This article has been contributed by John Muller.

Whether you’ve been in the market for years or are just starting, the importance of branding is a no-brainer. And beside customer service, product quality and pricing, a logo is something that’s a key part of a brand.

But why exactly?

A logo identifies your business and ideally should help your customers understand your purpose, position, and brand personality. Logos enable brands to differentiate themselves from competitors and develop brand recognition and recall.

So, how can you create a logo that helps you achieve all this and convert better than your competitors? Let’s jump right in and find out now!

5 Logo Design Principles for a Lasting Impression

1. Always Start by Knowing the Facts

You can’t do a single thing in the business world without planning and researching first. For instance, if you aren’t aware of your value proposition, your competitors, and your target audience persona, you can’t create a successful:

• Brand voice
• Brand image
• Brand story

For instance, if you don’t research effectively, you won’t be able to determine what colors your audience will connect with quickly. After all, color improves brand awareness or recognition by more than 75%.

2. Design a Logo That Tells a Story

You don’t always need words to tell your story. If you use the correct visual elements, the human brain can easily connect the dots and create a story.

The same applies to brand logo elements. It should communicate your brand’s personality or identity.

To be able to achieve that, you must ask yourself a few questions:

• Who do you want to engage with your brand?
• What makes your brand different to others?
• What is the emotion you wish to trigger?
• How can you describe your brand?
• If your brand were a person, who would they be?
• What’s the backstory?

Once you have your answers, try to convert that into images or designs that encompass all the elements.

Collect inspiration and visual elements that align with your story.

3. When Designing a Logo, Don’t Forget to K.I.S.S.

Eyes rolling! It’s understandable. But all we are trying to say is, “Keep it simple and straightforward.” It is a design principle that brands often use to successfully create logos that are highly appealing to customers. Who can forget the Apple logo design or the swoosh by Nike?

Logo simplicity is quite effective and helps you create classic or timeless designs that last for years. And since our brain processes visuals 60k times faster than words, selecting visuals will have the right impact on your target audience.

4. Make Your Logo Versatile

Sticking to a single logo format won’t allow you to be creative when using the design across web, hard copy collateral, and small business cards. This is why experts suggest having the following variations of your logo design:

• Horizontal
• Icon
• Wordmark
• Vertical
• One color

This way, you can put together an entire project without limiting yourself in any aspect of branding. Your logo should be responsive.

Also, make sure to create different file formats of that logo to avoid wasting time in creating file types when needed. Be sure to use the best tools to avoid duplication of similar designs and avoid chaos later on.

5. Create a Design That’s Usable for a Period of Time

Timeless designs. When designing a logo, instead of incorporating the latest trends, make sure its appeal will last a long time. Otherwise, you’ll be redesigning logos every few years.

Take Coca-Cola, for instance. It’s fascinating the brand’s logo has needed minimal iterations across multiple decades, keeping the essence of the logo it’s had since its inception. And it’s still one of the most recognizable brands worldwide.

First Impression Matters

Did you know that people take only one-tenth of a second to form an impression of a person? Well! These snap judgments hold true for brands as well. It takes less than 5 seconds to form an opinion about your brand.

And since a customer gets connected to your brand through ads or online activities nowadays, the first element that holds importance in such a scenario is a logo. In fact, various studies confirm that users usually spend around 5 seconds looking at the brand logo before moving to other content forms.

Undoubtedly, your logo must have all the elements and dimensions to reflect your brand’s value proposition.

5 Logo Principles Summary

A positive impression will work wonders in convincing your target audience that your brand is what they are looking for.

So, make sure that during the entire logo creation process, you keep yourself asking the following questions:

1. Is your logo appealing and professional?
2. Is it memorable and simple to remember?
3. Does it convey your brand message?
4. Is it appropriate for every marketing medium?
5. Will it last for years?
6. Does it accentuate your brand personality?

If the answers are “yes,” you are heading in the right direction.

In the end, just remember that your logo must act as an extension of your values – who you are and what you stand for. It should help connect your customers to your brand.

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About the author: John Muller has worked in the design industry for many years, developing his knowledge and expertise in creating different forms of graphic content.