Please take a moment from your day and learn about 3 elements of a great logo.

1) It’s simple. 
It’s true, you know. Less is ALWAYS more. It’s easy to over-complicate and over-detail a logo. When it looks too busy, with too many colours and fonts involved, take a step back, peel away a few layers and let it breathe. A logo needs to be simple because people will quickly look at it. And, it needs to translate across a variety of platforms. Whether it’s printed on a business card, displayed on your website or even on a highway billboard, it needs to be able to appear big or small, in colour or black and white. The simpler it is, the easier that this can be achieved.

2) It’s memorable.
A logo should be easy to remember and recognize. There needs to be SOMETHING about it that stands out and makes it unique or different. It can be designed in a similar style to others, but there still needs to be an element to it that really gives it that “WOW!” factor. Think Nike, for example. We’ve mentioned it before, but it’s really just a glorified checkmark — a simple “swoosh.” That’s all it has to be. It’s a universal icon and recognized literally anywhere, by anyone. You might not be Nike, but your logo can still can special and stand out in a crowd.

3) It can stand the test of time. 
A logo should not look dated. Even if it’s designed today, it needs to still look modern, be attractive and be relevant five or even ten years from now. When a client is paying for a logo design (and this is something that we keep in mind with our own work) they’re making an investment in their brand. They don’t want to spend hundreds or thousands once a year on a logo redesign, just so they can look current and “with the times.” And, that defeats the whole purpose of branding altogether, because one solid identity is never established or around for very long to become known, stand out and make a difference if it’s constantly being revisited and tweaked. Going back to #1, designing it in simplistic and minimal ways will also help to make this happen. There can be variations or colour swap-outs made to it even a couple of years down the road, but the main foundation, overall structure and look of it needs to stay intact.