This article has been contributed by Jack Leo.

A logo is an important mark that represents the story and meaning of your business. Although designing an attractive and effective logo sounds easy, in actuality, it isn’t.

Whether you are a designer or not, you can still design your logo. To make an iconic logo, you should possess enough knowledge about the things that matter the most to make a unique logo. Moreover, to seek inspiration for your logo design, you can use the ideas and information discussed below. If you are interested you can go through our article on free logo design inspirational e-book.

Characteristics of Engaging Logos

If you notice logos you connect with, you’ll probably notice a few common features in each of them. Following those principles, you can make an outstanding logo that will remain in people’s minds for decades.

Simple

A logo that is simple and looks elegant will often draw the attention of the target audience. Simplicity plays a great role in designing a good logo; it makes the logo appear unique without complication. Moreover, the distilled quality of a logo makes it easy for the viewers and customers to understand the brand’s message.

Unforgettable

The next feature of an engaging logo is memorability. This doesn’t mean that viewers will remember the logo after looking at it over and over. Rather, the viewer will find the logo striking the first time they see it and instantly connect the logo to the brand. In a nutshell, whenever people see that symbol, they will automatically remember it and associate it with the brand name. Therefore, you should be careful about choosing a differentiated symbol.

Timeless

Think of a logo that inspires you – any bet it has been around for a while, maybe even decades. A successful logo won’t need updating on a regular basis. Coca Cola is a good example. Although there have been refreshes since the first logo was designed in 1885, the primary elements of the logo have remained the same to this day.

Adaptable

A successful logo will be versatile. The designer should design it in vector form. So, if there is any need to enlarge it for billboards, or minimize it for business cards, it can be done easily with no negative impact on the quality of the logo. A good logo can also be placed horizontally or vertically if needed.

Moreover, you should ask yourself a few questions: Can a logo go on for decades with the same color? If you have chosen a neutral color, it can be used for years on multiple platforms.

Relevant

A logo that is fitting with the business’ industry, values and culture will be more successful than one which does not accurately represent the brand.

For example, if a brand sells toys or clothes for children, the graphic and font style should be friendly and playful. Additionally, choosing a multi-colored theme also works nicely with children.

A brand with a focus on the environment and sustainability could have a natural-themed green logo to convey their purpose. A sleek, black and white logo, for instance, will not immediately communicate the business’ mission and values.

Logo Design Resources To Inspire You

If you are trying to design a logo, but are struggling for ideas, there’s a huge supply of logo design resources that you can access for inspiration.

Facebook and Instagram

Facebook and Instagram offer a wealth of content to inspire you. Simply search logo-related hashtags.

You can easily find logo designers’ pages with images of designs they’ve completed for all kinds of brands. The comments will give you an idea of interest and engagement in different types of logos.

Also, take a look at @logoimport and @logopassion on Instagram for inspiring logo designs. These accounts profile work from logo designers all over the world.

YouTube

Designers offer suggestions and tips free of charge via tutorial videos and vlogs. The great thing about these is that you can see the actual design process, step-by-step.

Moreover, if you are a beginner, videos can teach you about things you need to keep in mind to make an iconic logo. Even the tiniest detail in the designing of logos matters a lot, and there’s nothing like expert knowledge for these types of insights.

Pinterest

Not only can you view a multitude of logos on Pinterest, but you can also create your own board to collate and even share your ideas.

Textbooks and Articles

There’s almost an infinite number of articles about logos and logo designs online. Here, you can learn about the tried and tested principles of logo design. You can also access textbooks, either to purchase as hardcopies, read as eBooks or borrow for free form your local library. To narrow down your options, use the readability percentage on Google or ratings and decide which one to go for.

Logo Websites

Besides all the resources mentioned above, the internet itself is the biggest resource. You can get the logo design inspirations just a click away. So, what are you waiting for? Check these web pages to get exactly what you are searching for.

Behance

If you are not in the mood to research far and wide for logo designs, you should visit the Behance gallery. It’s a social media platform owned by Adobe, or in other words, Adobe’s portfolio provider. You’ll find many inspiring designs there, which you can filter to refine your options.

Brand New

Use Brand New to stay informed of current opinions on corporate and brand identity work. The chronicle covers large projects as well as small niche design and branding works.

Creative Bloq

Creative Bloq has many creative ideas that will motivate any logo designer. The platform has recently launched a new channel, specifically about logo designs. They offer “Daily inspiration for creative people. Fresh thinking, expert tips and tutorials to supercharge your creative muscles.”

