The Subtle Art of Creating a Fail-Proof Logo Design

Your logo design has the power to influence your audience and that can’t be undervalued, so keep reading to understand the principles behind a fail-proof logo design.

steps to fail-proof logo design

“A First impression is the last impression”

Surely you’ve heard that phrase before.

Needless to say, nobody wants to mess up their first impression, especially when they want to create an impact. Similarly, your logo serves as the face of your company, something so tiny yet so powerful, that it can either make or break your image at the first glance.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that your logo design is the foundation of your branding efforts. If your logo fails to impress your target audience, everything  goes down hill from there.

“There are some teams and logos you see, no matter where you are in the world, and you know exactly who they are and what they mean”

This quote by LeBron James is an inspiration for all the logo designers out there. It emphasizes the power and influence of a logo design on the audience. Once you have successfully constructed a robust identity with your logo design, nothing can shake it up, no matter what.

For this, first, you need to know all the guidelines that are required in order to create a captivating and fail-proof logo design. So let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of designing a successful and fool-proof logo design, that will never let you down.

1. Know Your Audience

The process of creating a fail-proof logo starts way before you get in front of your computer screen for actual designing.

You must be wondering how?

First things first, you need to know about the brand you are going to create the logo for. Never hesitate to ask all the necessary questions to your client about their brand, delve deeper into their brand’s vision and philosophy and explore as much as you can about the audience’s preferences. Remember a robust and well-researched creative brief is the foundation of a successful custom logo design.

2. Get Inspired by the Best Ones

Once you get a good understanding of who your audience is, then you need to take it a step further by conducting thorough research on that niche. Here you get to know all the trends, styles, frequently-used colors that are highly preferred in the related industry. Learn from others, take inspiration, be creative and come up with an enthralling design that you are 100% satisfied with. Never settle on anything unless you are convinced that this is the only design which is eligible to serve as the most important branding asset of the company you are working for.

3. Strive for the Versatility

versatility in logo design

You may have designed a great logo, the colors are just right, the style is perfect, overall design is eye-catching. You are convinced that it is all set to go live. On the website it looks good, on the billboard it looks stunning, then you get it printed on your business card and… it looks awful. Ouch!

You had no idea that your ‘perfectly-designed logo’ wouldn’t be a fit for smaller branding collateral. This is the reason you have always been told to create a flexible and versatile logo. Remember an effective logo is the one that works equally well across a variety of platforms, if it doesn’t – it would not stand the test of the time.

4. Make it Appropriate for the Audience

Are you wondering if you really need to spend this much time on research and demographics?

I mean, you’ve probably already got some ‘great ideas’ so you can just go straight the drawing board and get the process started. Just hold on a minute…

Type ‘logo design fails’ in google and you will get your answer immediately.

Most logo designs fail because they do not care what their audience needs, consequently they end up creating an inappropriate logo which their audience fails to relate with.

When was the last time you saw a law firm with peppy fonts and vibrant colors ?

A fail-proof logo design always starts with research.

5. Always Start on the Paper

logo directions

If you are confident enough to start directly on the designing tool, that’s perfectly fine. However, it is recommended by veterans that the design process should always begin with the pen and paper.

How does it help you?

Well, when you design on paper, you can be entirely focused on design and shape rather than the colors and other elements.

More importantly this is a great way to flush out weak concepts as well as quickly test logo design ideas to see how they will look on various platforms without colors and other visual effects. This is a step that most of the designers pay no heed to, however, these tiny details bring a lot of value to your branding, in the long run.

6. Choose Simplicity Over Intricacy

simplicity in logo design

If you think that an intricate and complex logo design is something that makes you look legit in the market, you have been under the wrong impression all this while.

Let me break the news to you- simple is the new smart.

According to the K.I.S.S principle, simple and clean logos are easily recognized by the target market, and they are more likely to stick to the memory of your audience as well.

On the contrary, a logo which is stuffed with intricate details can never be conceived by the audience the way you want. Bear the fact in mind, that your logo is going to be not only on your storefront but also on your website, your letterhead, brochure design and the list goes on. Hence, you should strive to create a logo that is easily convertible throughout all the media, which is only possible with a clean, crisp and simple logo design.

7. Do Not Mess with the Typeface

Steer Clear of gimmicky fonts!

I understand it’s difficult sometimes to avoid the temptation of using fancy-looking fonts, which could even be super trendy. However, you need to be really cautious while choosing a font as it can totally set or destroy the tone you want to set. Even worse, it can eventually harm your brand image. It’s great to keep up with the latest design trends, at the same time you must not go overboard with the font-selection.

8. Keep Everything Balanced

balance in logo design

A balanced logo is a fail-proof logo design and more likely to bring you the results you want from your branding.

If your logo is out of proportion, it will not click to the mind of audience the way it should. Although, it may not be obvious at first glance, the mind considers the visual cues that are more balanced, aligned and symmetrical to be more memorable.

A fail-proof logo design is compact, minimal and powerful. That means there are NO extraneous elements and that every element has to be placed just right. There is absolutely no room for random elements that don’t add to the logo design.

Always test your logo to see how it looks on the various items and in different applications prior to finalizing.

Bonus

When you are done with the design process, do not rush to present it to your client just because you think the logo looks awesome. Take a minute, and show it to some colleges first. You can also post it on design forums like Dribble and you will get valuable opinions from the design community.

If you really want a fail-proof logo design it never hurts to get a second opinion. This will help you lock in a truly fail-proof logo designed to support the brand image.