Five Aspects of a Killer Logo

Logos are the center of your brand identity. So what makes some so good? We’ve narrowed it down to five important aspects that make up a killer logo.

Killer logos are Simple

When it comes to logo design, simplicity is king. A common test that logo designers use to keep their logos simple is to attempt to draw it in as few strokes as possible. Simplicity is so important because it allows the logo to be more memorable, scalable, and all-around more versatile.

Simple logos have 1-3 colors at most, consistent stroke weight, little detail and composed of only one or two elements. Key examples of this might be the Nike Swoosh or the McDonald's Arches. Their design is so simple, most people can draw them with only one stroke, from memory.

Killer logos are Memorable

Speaking of memory, it's important that a logo is memorable. The main purpose of a logo is to connect a marking with your company so that customers can identify you. If your logo is too boring or common, customers will forget it easily, and they won’t be able to connect your logo to your business when they see it in action in the real world.

In order to create a memorable logo, it may be a good idea to break the mold. A common problem in the heating and air conditioning industry is that every competitor uses extremely similar logos. If you were to take each of their logos and lay them out together, customers would have an extremely hard time discerning whose is whose. To make sure that people remember your identifying mark, use an unconventional logo that they may not expect to see in that industry.

Killer logos are Scalable

Logos need to be utilized in all sorts of places, so it’s essential that your logo can be scaled and resized depending on the needs of the platform. For example, beverage companies like to have extremely compressible logos, so that they can be seen on everything from box trucks to bottle caps.

Even for a business that may not need to place logos on their actual products, having a scalable logo is extremely important. You need to have a mark that can be stitched into uniforms, placed on business cards, and blown up to cover entire cars for car wraps.

Killer logos are Versatile

Versatility is key to keep logos relevant to whatever project you’re working on. It may be necessary for a project to use only one or two elements of a logo to identify the company. Can your logo be broken down and still be recognizable? Is your color scheme so iconic that you can identify an item that belongs to you just by seeing the colors it’s made of?

Being able to remix, break down, and abstract elements from a logo helps keep your logo usable and relevant for years to come.

Killer logos are Appropriate

Finally, good logos are appropriate to the product or service that you are offering. If you were to use hand script lettering like Disney for a funeral home, there would be an obvious disconnect between the message in your logo and the goals of the company. The same thing would go for an arcade that used a green square like H&R Block.

While we don’t want to draw a picture of what your company does, we also don’t want to be so far removed from your industry that customers can’t make the mental connection. This is why we need to keep a smooth balance between standing out and blending in.