Follow this site for new trends in logo designs and inspiration.

DeviantArt

DeviantArt is an online community, but this one is more for art, videography and photography. It claims to be the largest online art gallery and has now been running for 20 years.

Dribbble

Dribbble is one of the best-known online communities for designers. It paves the way for talented graphic designers, photographers, artists and logo designers.

As they themselves say, “Dribbble is where designers gain inspiration, feedback, community, and jobs and is your best resource to discover and connect with designers worldwide.”

You can even download graphic designs free of cost from this website.

Logo Design Love

Logo Design Love is somewhat about momentous logos and their stories. It provides the storyline of the most known and memorable logos. The journey those brands went through inspire a lot of people. If you want to know how big brands created their logos, you should follow this website.

LogoGala

“LogoGala aims to be an outstanding source for logo inspiration and [showcases] fantastic designs in the gallery”.

You can even submit your own logo to be displayed for feedback in the LogoGala gallery. Many beginners design logos but are not sure of the quality of their work, or if it will earn fame. To answer these questions, LogoGala enables designers to gauge their logo’s success via the number of likes and comments that they receive once their logos are uploaded to the gallery.

LogoLounge

“Thousands of designers use LogoLounge every day as a Gallery, Portfolio, Network, & Source of Inspiration.”

The LogoLounge website is a community where you can share and discuss the logo designs. Additionally, it is also good for research and inspiration purposes as it offers approximately 300,000 logo designs for ideas and suggestions to users.

LogoMoose

LogoMoose is a community for designers. It offers a discussion forum for people all over the world to talk about logo designs. These discussions help individuals to learn tips and tricks for designing logos. Moreover, the fascinating logo designs on this website by professional designers inspire the audience.

You can view logos categorized as Awarded and Highest Rated so you can quickly view the highest-quality logos.

LogoTalkz

LogoTalkz is relatively new online logo design gallery, which allows you to submit your own logo designs. You can filter the gallery by Color, Black and White, Alphabet, Typography and Symbol Logos.

The Logopond

“Logopond is an inspirational site & showcase of identity work from designers of varying abilities all across the world. We seek to inspire and improve the talents of our design family through shared knowledge and helpful experiences.”

You can view logos all the way back to 2006, and filter to student work and logos for sale. Create an account to add your own feedback and contribute to discussions.

Color Tools for Logo Inspiration

Color is a huge factor that contributes to the quality and success of a logo. In fact, there are important psychological elements to consider when selecting your brand’s logo color or colors. To help you make the right color decisions, these tools can help you.

Adobe Color

Adobe Color is a web app where you can create and share color themes, using a color wheel or image. You can also browse thousands of color schemes from the Adobe Color community.

Additionally, with the help of Adobe Creative Cloud, you get access to save your color schemes to Photoshop. You can explore it through the web app, as it’s free.

BrandColors

BrandColors is one of the most valuable resources for logo colors. “The biggest collection of official brand color codes around. Includes hex colors codes for 500+ brands including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many more.”

Color Supply

Color Supply helps people generate and select unique color palettes for their website. It features a color picker and a random color generator. It walks you through basic color combinations, like split-complement and nature, as pictured below.

 

Hire A Professional

Browsing all these logo design resources may have led you to the conclusion that designing your brand’s logo is simply not your cup of tea. Or perhaps there are so many options and things to consider that you don’t consider yourself up to the task. Both realizations are perfectly reasonable – after all, graphic designers are experts in their field for a reason.

A professional designer knows the rules and principles to make a high-quality logo that will resonate with the target audience. They are aware of the exact strategies that must be used to make a unique logo.

Hiring a professional graphic designer with experience in logo design and brand strategy can be an extremely good, cost-effective solution. Check out designers’ portfolios and their certifications to assess whether they’re a match for you and your brand.

Conclusion

Designing a logo can come naturally if you’re a seasoned creative. Nevertheless, even the most creative minds suffer designer’s block.

The more time you invest in the research, the better ideas you will come up with. Luckily, these days, it’s relatively easy to research as so many resources are just a click away.

Therefore, when you check any logo design or color scheme, you should deeply consider their pros and cons. Plus, you should keep the basic principles of logo design in mind to create an iconic logo for your brand. If you’re successful, your new logo will enhance your business’ value by effectively creating a connection between the brand and their target audience.

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About the author: Jack Leo is a professional digital marketer, currently working at Ingenious Guru, a logo design agency. He’s an active blogger who admires reading and sharing information regarding the latest tech trends and gaming news.