How to create a big brand logo

The process to create a professional logo is complex and subjective, the result depends of the graphic designer creativity and knowledge, it is important to understand that the main purpose of your logo is to create a connection between your brand and clients and not to satisfy a personal taste, if you understand this principle, it could be easier for you to judge your logo, or even you can analyze the strategy that you are using to promote your product or service, if you don’t have a logo yet, this is an excellent guide to get excellent results. Here is a list describing some common principles applied by professional graphic designers and advertising agencies to create iconic and recognized logos.

 

1. Your logo should be Simple

Simplicity, this is the most important rule to communicate our ideas,  We are exposed  to tons of information every single day, everything must be simple to get  our attention and the  logos are not the exception,  simple logos are recognized immediately, the color is another important aspect, usually a good concept looks amazing in black and white, the shape by itself should send the message to your clients and prospects, Logos with more than 2 colors and special effects or shadows, become weak and useless in small applications such as favicons and apps icons.

 

2. Your logo should be memorable and understood for everybody

The human capacity to remember is an important detail to be considered to create your logo, a good concept is usually placed in your head at first contact, this value makes it memorable. The shape of a logo is an important part here, logos with details and complex shapes are hard to remember and the brand identity usually get  lost,  if you see the Target logo above, you don’t have to look twice to put it in your brain, even you don’t need to be an artist to draw this logo on a piece of paper, which means this brand is been positioned really good  in your head.

 

3. Your logo should be proper

A logo shouldn’t explain what the company does, if you sell shoes, you don’t need a shoe in your logo, the most important objective is to transmit feeling and emotions, the logo should inspire to your clients to think in your brand in the way that you want to be recognized, that is why before create a professional logo you  should keep in mind what is your niche or ideal client and what do you want to communicate, for example take a look to the BMW logo above, it is  luxurious, classic, elegant. This principle will help you to identify some issues in the way you are presenting your company, maybe you have a great and modern logo with a sportive style for a company that produces classic furniture.

 

4. Your logo should be timeless

Being timeless means that your logo is so perfect that it doesn't need to be redesigned to get the same impact in future years. Products and services every day are better and competitive, but a company that wants to be in trend with the latest fashion in logo design might think they should change their logo every year, but that is a grave error, the customer hardly learned the logo and got use to it in a year, for example the Coca-Cola logo was introduced in 1887 and it has never been modified.

 

5. Your Logo should be able to Use on a variety of formats and media

The way how your logo is presented and displayed is really important, if you want recognition this is a fact that you should keep in mind, in the past the marks, logo or trademarks were used only in printed material, but these days everything has changed, a professional logo should be clear enough to be used in print, in a very high-resolution, apps, banner, business cards, T-shiert and even movil advertising.

What happens when you remove your logo from your branding?

First of all, your branding is more than just your logo. Branding is the perception that people have about your business, for that reason you can recognize some companies even without seeing their name or logo. So taking your company logo and adding it to a random picture or marketing piece is not enough to communicate your company`s message.

You brand identity is a detailed combination of images, typefaces and colors that need to communicate the same IDEA or FEELING. Your message must be consistent and all your marketing communication should be more congruent.

It is always important to bring new and refreshing elements through your marketing, so you can occasionally change some visual elements, but they must remain relevant and related to the product or service you offer. You can change typefaces and shapes sometimes, but you must always reflect your corporate culture and transmit the emotions you want your customer to feel.

Big brands don`t change much in the way they present their products and services, and when they do, they have a good reason for doing so. In simple terms, your branding is what differentiates you from the competition. It might be a certain design, a type of approach towards society and the clients or a certain policy. Brands usually communicate their message through names, terms, designs or symbols, basically everything that leaves the company.

What happens when you remove the logo? It depends on how good your branding is. If you have not spent enough time creating a strong message, removing the logo will be comparable to disaster, because your logo has been the only way the consumers were used to recognize your business.

As a business owner you need to create a brand that communicates your message through a certain line of illustrations, colors and feelings that are repeatedly conveyed through your stationery and marketing material. The logo is really important and it is there to remind everyone who`s taking responsibility for the message, in other words, your logo is your business signature and it should be supported by the branding to communicate the message.

Logo design for an international non-profit organization

Brainstorming

More than creating a logo to identify HESED as a traditional sports brand, it is important to highlight the humanitarian cause, HESED is a non-profit organization which fights poverty using sports and culture by doing humanitarian and social actions around the world.  The word HESED is totally new for us, but since it is the brand name, we must have a clear understanding of  its meaning. HESED  is a Hebrew word that means loving kindness and loyalty, which are perfect adjectives to identify the brand mission and vision. HELP PEOPLE.

