Stand out. Differentiate. Distinguish. Your logo’s job is to be noticed. It is the basis for the visual identity that engages interest and makes your organization memorable.
What qualities in a logo make it grab attention and endure? Don’t base the design of your organization’s logo on your own instincts and opinion or, in your haste to get started, just grab a piece of clip-art and forge ahead. You want a logo that creates an emotional response in your audiences — clients, donors, members, staff — both current and potential. You want a logo that conveys what your organization stands for. It’s not a clip-art process, it’s an iterative creative process in which little things mean a lot.
Images have meaning, either inherently (wings denoting flight) or symbolically (dove representing peace). Meaning is attributed to color (red for danger or passion) but that meaning varies from culture to culture.
By vetting designs against the criteria used by professionals, you’re more likely to create a single, clear, direct image that will embody the character and aspirations of your organization and set it apart from the crowd of visuals begging for attention. These seven tips will help you create an effective logo that does get the attention of those whose support you want.
Inherent Meaning
What does the symbol represent to most people, especially those in the audiences you want to reach? Be careful of cultural differences here. Does it visually appeal to the values of those audiences, whether they be professionals or children? Does it convey the core concepts of your organizations, such as its level of professionalism or its friendliness?
Appropriateness
A logo must be appropriate to the ideas and activities it represents. But it must also be appropriate to the media in which it will be used. A design that will flash by on a screen has to meet different requirements than one that will be mounted on the wall of a building. Additionally, the level of exposure is pivotal — if a logo will have wide exposure, more liberties can be taken in with it.
Legibility
Demonstrate how a proposed design will appear in actual use. By itself, isolated on a page, the effect of a design can be deceptive. It is much more informative to show the logo in a range of realistic applications: large and small, in color and black-and-white, and in various media from rough faxes to seamless computer animations. Also, try it out in various sizes, such as on a business card and on a banner, to make sure the proportions work well on any scale and that the design is clear, even when small.
Consistency
Achieve continuity by providing strict guidelines for the use of all basic identity elements: color, typography, symbols, and imagery. Bypass rigid formulas for all applications in favor of flexible graphic systems that are well suited to such applications as advertising and the web where change is part of the expression. But make sure that all staff are trained to use the basic elements correctly.
Flexibility
Flexibility is critical. For an identity to maintain vitality and relevance over time, its visual language must be adaptable, and ready to evolve in ways that cannot be predicted. Logos were once static. Now they can be animated. Your organization may add programs or locations that need their own identity while maintaining connection to the overall organization. A good logo will be part of a brand system that allows such growth.
Memorability
To be effective, a logo’s forms must be familiar enough to be recognizable yet unusual enough to be memorable. This requires a very careful balance. The design must be simple enough to be read in an instant, yet rich enough in detail or meaning to be interesting and engaging. An unusual combination of symbols can accomplish this, such as the candle and barbed wire logo of Amnesty International. Beware of visual cliches! How many nonprofit logos have caring hands or circles of people holding hands? Too many! Make you logo distinctive.
Endurance
Take the long view in designing a logo so that it is contemporary enough to reflect its epoch yet not so trendy as to appear dated before the decade is over. However appealing the logo du jour may be, fashion has no place in trademark design. It is best to avoid visual trends that will appear dated in a few years. For longevity, stick with typefaces that have stood the test of time.
The more interesting and professional your visual image, the more likely it is that your organization’s name and purpose will stick in people’s minds. The logo sets the stage for your organization’s overall visual identity. This is an investment in your brand that you want to get right the first time so that you don’t have to redo it later.
