If you are a new business owner or are considering modernising or rebranding your current organisation, one of the most important things you will stumble upon is the design of your company logo. Your logo should be memorable, appropriate to your business and industry and must also support your brand. As such, logo design is not a simple task and should be created by a professional graphic designer who understands your industry and target market and is experienced in logo design and development.

Before you contemplate designing a logo, you should have devised some form of marketing strategy. This marketing strategy or plan will assist you in determining which market you’re aimed at and what kind of image you’d like to project through your logo. Once you’ve set your marketing strategy, the next step is to translate that strategy into an effective, consistent identity to use in your promotions.

Below are some recommendations I would make to anyone who is looking at having a logo designed for their business.

- Don't try to design it yourself, unless you also happen to be a professional graphic designer. Your logo will be used on all of your marketing materials, including letterhead, business cards, signs, and other advertisements. Just as you hire an attorney to represent you in court and an accountant for taxes, hire a professional to create your logo.

- Get recommendations for graphic designers from friends and business associates, especially those whose business cards and logos you find most appealing. If you know anybody who works in a similar industry, you may wish to ask them who designed their cards.

- Work with the designer to translate your logo for such diverse promotional items as yard signs, posters, classified, display ads, stationery, business cards, brochures and of course your website.

- Make sure your logo works well in both colour and black-and-white. Make photocopies and send test faxes and e-mails to see how your logo reproduces in any format.

- Logos should stand the test of time. Avoid basing your logo on a current trend. Trends quickly come and go, and you don’t want your logo to look outdated.

- Appeal to your target audience. For example, if your target market is luxury homes, make sure your logo is elegant and upscale. It is important that your target audience can relate to the logo.

- Keep it simple. A complex logo that looks good in print might not look the same on a Web page. Keep your design clean and simple so that it can be adapted to work for all of your marketing materials.

- Most of all – be unique. You don’t want anybody to get confused between your organisation and possibly your competitor.

A good company logo will not only set you apart from your competitors but it will also act as a forefront to your branding and marketing campaigns. As such, it should be memorable and unique yet simple and appropriate. Remember, if a picture is worth a thousands words, then a logo is worth a million!

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