You have done the ultimate business plan. You have everything that you need to establish the said business. The only thing left is to design that logo for your awesome business. How hard can it be? The answer is not very hard, but only if you do it the right way. But what is a logo and why do you need it?

Logos are deemed to be the face of a company. They are graphical representation of a company’s unique identity and just by using unique fonts and colors, your logo can set your company apart. A logo provides essential information about a company and helps your customers identify what your business is all about. It is one of the most important, if not the most important part of advertising and marketing your business. There’s a reason professional logo designers are hired to do a job like this. So, what are you looking for when you’re trying to design or decide upon a logo?

The first thing you’d like to look into are the design principles. Good logos need to be unique and easily understandable or comprehensible, especially to the potential customers. There are plethora of colors, visual elements, and typography available, but whatever you choose should convey some information about your company, or at least provides some sense of the meaning of the industry your company deals with in general.

Logos are also part of the identity of your brand. They allow you to establish your presence in the market. Therefore, a well-designed logo can help your business succeed, while a substandard logo can reflect badly on your business and may even turn your potential customers away. A logo should also agree with all the aspects of your business. You cannot afford to have contradictory visual elements of color mixtures in your logo, and such a logo, even if visually good, wouldn’t appeal to the customers. While unique, logos should have a coherent theme agreeing with your company’s, using fonts color and document designs as your company usually uses.

But that’s not all what a logo does. A business requires significant amount of investment, both in terms of money and time. A logo can help you get better return on your investment. A well-designed logo not only reflects well on your professionalism and your competency, but also is memorable. Such a logo is easily recognizable and helps you capture the attention of potential customers as well potentially helping you with increased sales. Think about the Pepsi Globe. It’s an iconic Red, white and blue and though there have been changes through the decades to the logo, the general logo has remained pretty similar. It is one of the most recognized logos across the world. It’s not that every logo can be an iconic one, but the more memorable the logo is, the easier it becomes to attract the attention of any customer.

But is it that easy to design a logo? It can be, but a logo requires time and patience. Unfortunately, most smaller companies or startups don’t always pay attention to their logos. They pay insufficient amount of time on logos. Improper size or positioning of designs, cluttering the logo with unnecessary details, including clipart, are all mistakes that can ruin your logo. You do not need separate logos for separate places. Logos should be consistent through all backgrounds and colors. Whether you’re putting your logo online or on print, they have to be same.

All in all, we all can agree that a proper logo can go a long way in helping you not only in establishing your business but help it flourish. A logo may be small, but it is the largest part of the brand you’re trying to create.