How to design an eye-catching logo

Logos are all around us these days, and you would be hard pressed to find a business that does not understand the importance of a good logo. Based on a single concept, a logo (or ideogram) is a graphic story that summarizes the personality of a brand. Its purpose is to foster immediate customer recognition. A logo is a key element in the branding of a company or product. Companies undergoing organizational change often decide to change their logo as well, in order to refresh and renew their image. In recent years, there has even been a trend of companies updating their logos to mark holidays or special occasions. In the words of one of the world’s greatest designers, Paul Rand: “A logo is a flag, a signature… it doesn’t sell (directly), it identifies… a logo derives its meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes…” There are 5 fundamental principles to remember when you approach the task of designing a logo:

• Simplicity
  A logo has to be clean and simple; it must communicate with visual clarity. Do not overload your design with colors, fonts and graphic elements. Sounds simple, right? Wrong! Every true artist knows that achieving simplicity is the most difficult task of all. However, it is also the most rewarding, because the simplest logos are always the ones we remember best.
  
• Memorability
  If you cannot describe your logo in one sentence, the chances of others remembering it are slim.
• Differentiation
  Choose a color, an element, a font, a technique or anything else that expresses your brand and is unique only to you, and appropriate it for your logo.
• Timelessness
  A good logo needs to have a sense of timelessness about it. This is because logos are designed to last, not to be replaced every month, or even every year. When designing a logo, beware of passing trends that advocate the use of certain shapes or colors, and stay faithful to the brand. One interesting example of a strong brand that does the exact opposite is Google. The Google logo is so simple, so memorable and so well known, that it can easily afford this strategy.
• Flexibility
  A good logo looks great whether it is printed in color or in grayscale, on a billboard or on a business card.