mean that no individual feature is particularly memorable. This will also affect how effective your logo is when scaled up or down.
Designing too small
A lot of companies seem to end up with only a small, lossy version of their logo which get reproduced on everything. A distorted, blurred or pixelated image being used to represent your company really conveys a lack of professionalism, plus it’s so easy to avoid. At the very least, all logos should be produced in very high resolution, and ideally they need to be fully converted to vector images.
Using unoriginal ideas
One way to really limit the potential of your logo is to simply copy someone else’s idea because you think it looks good. Even if you change the idea sufficiently to ensure they can’t take legal action if they notice what you’ve done, you’re still failing to accomplish one of the main goals of logo design. A great logo should represent your brand in a completely unique way, and by using a basic idea or one that’s already been taken by someone else, you are telling the world that your brand is nothing special.
