Before you start daydreaming about finding the perfect office space in NJ, you need to get the basics sorted out. We covered brand naming in our last article, and in this blog, we would like to go over the ABCs of logo design – basically, everything you need to know to create a stunning logo that people will be able to remember and associate with your brand.
Let’s get started!
The principles of logo design
What should you know before you begin the logo designing process? Here are the five principles of logo design:
- Keep it simple, silly
From Feeling Peaky: “Your logo needs to be easily identifiable at a glance. Allow for changes of size and colour. Good logos deliver something unexpected and are unique without being complicated.”
Take Starbucks, for instance. Their logo is simple and recognized worldwide. Can you think of any other coffee chain that has a logo that’s as recognizable? Chances are, you can’t. So, keep it simple – with a plain visual representation, and plenty of symmetry.
- Make it memorable
Another important factor to consider. Feeling Peaky says, on the subject: “An effective logo should be memorable. Keep it simple and appropriate to the nature of the business. The Audi logo has a global presence. Children from a very young age play games in memorising what cars they recognise via their identity.”
- Is it timeless?
Feeling Peaky says: “An effective logo should be timeless and should avoid trends. It should last the test of time. How will your logo look in 10 years’ time?”
If your logo is topical or trendy, it will look terrible in a couple years when the trends change. So, make sure it’s evergreen. Consider the McDonald’s logo. It’s old, clean, simple, and widely recognized. It always has, and always will be associated with fast food.
- Make sure it’s versatile
Feeling Peaky advises: “A good logo can be used in a variety of sizes and colours. Your logo should have the versatility to appear on collateral for a pen to a plane. This dramatic physical scale in usage demonstrates how an identity needs to work across a wide scope of collateral.”
You will need your logo to be on your entire branding package – including letterheads, stationery, emails, leaflets, and more. So, don’t create a design that’ll look overcrowded and meaningless when shrunk down to a small size, for instance.
- It must be appropriate for the purpose
From Feeling Peaky: “A professional logo should be fit for purpose. The logo should be appropriate for the intended audience. For example, a logo for a toyshop could be colourful and playful in its execution however, the same wouldn’t apply to a law firm.”
Your logo and the colors in it should remind people of your products, and should generally make sense with your company’s identity. Don’t choose a grey and blue logo if you sell fast food, for instance.
These were the basics principles of logo design. Apply these to your office space in NJ, and you’ll see the difference it makes in marketing your business!
Pros and cons of designing it yourself
Here are the upsides and downsides of designing your own logo.
Pros:
- Affordable – Instead of paying a professional designer hundreds – or even thousands – of dollars, you can simply spend a few hours to design the logo yourself
- Custom-made – While most designers will custom-design a logo for you, there’s nothing quite like taking pen to paper and designing it yourself, with your very own vision
- Easy process – Logo making software is mostly easy to use
- Endless edits – Rather than having to request a grouchy designer to revise a logo, you can edit it yourself as many times as you’d like
Cons:
- Copyright issues – If you accidentally design a logo that’s similar to another business’, you may find yourself dealing with a copyright case
- Templates suck – If you’re using an online logo maker, chances are, you’ll be offered page after page of generic templates that look like every other logo. They lack personality and uniqueness, and take away from your brand’s image.
- Time investment – Unless your time is cheaper than the designer’s, you may find that you’re actually losing money by opting to design the logo yourself
So, these were the advantages and disadvantages of taking a dab at some logo design software without much experience, and giving logo design a try. We’d suggest that on the whole it’s better to hire someone with experience, because it is your company, your baby, and for it, you want the perfect logo.
Steps to creating the perfect logo for your office space in NJ
If you have decided, after going through the pros and cons, that you want to try designing your own logo, here’s how to do it.
Creating your own logo isn’t difficult – especially these days, when tons of tools such as Canva are available for free. So, here’s a quick guide on how to design the perfect logo on your own, with zero or minimal design experience:
- Create notes
Write down bullet points with as much info as possible, keeping the principles in mind, so you can look back at them later to remember your vision. Write down what you want the logo to look like, what the design conveys, etc.
- Brainstorm your concepts
Go over your notes, and doodle a couple logos, or select a couple from a list if you’re working online. They don’t have to be close to finished at this stage. They just need to be very rough concepts. Later, you can go over them, pick ones that look promising, and work on them further.
After this step, take a day’s break so you can come back to it with a fresh mind. While you’re taking a break, you can do some research to see if any of the designs you’ve created have been used already.
- Digitize your designs
Now, go over the concepts you sketched out earlier, pick three or four that look promising, and digitize them. This will make it a lot easier to work with and edit them. If your designs are already digital, you can ignore this step.
When you digitize the designs, you need to pick out fonts. Make sure you pick a clear font that reflects your company’s tone, and keep the number of fonts limited to two. You don’t want to overdo it and create a loud mess.
- Design in black and white
At this stage, you’re ready to flesh out the logo for your office space in NJ. Refine it, drawing it in black and white. You can do this step after a couple days’ break, and take it slow. Don’t try to rush through this step. Make notes and corollary sketches as you go. It’s always okay for the logo to evolve and grow as time passes. You can make notes about which colors you want to use.
- Choose the colors
Pick out colors that reflect your brand’s identity and which have positive associations, and decide where to use them. This is the final step, and it shouldn’t take much time, but you definitely shouldn’t hurry it either. Play around with colors, do your research, and have fun. Your logo is almost ready!
- Clean up the logo
After a couple days off, come back to the logo, and make any final changes that are needed. Clean it up and give it a professional look, go over the principles of logo design, and download the file. You now need to do some in-depth research to make sure nobody else is using this logo, and once that hurdle is crossed, you can test the logo on your test group.
Ask them questions such as ‘how memorable is this logo’, and ‘what comes to your mind when you see it’.
So, there you go! This was how to create your own logo, in 6 simple steps. Of course, this guide assumes you’re starting from scratch and creating the initial design on paper. If you use a logo maker and/or templates, you can skip a couple steps, and get to the end result quicker. Just remember to not hurry the process, because design is a creative process and if you rush through it, you’ll have an inferior result.
Finding the perfect office space in NJ
The Blau & Berg Company’s real estate specialists collaborate, network and have market knowledge to service your New Jersey office space requirements.
From a 1,000 sq. ft. office facility to a Class A 100,000 sq. ft. space in Short Hills, NJ, the Blau & Berg platform is simple – focus on being in front of people. Partnering with clients to provide in-depth market support, realistic timeframes and budgetary guidelines is key.
The company’s affiliates allow them to target local markets with global reach. Through research, marketing and canvassing, the firm achieves the optimal results for every client. The office sales and leasing group offers comprehensive strategies that incorporate short and long-term needs to maximize overall business objectives.
