The Logo is what helps your business stand apart and gives you an identity. It's a visual representation of everything your company stands for. Creating a original Logo is becoming tougher and tougher now days as there are so many already out there, but it's very workable. This article will discuss certain programs that will help you design that perfect Logo to fit your business needs and give you some basic guidelines to follow.
How to find a Program or Software to help you out
There are plenty of tools out there to help you design your Logo, there are also some good articles to give you an idea of what you should keep in mind when creating your Logo. This link for example gives a great break down.
Here are some links to some of the better logo makers out there:
These are paid options, but there are free options as well to look at, such as the following:
There are many more, but these are some of the examples I found when I Googled "Free Logo Maker".
Basic Guidelines for design
So getting down a basic idea of what you're looking for is a must when designing your Logo. Create some rough sketches or play around in a Paint Program and toy with different ideas.
Preliminary work: Getting a rough idea of what you want, as mentioned above creating sketches or rough drafts will help you in finalizing the direction you want to go. Take in account what your business is about and what you're trying to do with your business.
Creating a Balance: Your design shouldn't be all over the place, finding something that stands out but carries balance on both sides and not one area is just focused on.
Size: You don't want your Logo to large so it takes away from the rest of the website but at the same time you don't want it to small where the graphics are squished together and there is a log going on. A Logo is what identifies your company so it should work just about anywhere, letterheads, website, posters, magnets, etc.
Use of Color: This can be eye catching or just easy on the eyes, play with different colors, these will also help create an identity. Think of your favorite sports team and how they have a few key colors for that team, this goes a long the same guidelines when designing your business Logo. Also using warm, welcoming colors that give the customers a feeling of comfort when visiting your site.
Some quick tips for color:
- Use colors near to each other on the color wheel, for example, warm colors should offset other warm colors
- Don't use colors that are so bring that they are hard to look at
- Make sure the Logo can still work as a black and white logo, or grayscale
- If you go outside the box, make sure it's for good reason
Design Style Should Fit the Company: You don't want to design a Logo that looks like you're selling ceiling tiles when in reality you're selling shoes, you want something that fits your business and says, "This is us". You want to make sure it reaches out and draws people in. Also play around with 3D designs as the 2D flat looking logos are still there but not being explored as much as 3D designs now.
Typography: Selecting a font that isn't too wild or to boring can always be an issue, this is one thing I tend to struggle with the most, because if you get too set on a font you will find yourself back tracking and trying to reinvent the wheel. Start with basic fonts and see if that works, if not then try something a bit more extreme until you feel you found the one that works for you.
Some quick tips on fonts:
- Avoid commonly used fonts, for example, Comic Sans
- Making sure the customers can understand what your Logo is saying is important, so making your Logo legible is key.
- Avoid using multiple fonts
Making your Logo Recognizable: If you look at major brands their Logos are simple, straight forward and recognizable anywhere in the world. You're trying to build a brand recognition and something that can be spotted and recognized easily.
One of the main keys is combining all the things that have already been discussed so far, and overlooking any of these key components can impair your final decision on what design you go with.
When creating your Logo, take a step back and view your Logo at all angels and viewpoints and see if this is still something that catches the eye. When dealing with eCommerce this isn't always the case but at the same time, this is your business and the logo won't just be on the website but elsewhere as well.
Standing Out: To make your Logo different from all the others, try to be different, don't go with the "Big Thing" that is now or was, try to explore the boundaries of being different than any other company. The key component I believe is having fun when designing your Logo.
Simplicity: If your design is simple and straight forward, the more recognizable it can be. If you look at some of the biggest brands in the world, you will see just how simple and stupid their design is, but at the same time how recognizable and simple it is. This is what can help you stand apart from the rest.
Effects: Don't get to crazy with filters and effects when designing your Logo. With all the programs above, they all have amazing tools to do just that, but too much going on in your Logo can be bad. Remember that simplicity is key.
Put together a Design Factory: This doesn't mean go out and clean out your garage and turn it into a separate business just to create your Logo, but to just follow some of these basic foundations for design:
- Research
- Brainstorming ideas and thoughts
- Create sketches and doodles (some of the best ideas will come to you when you're in the car or at a coffee shop, so carry a pen/pencil with you)
- Develop
- Review
- Discuss
Use other Design Logos for inspiration only: When designing your Logo, don't take a famous Logo and turn it into yours, make sure you're not doing this as there are law against this, such as copy right infringement. Use other companies as a jump off point and see how they incorporate their Logo with their business.
Where to upload your Logo
If you're at this point, you have created your Logo or already have one that you designed previously. You will want to log into your Admin and navigate to the Cart Designer. This will be one area to add your Logo at. So right click on the current theme Logo and click Visual Properties. Navigate to Images>Site Logo>Select Image and then you can upload your image there.
You will select the image from your local drive and then upload it. And this is how my test Logo looks:
If you're using a customer created Theme you will want to look in content/cache/skins/(Your Theme Name)/images/image-logo.png (logo.png was the name of the Logo I uploaded).
Links to Related Articles.
None at this time.
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