Hey there!
Choosing the perfect logo for your new website or online business is so important. In fact, it‘s one of the most critical decisions you‘ll make when establishing your brand.
Why?
Because your logo gives potential customers their very first impression of who you are. It needs to quickly communicate what you‘re all about.
Coming up with a custom logo can seem hard if you don‘t have much design experience. But don‘t worry! In this beginner‘s guide, I‘ll walk you through everything you need to know step-by-step.
With the right tools and tips, you can easily create a polished, unique logo that makes your brand stand out.
Let‘s get started!
Contents
Why Your Website Needs a Logo
Before we jump into designing your logo, let‘s first go over why having one matters so much:
1. It Creates Instant Brand Recognition
Research shows it takes only 50 milliseconds for someone to form an opinion about your brand when they first see your logo.
That‘s all the time it takes for them to decide if your company is trustworthy, high-quality, cutting-edge, or budget according to your logo alone.
This makes it one of the fastest ways to establish your brand identity in customers‘ minds.
2. It Differentiates You From Competitors
Your logo needs to set you apart from competitors in your industry. Having a generic, unoriginal logo can actually hurt your brand.
Research shows around 8 in 10 consumers are more likely to remember a product if it has a distinct logo.
Really think about what makes your brand unique during the design process.
3. It Inspires Trust
A professionally designed logo subconsciously makes your business seem more legitimate and established.
First impressions matter – arm your website with a high-quality logo upfront to inspire trust from the get-go.
4. It‘s Memorable
An effective logo sticks in people‘s minds by being simple, bold, and eye-catching.
Logos like Nike‘s "swoosh" and McDonald‘s "golden arches" are globally recognized. Make yours instantly memorable too!
5. It Reinforces Your Messaging
Smart use of colors, symbols and fonts allows your logo to highlight your brand personality and values.
For example, the Amazon logo‘s arrow points from ‘a‘ to ‘z‘ representing vast selection. Use similar tricks to reinforce what your brand stands for.
6. It Provides Consistency
Having the same logo on your website, business cards, packaging, etc. boosts your brand‘s consistency and recognition.
As a tip, use the exact same logo file across all materials without distorting or altering proportions.
7. It Has Leverage
A logo gives you an asset to use on social media banners, swag, advertisements, stickers, basically anywhere!
It can be leveraged across marketing materials both online and offline.
Clearly, investing some time in crafting the perfect logo pays off tremendously. Now let‘s get into some pro tips and examples for designing your own from scratch as a beginner.
Design Tips for Creating Your Own Logo
The thought of designing a logo yourself can be daunting if you don‘t consider yourself a designer.
Not to worry! Just follow these handy logo design tips:
Keep It Simple
The most iconic logos like Apple, Target, and Nike are all incredibly simple and clean.
Prioritize minimalism. Avoid cluttered or overcomplicated elements that distract from the core elements of your logo.
Limit Your Colors
Restrict your logo to one or two main colors, and optionally one accent color.
Too many colors look unpolished and amateurish. Stick to shades that fit your brand identity.
Make It Scalable
Your logo will be viewed across devices and mediums at tiny and huge sizes.
Make sure it looks crisp and recognizable scaled both large and very small.
Use Vector Graphics
Unlike pixelated raster images, vector graphics can be resized to any dimensions without losing quality.
Create your logo as a vector file in programs like Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape.
Pick Legible Fonts
If your logo incorporates text, choose simple, easy to read fonts.
Elegant sans-serif fonts like Helvetica or Arial typically look clean and modern.
Be Consistent
However you design your logo, be sure to use the exact same version everywhere.
Don‘t stretch, warp, or change colors. Consistency boosts brand recognition.
Stand Out with Originality
Do research to ensure your logo isn‘t similar to competitors‘ logos in your industry.
A unique, unexpected logo commands attention and memorability.
Following these basic tips will ensure your DIY logo looks professional, not amateurish.
Now let‘s look at different types of logos to consider as inspiration for your own design.
Popular Types of Logo Designs
When drafting logo ideas, it helps to study some commonly used logo approaches.
