The Elements of a Good Logo

Ah the logo. Logos are almost everywhere we look today, and while rarely acknowledged, they’re important marks we use to visually recognize the companies we know and trust in a split second. You may be reading this because you’re a savvy business person who knows a logo is a valuable asset to a successful company. Standing apart from your competition and reaching your target market makes a logo an important necessity for any serious business.

If you’re looking to rebrand your company or are starting from scratch, a logo is likely something on your mind. But how do you know a logo is good? It can be a tricky process finding a designer, reviewing logo options and homing in on one that fits your company. In this blog, I’ll be presenting a little history and some logo elements you should look for when going through the logo design process to ensure you’re receiving a quality logo. 

History

Gutenburg introduced the world to the printing press back in the 1400s, which made communication more efficient through the use of individual metal letters organized into words, lines and paragraphs, then inked and pressed onto paper. A new printing technology developed in the 1800s further improved the efficiency of the printing press by hot metal casting full words instead of just letters and ligatures. These full words were called “logotypes” and included words used regularly, such as “the.” These logotypes were often created for a specific typeface, making each one unique. The term “logo” is an abbreviation of the word “logotype.” While we’ve been using symbols, images and text to represent organizations for thousands of years, it wasn’t until the late 1800s that the minimal, abstract logo design became a popular way for companies to differentiate themselves from their competitors. These original modern logos typically included a symbol, or icon, adjacent to the organization’s name. 

Legibility

Legibility is important for fairly obvious reasons, but also some not-so-obvious ones. Legibility is important for logos containing wordmarks (type). If you can’t easily read the wordmark in a logo, your company’s image will be impacted negatively. You could have a fantastic website, superior marketing strategies and excellent sales people, but potential clients will be off-put and skeptical of your company’s abilities if they can’t decipher what your company is called. Likewise, it is important for any icons or graphics in your logo to be clear and bold. While the icon may be literal or more abstract, clear-cut edges and solid colors are best to ensure consistency across different logo applications. For example, if your logo’s wordmark is clear but the icon has super fine details or a drop-shadow (blended shading around the edges), and your company requires uniforms with a small embroidery of the logo, the embroidery may end up looking like a blob and render your logo unrecognizable. 

Versatility

As mentioned in Logo Legibility, it’s not a good idea to create a logo that can’t be used on certain types of materials. A logo with too many details or elements that don’t translate on certain types of media (e.g. an embroidered shirt) won’t be as effective as logos that translate well no matter where they’re applied. In addition to media application, a logo must be scalable. As big as a billboard, as small as a pen, the whole point of a logo is to be able to stamp it on many things in order to get your company’s brand out there. While you’re going through a logo design process, it’s a good idea to request renderings of the logo in different variations (a horizontal version, a vertical version, a centered version, etc.) and at really small sizes to make sure the logo can be applied to smaller items, like pens and business cards. If, at smaller sizes and different variations, the logo isn’t legible, you’ll know it’s not a keeper. Logos with legibility and versatility will last longer and grow with your company over time. 

Typography + Fonts

Unless your logo is solely an icon (which isn’t recommended since your company probably has a name), you will also need to consider the typography applied to your logo. When speaking of typography, legibility is implied. Typography refers to the sum of all parts of a wordmark, including fonts, letter spacing and any stylistic changes made to the font shapes to visually capture the essence of your company. The font refers to a group of characters created in one style (Helvetica, Arial, Comic Sans, etc.)(“typeface” is actually the proper term and “font” refers to the variations within a typeface, but that’s a detail for design nerds). Selecting a font is the starting point when creating a wordmark for your logo. From there, the letter spacing and font shape can be adjusted to improve legibility and provide unique styling. Designers may actually create custom type to allow your company to really stand and make it nearly impossible to copy. Keep in mind, the font selected for your logo may also impact how type is used across your company’s branding. 

Colors

The sky’s the limit with logo colors, though there are some best practices that are good to know before going totally nuts with a color wheel. In order for a logo wordmark and icon to be legible and versatile, it’s good to keep the logo colors relatively simple, or at least have multiple logo versions that translate well on different applications. For example, using color gradients in a logo is acceptable as long as there is a version that can be totally black and white and still be visibly recognizable and scalable. Also, when selecting colors for a logo, it’s good to consider how they look in tandem with each other and how they may be used in your brand’s color palette. A brand color palette typically has more colors than appear in the logo for use in different applications, but the main logo colors will appear across all brand materials. How many colors should you use in your logo? That’s really up to you and your designer, though 2-4 colors usually does the trick and still provides plenty of options to create a truly unique logo.  

Visual Tone 

There are definitely more subjectives than objectives when it comes to nailing the right tone in a logo, and is one of the trickier aspects of logo design. The visual tone of a logo, when done right, should provoke a certain feeling when your clients interact with your company, products or services. Using adjectives and describing your company’s key values is extremely helpful when trying to communicate to the designer what the logo must exemplify. Say you’re the marketing director at an engineering firm that is responsible for calibrating medical tools. The tone of your logo could be described as clean, precise, modern, technical and serious. Or what if you’re a ceramicist that runs a small business and online shop. Then your logo may be described as warm, earthy, organic, lively and creative. When in doubt, it’s good to look at competitors’ logos, or even logos of companies you admire for inspiration and examples for your designer to reference. Brainstorming and researching tangible examples helps communicate what you’re looking for if you’re not able to explain it in words.