Mistakes to Avoid in Logo Design

Ah, the logo.

It might be small, but it speaks volumes about your company.

So whether it’s a new design or a redesign - and whether you’re doing it yourself or having someone else do it -  here are things you’ll want to avoid.

Following Trends 

You’ve seen the trendy logo. It’s hip, it’s now, it’s what all the cool kids are wearing on their droopy hats.

Then a year later it’s weird, it’s dated and looks like it was plucked from a time capsule filled with droopy hats. 

Seasoned designers know that a logo needs to be timeless. And they have the know-how and savvy to make it so. 

Yep. Nothing screams amateur designer like a trendy logo.

Copying Successful Brands

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Maybe. But out-and-out aping someone else’s design is NOT flattering. Honestly, it’s lame. 

And it could be illegal. So don’t be a scofflaw. 

Continuing the Love Affair with Stock Images

Look. Those stock images were just not that into you. So let them go.

They’re players. They get around. In other words, they’ve been used in multiple designs already. And your insistence on showing up with them makes you look sub-standard, unprofessional and, well, desperate. 

And yeah, they knew how to use you. But if you don’t know how to use them - i.e. which ones are to be used strictly for business and which for pleasure -  you could be facing legal issues. It’s over.

Walk away.

Insisting upon Being Cute/Clever/Complicated

Here’s the deal. You should aim to have your logo be easily recognizable.

You should NOT aim to have yourself be easily recognizable as an under-appreciated yet rising “artiste”.

Your logo isn’t trying to be the Sistine Ceiling. It needs to be

simple. It should communicate as much as it can muster, but with as little as possible. 

There’s no point in a super creative logo that nobody recognizes. So ask yourself, “which parts can I cut out of the Sistine Ceiling and still have it work?” (I think we all know the obvious answer.) 

The easier the shape, the better.

Believing the Customer (Client) Is Always Right

Many are the clients who fancy themselves “creative” because their painting placed second in their high school art show and they still wonder what would have happened had they pursued that particular (lack of) career path.

But also be careful of allowing the client WITH a creative background to take control of the design. They can quickly move from backseat designer to taking the wheel and driving your logo right over a cliff. 

Ignoring the Unconscious Mind

Colors and shapes communicate all manner of things. And what they’re communicating might not be obvious to you.

For instance, edgy and sharp shapes convey masculinity, while rounder and soft shapes are associated with femininity. This is further whittled down to say that serious and driven companies will fare well with those sharper shapes, while more family-oriented companies do better with roundness. 

Yeah, it’s sexist and cliché, but it’s where we are. And designers need to be aware of this.  

Same thing with colors.

In fact, there’s a whole psychology of colors and each hue is associated with different qualities and feelings. 

The main caveat here is to REALLY look at the logo to be sure there aren’t any unintended symbols or colors. And hand it over to as many other people as you can. Because you might not see that the playful shape and bright color you’re using for that toy company logo shares a frightening likeness with a bloodied Chinese throwing star.

But somebody else will.

Misunderstanding Your Audience

As mentioned above, you want to be aware of how different colors and shapes are connected with different gender associations and psychological stirrings.

THAT being said, make no assumptions.

Not all women aged 25-50 are into shopping and martinis and awesome cleaning products, any more than all men aged 25-50 are all about sports and beer and power tools.

Do the homework. Carry out sufficient research into the market. Stay in contact with your client and get familiar with how they want to be portrayed to their audience. 

Not Using Scalable Graphics

In the past, logo designs used either raster or vector images. 

But since the onslaught of the mobile generation, raster images have become SO 2015. That’s because they consist of pixels. And pixels don’t scale well. And logos need to scale correctly for their host device. And so there.

Vector graphics, however, feature precise points and can scale to any digital or print size without turning into a blurry mess. 

They’re also easier to edit so the designer can go straight into using them from initial sketches. 

Choosing Ineffective Fonts 

Fonts are another component of the design where the aim is

for timelessness. But that’s tricky. Because sometimes fonts fall out of favor for no apparent reason. (This isn’t always the case though. With fonts like Duff Wind and Countdown, the reasons are pretty obvious.)

So experienced designers know that they need to strike a balance between creating a unique visual and finding that timeless font that complements it. 

That’s no easy feat.  

Handing the Design off to Your Sister or Cousin

Did you happen to mention your need for a new logo over Thanksgiving dinner and some family member in art school volunteered to do it for you?  We sincerely hope you didn’t agree to this - driven, as countless other bad decisions are, by your tryptophan-addled brain.

Aside from the obvious pitfalls that come with working with family, you don’t want your logo design handled by someone with just a basic idea of graphic design.

Designing a logo requires more than a knowledge of just graphics. It involves strategizing, planning and an understanding of branding. 

A Good Logo is Complicated

Like quantum physics. Or relationships.

Yeah, you can zip on over to one of those online logo makers and sort through their templates and get ideas from their automated robot designer. (It’s not as Jetsons cool as it sounds.)  And that might be an okay place to start.

But eventually, you’ll want your logo to be created by someone with knowledge and expertise. Someone who understands both design and branding. 

Someone who’s not an automated robot designer.

Because your business deserves more. And frankly, so do you.