There are a few things you need to know and consider before starting the logo design process.
1. Take part in a brand audit
If you already have a brand, then I would recommend taking part in a brand audit before your logo design. It is important to understand what’s working and what isn’t working for your current brand. You can then take these learnings and improve the way you build your new brand.
2. Define your audience
As the saying goes, “If you try to be all things to all people, you won’t be anything to anybody.” Defining your audience will help you communicate your branding more effectively and will help you save on marketing costs as you know which audience to focus on and what messages to communicate. By working with a specific audience, you will also develop better systems and skills as you build your experience of how to create results for them.
3. Choose a brand name
Choosing a brand name is one of the most difficult things in building a brand. It is a difficult task because you want your brand name to encapsulate how your business helps your audience, whilst checking for the availability of domain names and existing business names. Knowing your brand name is essential before starting the logo design process.
4. Understand your value proposition
Your value proposition describes how your brand adds value to its clients. What do your clients fear? What problem does your brand solve? How soon can clients expect to see results? These are all questions that help you map out your value proposition. It is also useful to review past testimonials about yourself to identify what makes it enjoyable to work with you.
5. Understand logo files
It is important to have both vector and pixel logo files for print (CMYK and Pantone) and digital (RGB) applications.
Vector files (Adobe Illustrator, PDF) contain mathematically mapped imagery that can be expanded or decreased to any given size and will not lose their resolution. On the other hand, pixel files (JPG, PNG, Adobe Photoshop) are made up of a certain number of pixels, which determine the size and resolution of the image.
CMYK and Pantone colours are both used for print. CMYK tells the printer how much cyan, magenta, yellow and black it needs to print the image. Pantone is a company that has created a universal system of colour combinations, called Pantone colours. By using Pantone colours in your branding, you improve print consistency. This is because Pantone colours are standardised.
RGB is used for screen or digital applications. The RGB spectrum is generated by the backlight of the digital device. The spectrum is also a lot bigger than the CMYK spectrum. This means that you need to first select your brand colours in CYMK and then RGB to ensure that the colour combinations match each other.
If you’d like some help with planning your brand design, then why not book a Clarity Call with me?
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