After years of logos, brand identity and art design, here we are to summarize the key-point in order to create a perfect logo design. Of course this is not the bible of the logos, but there are here some guidelines to help you to focus the best tools for a strong impact design.

When the designer is developing a new logo frequently falls into temptation of starting to take shortcuts: to save time or to save money, or even both.
The problem is that both choices are not cheaper or faster, especially for a start-up or a small company when they start to grow up (we hope so).  

Need some examples? You can use a clip art logo (bad idea – probably the image is not royalty free). You can download a logo template (another bad idea, as the name said, this is a ”template”, that means other people can use the same one).
So the only effective method to have a strong impact design is to ask for a professional or, even better, to ask for a community of professional designers.

Less is more.

A complex logo is more likely to be forgotten easily by people.
The best logos are simple, ideally you can have the main one simple, with a strong impact, and create a second version embellished with more details, for instance if the media required a 3D version.

The logo does not have to comunicate what your company is not.

Think about McDonald's golden arches: there aren’t hamburgers.
Think about FedEx’s logo: no trucks or airplanes.
Think about Puma’s logo: an animal, no clothes.
Think about Nike’s swoosh: no shoes or golf hat.
To have a logo with the company features could be appropriate sometimes, and often it could be better to have a logo with simple graphic details, a logo that can be adapted despite the marketing direction of the company will take. Think about Apple’s logo: ok, it’s an apple, but there are no features revealing it belongs to an hi-tech company.
The same logo was adopted by The Beatles (maximum marketing strategy experts of the ’60 musical industry) for their company.

Size matters.

A logo has to be adjusted in different versions and size (even small). The logos too complex could be ruined in very small size. Think about a professional business card design, fax header, pencil customize...
You have to focus on where the logo will be used in terms of size and media. This could help the designer, don’t forget to write it on the brief.

Aspect ratios.

The relationship between the height and width of a logo is critical. A tall and thin or a very large logo is not visually pleasant. You’ll have different layout problems, especially combining with other graphical elements.
A square logo or a form close to the size of a standard business card are more adaptable to different artwork. Also circle logos have a strong impact due to their aspect ratio.

Keep icon and text separated.

The logo design often includes the icon that symbolically represents the company. It is the identifying emblem that people will recognize as soon as they see it. If your logo has both icon and text, it will be better to keep those elements separated (avoid intertwining and overlapping). You’ll be always able to use the text or the icon and the logo will be still recognizable.

The logo has to be created for the company target.

The logo must please the company owner. But it is also important to remember that the logo has to attract also the clients: it has to be created focusing on the target. Maybe you’re the most conservative person of the world, but if you want to take off in a young market, your taste could be different from the taste of your target. That means a logo that you like, they will not necessarily like it.

Your logo must have an “instant impact”.

Probably a new logo will not be in front of your target for a long time. A logo has very few seconds to catch the attention of the people who look at it. If your logo requires to be deciphered or has a long history to understand, there are few possibilities that it could tell the essence of your company, product or service effectively.

The tag-line is good, not as part of the logo.

The tag-line is the phrase which describes in a few words a company or its mission. Generally is close to the logo; often under the logo (or, or in circular logos - around the logo). The tag-line is attractive and is useful to catch the attention but is not necessary and useful to insert it in the starting process of your logo creation.
It is always better to have the tag-line separated in order to include it if it does not create problem with the integrity of the logo.

Strive to be different.

Many clients ask for logo proposals similar to the competitor’s ones. So the original concept of "logo" is immediately distorted: a logo will be your logo only if it is unique. Even if it could be useful looking at competitors’ logo, this would not be used as a guide to create a logo. You have to be different from the competitor in order to stand out in a crowded market.
A benchmarking could be done referring to the logo impact or to the logo target. You can look at the most successful competitors and analyze why people like their logo so much.

Colors are important… in the final phase.

It could be an obvious sentence but the most important part of the logo project is the logo itself. It’s nice to see the different color versions but in the starting phase the colors are not the first priority. They can always be changed later. But you have to…

Consider color choices carefully.

Using two or four colors may impact on the eventual cost of printing in the future. Even if this is not a critical aspect in the starting phase, the choice of the corporate colors could have a ripple effect in all the others use, so this is an important decision in the final phase.

Good appeal, good logo.

A logo is good if it means something (i.e. a color stands for the power, a track stands for what we do…) but sometimes the clients wants to include every company message in the logo.

Here is when the client logo brief seems to be a print campaign brief, and definitely a logo is not a print campaign. The latter has many elements in order to communicate the concept (headline, visual, body copy…).

A logo “too much elaborated” is not so good. The most memorable logos are the easiest ones. There are also complex memorable  logos but lots of dots, colors and tracks which “maybe mean something for someone”… they would mean nothing to the people who are looking at the logo for the first time: a nice told story which no one will understand.

The logo is only the beginning.

That’s true, it’s an important beginning, but it’s just that. Don’t expect that your logo substitutes all brand awareness actions. Only using the logo in the marketing and advertising actions (including business ethic actions, client service ecc…) your brand will be created.

Repetita iuvant.

Why the Nike logo is so successful? Just because is the logo of a very  company… Not at all.

Does it hide some metaphors? Don’t think so.

The Nike logo is successful because it’s been seen more than anyone else sporty logo: on TV, on the best athletes shirts, on the sporty equipment of the most famous professional team.

The Nike logo is so successful because its exposure, and that’s is the same strategy you should adopt for your logo. Surely you won’t have the Nike budget but you can do your best.

Keep using your new logo everywhere, until you’ll be sick of it, and then… keep using it again.

Never change the logo.

A successful logo stands the test of times and leaves behind a lasting impression in the minds of people world wide.

Once you created your logo, it’s all your interest to keep it. The brand awareness needs time (according to some studies up to three time before a person memorize it). If you need to change or update your logo, you’ll have to think long about it. To change frequently your logo in short terms could be seen as a brand unreliability. And that’s not so good.