5 crucial steps to create your company logo from scratch

Representing your company’s brand, the logo’s main purpose is to visually represent your company. A graphic design generally composed of text and image, the logo conveys the values of your company. Your main stake is to touch the heart of your target audience. For achieve this goal, the logo will be highlighted on all communication media of the company: billboards, websites, business cards, presentation brochures, etc..

The logo’s impact can be pretty significant if it is well designed. Indeed, it can push the consumer to buy and create a sense of belonging the brand. The creation of a logo should not be taken lightly. You want to create your logo and you don’t know where to start? Here is what you should know.

The functions of a logo

Before you start designing a logo, it is important to establish the functions it should perform. Why is it important? What should it try to demonstrate?

As said above, first and foremost, the purpose of a logo is to disclose and point out the identity of your company. At a glance, one should be able to more or less guess the company it represents and its values. An effective logo must be easily memorable. It must allow you to differentiate yourself from others.

In addition to seducing your target audience, your logo must help you develop your brand image and unite the members of your company around your project. This is why it is essential to create a logo that also aligns with the company’s values.

Designing the logo

Designing a company logo is far from being an easy task for everyone. This activity requires advanced skills in graphic design and illustration. In addition to a perfect mastery of graphic design software such as Adobe Illustrator, it is necessary to have a developed sense of creativity in order to successfully produce a graphic identity that reflects the aspirations of your company. If you do not have all the essential skills to create a logo, it is strongly advised that you get help from someone who is an expert in the field.

Step 1: Identify the target and the values of the company

The very first step in designing a company logo is to identify the values of the company, as these will be at the heart of the message conveyed. It is also important to determine the target audience that the company wants to reach in order to have an idea of the nature of the logo. Finally, it is wise to take into account the company’s slogan or baseline if there is one, to better understand the energy that it gives off. This brainstorming and reflection work will allow you to better understand your objectives and what you want to achieve in image.

Step 2: Gather a lot of date and create a database

Once you have grasped the core of the message that your logo must convey, you must conduct visual research and a benchmarking exercise. To put it simply, you must analyze and compare what has already been done by other companies. This will help you to orient the design and style of the logo. Below, the different types of logos that exists:

• The monogamous logo or letter: It is composed of letters marking the initials of the company. Common examples are IBM, HBO, etc.
• The logo or wordmark : It highlights the name of the brand like Coca-Cola, Google or VIS
• The symbol: It is an icon/symbol or a pictorial mark like the logos used by Apple (The bitten apple) or Twitter (the birdie)
• The mascot logo: It illustrates the company’s mascot like the one used by KFC
• The combination mark: It includes both the wordmark and pictorial mark like Doritos, Lacoste, Burger King, etc.
• The emblem logo: It is recognized by the presence of a font inside an icon or symbol.

When you have enough data and you have a general idea of a logo, start by designing it on paper. Don’t be afraid to create several designs to test them out

Step 3: Determine the typography

On your computer, you’ll now be able to start researching the typography for your logo. You can use Adobe Illustrator from Creative Cloud to carry out some font testing. “Researching the typography is a crucial step in creating a logo. One should be able to convey the values of the company only with the font used. To do this, you need to know the style of the company; whether you are going for formal or informal. You should capture the core of the message you want to convey by choosing the right font. All the other elements of the logo will only be complementary”, explains Emmanuel, agent responsible for logo creation at ProContact.

Step 4: Choose one or more vectors

Once you know which font to use for your logo, it’s time for you to choose the vector(s) that will be added to the project. This means that you will need to determine the graphics and colors that you will add to the logo.

Step 5: Vectorization and digital realization of the graphic models

This brings us to the fifth and final step: harmonization. The goal is to match the font to the chosen vector(s) and to make the necessary adjustments so that the logo is as you wanted it to be. Don’t hesitate to remove a few elements if you find the logo is overloaded. Also, be sure to create an existing logo in multiple formats that are compatible with the different sizes of your communication channels. It is also recommended to make several mock-ups. “Generally, we make one logo and three or four variations of the logo. This allows us to have several choices on hand”, says Emmanuel.

Once the logo is finished, you can export it in the formats you need them for both web and print media (PDF, EPS, JPG, PNG).