Let‘s look at 5 of the most popular:
1. Wordmark Logo
A wordmark logo purely consists of stylized brand name text, like Coca-Cola:
Pros:
- Puts focus on brand name
- Text-based so usually simple to make
Cons:
- Not as distinctive as symbolic logos
- Needs a strong name that stands out
Wordmarks work best for widely recognized brands like Amazon, Google, Facebook.
2. Pictorial Mark Logo
A pictorial mark logo uses an icon, symbol, or illustration to represent a brand, like Apple‘s apple shape:
Pros:
- Eye-catching and memorable
- Can convey values through imagery
- Recognizable without text
Cons:
- Harder to design an effective symbol
- Risk of choosing cliché imagery
This style needs strong design skills but allows creativity in symbolism.
3. Combination Logo
Combines a wordmark with an accompanying pictorial symbol, like Domino‘s Pizza:
Pros:
- Balances text and visuals
- Reinforces brand identity
- Flexible for different uses
Cons:
- More complex to execute well
- Both text and symbol must work together
Combination logos are versatile and widely used but require graphic design skills.
4. Lettermark
A lettermark logo stylizes a company‘s initials into an abstract symbol, like CNN:
Pros:
- Bold, minimalist aesthetic
- Builds familiarity with initials
- Memorable with good custom lettering
Cons:
- Relies heavily on stylized letters
- Meaning may be unclear to some
Lettermarks need strong typography skills but result in clean, versatile logos.
5. Emblem Logo
Emblem logos feature a recognizable symbol housed within a geometric shape, like Starbucks‘ mermaid in a circle:
Pros:
- Eye-catching combination of text and graphic
- Shape gives prominence
- Can convey tradition and authority
Cons:
- Geometric shape may not suit some brands
- Can look cluttered if poorly executed
The bounding shape lends gravitas but also requires good design skills.
Which Type is Right For You?
As a beginner, I suggest starting with simpler options like a wordmark, lettermark or combination logo.
Pictorial logos require greater skill in symbolism and emblem logos need graphic design experience to customize shapes artistically.
Now let‘s go over some great tools to easily create your own logo even as a beginner.
Top Logo Makers for Beginners
While hiring a professional graphic designer is the ideal option, it can get pricey.
Luckily, there are now excellent online logo makers that allow you to quickly create custom logos on a budget.
Based on 15+ years of webmaster experience, I highly recommend checking out:
These are all beginner-friendly yet offer ample customization. Let‘s explore each in more detail:
1. Make a Logo with Tailor Brands
Tailor Brands provides outstanding bang-for-buck by combining artificial intelligence and customization tools.
Their guided logo maker asks you probing questions about your brand, target audience, values and offerings.
Tailor then auto-generates 3 logo options tailored to your business for you to choose from as a starting point.
You can head into their editor and customize every element like:
- Symbols and icons
- Text fonts and wording
- Colors
- Spacing and sizing
This balance of AI guidance and customization provides beginners fantastic results.
Pricing starts at a very reasonable one-time fee of $19.99 to download your logo files after designing.
Key Benefits:
- User-friendly guided experience
- AI generates on-brand options
- Plenty of customization
- Great for beginners
- One-time download fee
2. Make a Logo with Looka
Formerly known as Logojoy, Looka is another top logo maker loved for its simplicity.
Looka is more fast-paced than Tailor Brands. You select your industry, Looka generates samples, then pick a design to customize.
The Looka editor is intuitive with options to:
- Change fonts
- Swap icons
- Edit text
- Modify colors
- Make backgrounds transparent
Once done, download your logo starting at $19.99. Looka is straightforward for logos on a budget.
Key Benefits:
- Fast, easy process
- Premade samples to choose from
- Simple customization
- Affordable for beginners
3. Create a Free Logo with Shopify Hatchful
Shopify Hatchful is a fantastic free alternative for creating logos. Being free, it offers less control than paid tools.
But I love Hatchful for its simplicity and hand-holding guidance for complete beginners.
