How to Design a Logo From Scratch in 5 Steps

How to Design a Logo From Scratch in 5 Steps

How do you design your own logo from scratch? It’s actually easier than you think, especially if you follow these five steps. You don’t need special skills or expensive software, just a little bit of time and the determination to make something truly unique!

 

Step 1: Brainstorm

There are many things you will need to consider when designing your logo, so the best place to start is by brainstorming. Pick an object that represents your company and then come up with words that describe what it does. For example, if you were designing a logo for a dog walking service called ‘Fido’s Footsteps,’ you might come up with words like happy, loyal, companion and inspiration. After generating these words, you would narrow them down until one word stood out as the perfect representation of your company. This word will be the core of your logo design.

 

Step 2: Develop Concepts

It’s important to brainstorm many concepts and create variations before finalizing a logo design. Think about what words or ideas you want your logo to represent and come up with at least 10-12 different concept sketches. We recommend using low-tech media like pencils, paper, markers, etc., because it will help you think outside the box and generate lots of interesting ideas quickly. Use these golden rules of logo design:

 

– Avoid any letters or words that can be changed or rearranged into profanity

– Keep the font distinctive (avoid fonts that are too common)

– Make sure the logo is clear when shrunk down for social media profiles

– Choose colors that stand out and make sense together

 

Step 3: Select One

The third step is the most important step of this process. It’s time to select one design and move on. It is difficult, but it will be worth it when you have finally chosen your logo and can move on with the final steps.

 

To help ease the process, here are 4 golden rules of logo design:

 

Keep your logo design as simple as possible while still retaining its message

Use colors that complement each other and your brand’s color palette

Your logo should be unique and not similar to another designer’s work

Your logo should not be too complex or trendy (unless you want a temporary or trendy feel)

 

Step 4: Check the Details

Once you have chosen your logo design, it is important to make sure that all of the details are correct. Is the logo scaled correctly? Are there any spelling errors? Does the color palette make sense for your business? These three questions are golden rules of logo design that should be checked before proceeding with ordering.

 

Step 5: Get It Professionally Designed

The final step is to get your logo professionally designed. You could try and design it yourself, but the likelihood of you coming up with something professional looking is slim, unless you have design skills. There are many professional logo design services out there that offer affordable rates and excellent designs. Once you’ve found one that fits your budget, give them your idea and let them do the work!

 

Hiring a cheap designer

There are companies that will design logos for you. You’ll usually get 5 or 6 options for a few hundred pounds. They will usually only aska couple of questions about your business.

What they’re really doing is clipart, the same thing the automated logo designers will do for you.

They take your business category and decide what your logo should look like. We had a massage therapist come to us after trying to work with one of those companies. All of the logos they sent her looked like something for a yoga studio. And the six designs were really just two designs in three colors each.

Save yourself the time and money. Either pay a professional designer to create something from scratch, which will usually cost about £1,000. Or do the design yourself as we’ve explained above and have someone professionally create it for you.

 

How much is a logo worth

The real value of a logo is in the company that it represents, but some logos are so iconic that if they were ever sold off, the value would be in the recognition.

CocaCola, Nike, and Starbucks are among the brands whose logos are instantly recognizable.

How can your logo be worth after a few years? It will all depend on how well-designed it is in the first place then how great the company you build behind it is. Some logos have gone on to symbolize the poor quality of products or services that the company devolved to. Many older home appliance brands were sold to companies that simply took a quality name and slapped it on cheaply made products. After a while, the brand and logo are diluted and worthless.

Look at some famous logos for inspiration: https://www.zenbusiness.com/blog/famous-brand-logos/

One of the places many new businesses get stuck, even before the logo making process is the company name. We’ve written a blog to help you figure that out too: https://mag.nforto.com/if-youre-stuck-on-your-business-name-idea-read-this/

 

Clint Mahmalgi

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