As a graphic designer, one of the most interesting things you’ll be taking on is creating a logo for a business, company, or website. It is a difficult task, it is very stressful, and it can seem somewhat daunting. Creating a logo by looking back at the market research, and striking gold is a difficult venture. But, when you finally design it, and release it to the general public, it will all be worth it.
But, when it comes to creating a brand identity, just a logo isn’t enough. Especially if the company is larger, you will need a complex branding system, and although a logo is very important, it is not enough on its own. But, bee you venture into creating a brand identity, you need to know the difference between what the Brand, the Identity, and the Logo.
First, let’s define a Brand. The Brand is the image of the business, it drives the emotional responses about the business, as well as the things that business offers. There are many different definitions of a brand, but most would agree that a brand is a collection of different stories, relationships, expectations, bound together to a picture of the company in the mind of the customer.
An Identity is different than a Brand. The Identity of the company is basically the a collection of all the different visual devices that represent the company in the public eye. The Identity is something that holds the image of company together, by collecting the visual part and guidelines of the company. There are many different visual components and creating a company identity is actually a really complex thing.
The definition of a Logo is pretty obvious. It is something that identifies the company, it is the central piece in the image of the company. The Logo is usually a logotype or an icon.
How do you design a Logo?
The Logo can be designed in many different ways. Although there are countless ways of approaching this, usually what happens is designers sketching many, many different ideas logos on a paper or on a computer. A computer is more efficient to work on, but most designers choose to work on a paper because it helps them be more creative. Depending on what works you, you can choose one or the other.
Probably the hardest part of creating a logo is finally choosing one to be the representative of the company. You can hundreds of amazing logos, but picking one is difficult. You have to trust your instincts and go with the right one. There is no magic mula, you have to sweat it out.