It asks you prompting questions about your brand and generates logo ideas accordingly. Pick a design, head into their editor, and customize elements like:
- Text fonts and spacing
- Icons and symbols
- Colors
- Logo shape
Download your finalized logo and even matching business card designs 100% free. It‘s a great starting point before upgrading to paid tools.
Key Benefits:
- Completely free to use
- Intuitive step-by-step guidance
- Decent quality for the price
- Good for simple logos
Hatchful is best for beginners who want a free yet good quality logo for basic brand identity needs.
Now let‘s go over tips for maximizing your results with DIY online logo makers.
Tips for Using Online Logo Makers
Based on my experience with various logo makers, follow these tips to get results you‘ll love:
Pick the Right Tool
Select a tool based on your budget, skill level, and desired creative control. Paid tools allow more customization.
Thoroughly Answer Their Questions
The tools ask questions to understand your brand‘s identity, target audience, industry, values and offerings. Answer thoughtfully as this informs their logo designs.
Research Competitors
Study logos of competitors in your industry first. This provides inspiration while ensuring your logo differs from theirs.
Try Multiple Concepts
Whether the tool auto-generates options or you make your own iterations, experiment with a few ideas before deciding. More options = more insight. Don‘t settle on your very first design.
Use a Vector Editor
Work on your final logo in a vector program like Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape. This ensures scalability and gives more control than online editors.
Show It To Others
Get unbiased feedback from others before finalizing your logo. They may spot issues you can‘t since you‘re so close to the design process.
Refine It Over Time
Don‘t obsess over perfection initially. As your business evolves, you may choose to refine your logo to keep it current.
Next let‘s go over when it pays to hire a pro logo designer.
When to Hire a Professional Designer
While DIY tools enable anyone to create a logo, sometimes it pays to hire an expert designer.
Consider investing in a custom logo if:
You Want Maximum Creative Control
Experienced designers develop far more concepts and can accommodate unique requests better than logo generators.
Your Brand Requires Strategic Messaging
An expert can craft a logo that strategically conveys your desired branding, emotions, and associations.
Your Logo Contains Complex Imagery
If your logo concept requires intricate illustrations or icons, a designer‘s drawing skills can bring it to life.
You Need a Complete Brand Guide
Designers can expand beyond your logo to create cohesive brand guidelines, imagery, packaging, website UI elements, and more.
Sites like Fiverr and Upwork offer affordable freelance logo designers to hire.
When hiring, I recommend:
- Review multiple designer portfolios and client reviews
- Provide clear design instructions and preferences
- Request 5 initial concepts to choose from
- Ask for vector source files of the final logo
- Negotiate unlimited revisions until completely satisfied
Though pricier, a custom logo tailored to your brand can be worth the investment for the right business.
Now let‘s wrap things up with some final tips.
Final Tips for Logo Design Success
Here are my top tips for logo design as a webmaster of 15+ years:
Research But Differentiate
Study competitors‘ logos for inspiration but make sure yours is unique in your industry. You don‘t want customers confusing you with a rival.
Prioritize Consistency
Stick to exact same logo across your entire web presence, packaging, materials, etc. Consistencyboosts recognition.
Think Future-Proof
While trends come and go, a timeless logo withstands fads. Target longevity in your design.
Make It Legible Small
Test that your logo remains legible and recognizable at tiny sizes like 20×20 pixels. This ensures it works as a website favicon and social media avatar.
Register Trademark
Once finalized, register your logo with your country‘s trademark office. This protects it from unauthorized use.
Iterate Gradually
Resist the urge to overhaul your logo frequently. But occasional gradual updates can keep it feeling current as your business evolves.
Most Importantly, Keep It Simple!
Simpler logos get recognized faster, remembered more easily, and withstand the test of time. Resist clutter and stay clean.
Creating a custom logo may seem daunting as a beginner but really just follows logical steps.
Equipped with the online tools and design tips I covered today, you have all you need to craft an amazing logo that represents your website or brand beautifully.
I know your perfect logo is just a few clicks away. Go get designing! Reach out in the comments below if you have any other logo design questions.