 

Research

As was mentioned by the clients, their competitors are Adidas, Reebok, Nike and other sportswear brands, but an element that makes the different from these commercial brands is that HESED will be using the entire profit to fight poverty around the world, reason why we must include in our research some references from other organization with a similar mission.

If we observe these logos, we can identify two groups, on top we have some sports brands suggested by the client and at the bottom we have some well-known humanitarian organizations, if we see the styles are clearly different, while the sports brands use lines with movements and sharp traces, the other group logos use elements related with their mission; except one, Bennetton, this is not exactly a sports brand, but it has a strong image in the fashion industry and its campaigns are usually linked with humanitarian content, which are common factors with HEDSED.

Sketching

Here we have some random sketches that I have created to experiment possible shapes and forms to create the logo.

Logo Characteristics

After some modifications and final adjustments this is our proposal. HELP PEOPLE, these two words define the HESED mission as a non-profit organization, but it is important to understand that work against poverty takes more than good intentions and a good heart, and this is what I’m representing in this logo, A strong and bold heart helping poor people around the world.



 

We understand this is not a traditional graphic representation of a heart, make it obvious could lead us to a weak concept and become one of the hundreds companies using a heart as a logo. Another important aspect is the simplicity and connection with the brand name,  if we see the construction process at the left, after selecting the right typography, after couple movements we have and strong and solid concept.



 

Final logo and usage samples

Here we can see how the logo could be used over different colors



 



 



 



 

Javier’s work was featured in DJ Mag Italia among other experienced creatives around the world

This is the second time that Javier's work has been featured in a magazine, the first appearance was a full page article in one of the best publications specializing in the latin culture in the US. Now our work is getting recognition across seas. Our name is in DJ Mag Italia, the Italian edition of the cult magazine dedicated to music and club culture worldwide. Every month they feature international clubbing, partying, advertising, technology and fashion in the music industry around the world.

The reason why they contacted us was because they saw one of our logo creations in this website, it was The Drop TV. this is a logo created for a new music channel in Los Angeles. The logo was designed following a detailed creative process and the final result was a simple and powerful concept that captured perfectly the energy and purpose of the channel. This time we don't have a full page article, but what makes it important for us is that we have been featured among other experienced graphic professionals around the world. I am talking about creatives that have the talent to work with clients such as Emi, Virgin Music, Fernando Garibay (Lady Gaga director and compositor), Tiesto, Skrillex and so on.



View The Drop TV logo design process 

Who we are

We are Javier and Alejandra, a creative couple founders of Javier Branding for Success, our 20 years experience in the creative field has gave us the opportunity to work with a wide variety of clients, from small business to major brands. Rather than designing artistic pieces our creativity is always focused in creating solid and functional concepts, helping our clients to promote their products and/or services and increase their brand recognition and sales.

In 2005 we moved from Bogota, Colombia to Los Angeles with our dong Merlin. After some years in North America we can see that our career has been an exhilarating roller coaster ride! Sometimes going up like a rocket and other times coming down with the parachute closed. But this is part of learning process. Our talent plus the acquired experience have helped us to become a successful design studion in a challenging city like Los Angeles in a relatively short time.

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Why you should hire us

Why you should hire us? This is a simple question and it should have a simple answer as well. Instead of trying to impress you with a large list of our skills and technical stuff, we will give you just one simple reason ...

"We came to the United States seven years ago. Since then we have created our brand from scratch, our creativity and design knowledge have helped us to become a successful graphic designers in a challenging city like Los Angeles in relative short time. Even faster than some designers and studios that have been here for a longer time".

Could we do the same for your business or personal branding? Our answer is irrefutable.

YES !!!

Our client list ranges from small local businesses to major brands such as Ed Hardy, FOX, DirecTV, Foreseeson, just to name a few. But don’t just take our word for it, read some of our clients testimonials and take a look to some of our latest projects.

We have designed a luxury magazine with 40.000 circulation nationwide

Alegria Magazine is a Luxury & Bilingual Latin Arts and Lifestyle magazine in The United States. Their target market is very diverse including all United States bilingual Latino community along side communities of all cultures. In particular, they are determined to give Spanish speakers more of a sophisticated magazine than is currently available in the US. The mission is to give people a publication that will allow them to discover the bilingual and bicultural experience currently lived in California. Alegria will expose their readers to new Latin American and local destinations as well as take them through the journey of the Art world, the life of inspiring celebrities and leaders, and the cultural exchanges happening right at this moment in America. Alegria is owned by Davina Ferreira and is headquartered in California www.alegriamagazine.com

 



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View full magazine here

 



View full magazine here