7 Logo Design Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

I know it says seven but now it's 9... Logo Design Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Summary
Your logo is the visual personality of your business and as a first impression; your logo essentially is your business! A professional logo is one of the fastest way to build credibility. If you sell quality products, your logo should reflect this. Likewise, a poor quality logo suggests inferior products. If you can successfully avoid these common logo blunders and you are well on your way to a great logo:

1) The Clipart Logo
Most clipart images are widely distributed. Anyone who is familiar with the software providing the clipart will very likely recognize your ‘borrowed’ logo. This is a poor way to build credibility for your business.

2) The Special Effects Logo
Strip away all of the special effects to get at the heart of your design. Special filters such as glows, drop shadows, and bevels are great for creating graphics and manipulating photos, but they can be very distracting when applied to a logo. A great logo should be able to stand its ground in black and white, without any effects. You may like to consider drafting your concepts on paper first. You should think more about what is being presented before you decide how it is presented. When you are pleased with a one-colour concept then go to the computer and recreate it digitally. At this point you may or may not like to add a subtle effect to enhance your logo for web use. Eliminate any effect that does not add value to your design.

4) The Banner Logo
A logo is not a web banner advertisement. You are doing yourself more harm than good by forcing your logo into a banner shape, especially if the content is crammed to fit the entire rectangle. Our eyes are trained to avoid these shapes, not read them.

5) The Integrated Logo
Professional logo designers occasionally integrate graphic elements directly into the text to create one unified logo. This process is difficult and risky. Executed poorly, your logo can easily look ‘tacky’ and illegible. (i.e. using the letter ‘O’ in the company name to create a globe, eye, magnifying glass, etc.) If you are new to graphic design, stick to a top centered or left graphic layout.

6) The Text-Only Logo
A text-only logo severely restricts the ability to express your company’s uniqueness and memorability. Larger, more established businesses can pull off text-only logos with exorbitant marketing budgets. One test of logo's effectiveness (marketing budget's aside) is to alter the letters and see if your logo is still recognizable. If not then you need to seriously consider a visual element. If you just can’t resist a text-only logo, consider a strong, unique typeface – preferably custom made.

7) The Monogram
Monograms (company initials) are very difficult to use effectively. It will take a long time to build credibility with a monogram logo. Similarly, logos consisting of several overlapping letters generally do not work well. They may be fun to construct, but the end result says very little about your company and your products/services.

8) The Complex Logo
Detailed illustrations, photos, and complex layouts make poor logos. Each additional detail is an extra detail that your (potential) customer has to remember. A simple, unique logo with solid shades and minimal lines will have greater impact and memorability.

9) The black/white way to start: see replies below.


To view great logos by the author please visit Flame Design

 

Surprisingly, text-only logos might be hard to design.

 

Good list, however feels a bit like an advert for your company

 

Great writeup, definitely a read for many designers You guys do great work, keep it up. Might be needing you guys for some projects very soon!

 

A picture is worth a thousand words, that's why the company website is there to demonstrate good examples of logo design. It will be less of an advertisement once our web design blog is up and the main goal is to benefit everyone from designers to clients. I think the more clients understand how some of the design decisions are made, the easier the collaboration process is going to be. The blog also will include some case-studies to show our creative process, I would really like to share it with other design professionals and get feedback. Cheers!

 

Thanks! Look forward to those projects.

 

Thanks! Look forward to those projects.

 

It is tricky to make good impression with only text but if done right it could be the most amazing logo ever. I always like the FedEx example. The arrow is just amazing!

 

Don't discourage people from complexion and banner type logos or it might be misunderstood . If you look at many logos then have a ratio of 1:5 or more and carry that successfully . A plague of over simplistic and retarded logos is already on the web let's not add to that .

 

Some good tips ill keep in mind when creating logos.

 

I don't know if it has been mentioned but in school I was always taught to design logos in black and white first. Do not play with colors until the proper form and concept has been achieved. A good logo will still be readable in white on black and vice versa.

This is important because what if your client wants to put the logo you created on a tshirt or some other application not involving print or web? Can gradients be stitched into an embroidered logo?

 

Such a clever play of negative space! Great example.

 

Nice and usefull tips, thanks.

 

Great and Useful tips for me.

 

I was taught the same. A lot of new designers go straight to splattering color and effects everywhere, when they have to realize that most materials printed for businesses are in grayscale or BW monochrome. Nice of you to mention this =D It should be added to the original post.

 

Good points guys, I would like to add it in the post but given the thought that the suggestion belong to you guys, I'll just add a point to direct readers to the replies.

 

Great list

 

good information that you sharing.

 

I never knew it was an arrow until you said it

 

Thanks for sharing. Will keep in mind while designing.