Logos surround our everyday life, seriously, take a look around and see the logos around you (I can easily count 14 in my living room, from board games to the leggings I'm currently wearing). It's obvious your business needs a logo, but where do you start with one? How can you make one you're happy with, with a limited budget?
Why Do You Need A Logo
A logo helps your brand and/or business be recognized. When you see a bottle of soda with a red label and a script font on it you think Coke, when you see a graphic of an apple, you think Apple. Whether your logo includes an icon (like Apple or Pepsi) or just words in a specific style (like Coca-Cola), it helps you get recognized and is a small piece of an overall picture of your businesses brand (this includes things like colors, fonts, stylings, and tone).
Your logo is important. So why do you want one you create? Well, we don't always have the budget we would like, right?
While a free logo isn't usually recommended, when you're starting out or making a shift or whatever your scenario is, a logo is better than no logo. You can develop and alter your brand over time to better align with your business (heck, Coke and Apple have altered there's over the years!).
Bet you didn't think an apple could change that much, huh?
Free Versus Paid Logo
By now, I'm sure you're asking the question "Why don't you recommend a free logo?" and the answer is simple, I value the expertise of designers. A graphic designer has not only learned how to make individual, unique designs, they understand the importance of shape, colors, and spacing whether your logo is on a giant blimp or in the navigation of your website.
Additionally, a designer can create something that you can't even imagine and often can help you shape your overall brand. My personal brand is a perfect example of this. I am an expert online marketer and can help others craft their own brand, but for my own, I hit a wall!
I knew what kind of colors I wanted, fonts, and icon...but not exactly how to hit the mark for it all to come together. Luckily, I have a good friend who's work I've been admiring for years who I turned to. I knew she would be a good fit not just because I knew her, but because I already liked the style of branding she produced. Additionally, she worked with entrepreneurs, so she would understand my needs instead of turning to someone who traditionally works with say, lawyers, who doesn't understand the audience I work with.
Here's what I received from her, not just a logo, but colors, fonts, and a style sheet of how it all comes together (and this was just her small package!).
The minute I saw it, I knew it was perfect and exactly what I wanted but didn't know I needed.
If you can afford to work with a designer from the start, I will always tell you to do it. It will be worth it and help you have a logo and brand to last the test of time. But if your circumstances don't allow you that freedom, then creating your own is a great choice!
How To Make A Logo In Canva
Making your logo is incredibly easy in Canva, between the tons of templates, fonts, and the ability to change the colors to whatever you want - you can create something that can be genuinely unique to your business.
There are a few things that can make your logo building easier:
- colors you want to be associated with your brand (find some color palettes to use here)
- fonts you want to use, we recommend Google fonts and have created 30 different font pairings here
- styles you already like such as emblem, logotypes and the various ones mentioned here
Buuuuut you don't need any of that to follow along with this video and get a logo created in the next five minutes!
What Logo Files Do You Need
Now you've got your logo, fantastic! But you're not done yet. You almost never need just one logo file. Your logo is how people can recognize something is yours, you can use it as a watermark, you can use it as a profile picture, you can use it all over. But in order to do that, you need a few variations of it
Here's what I recommend:
- Color version
- Black version
- White version
- Transparent background
- Icon version
Having these logo variations means you can use it where you need and when you want it, easily. Need to add a logo onto something with a dark background? White logo to the rescue! Need a favicon for your website? Your icon is here to be used! Need something on a white background that won't distract the eye? Your black logo is here to help!
Additionally, solid color logo variations help you to know how easy it is to recognize your brand in any state, large or small.
Your logo is the most recognizable definition of your brand and you need a logo to start making a name for your business. But don't worry - the first step is easy - understanding who you are marketing to. Start the process of determining your customer is super with our
free Discover your Avatar worksheet - click here to download today!