In a terrific post, David Airey gathered an excellent collection of 15 simple but memorable logo designs. Some are truly iconic such as the ones for the World Wildlife Fund, Shell, Bayer, USA Network, Underground, Mitsubishi, 3M, Apple and Penguine others may be more recognizable in the UK but are still reasonably good examples of the point – Your target market will likely take only a fleeting glimpse at your logo and a simple one may be a better choice.

Here are several factors you need to carefully consider as you develop your logo design:

COLOR

There are many studies available to help you deterimne a color or series of colors appropriate for your logo. Consult with a number of those studies first, then review and categorize your top ten (10) competitors. Do you see any patterns? Is there an obvious gap between the colors from studies, your product or message and your competition? If there is no appropriate gap, should you join your competitors instead? Do they know something you don’t?

PROPORTION

Really great logos are well balanced and generally fit in a simple box or circle. The best examples of this are the ones for the WWF, Shell, Bayer, Underground, Misubishi, 3M, Apple and Penguin. Each of these have come to mean something to virtually everyone. Each is synominous with the brand itself and need nother more to tell their message. While this is a worthy goal, no logo will get there on its own. If this is something important to you, then keep the proportions righ and back it up with constant use of the logo in everything you do and eventually you may get there.

CONTRAST

As noted in each of the examples, the best logos have deep contrast with strong light/dark divisions through color (3M) or black and white (WWF). Bold contrast is another key element.

USE

Outside of the design itself, you need to consider where, when and how often your logo will be displayed. Will the logo be used for a product, a website, your building or other medium that cannot be changed easily? A black logo will not work on black packaging and would even look strange on a tan background. Business cards and stationary can be changed easily, but other considerations may be less flexible.

COMPETITION

As noted above, you need to gather the logos of your top competitors (along with their supporting logos – see Coca-Cola for example) as well as ten or so logos from lessor competitors that you find striking. Group them by color, by message, by shape etc to see if there is a general industry standard. You will need to determine if your logo should conform to the conventions of your industry, and if not, why not? You will also want to be careful that your logo is not too similar to the others that could lead to confusion or even trademark infringement.

INSPIRATION

Like your competition, it would also be helpful to gather a number of additional logos from other firms you find inspirational. Like the logos of your competitors, you should group these inspiration logos by color, by message, by shape and other characteristics and comment on each as to why you like it and what it means relative to your own logo design concept. These logos can help you forge an iconic niche among your competition or help you justify why you will deviate from the standards of your competition.

YOU

Finally, your ideal logo should tell your story like the WWF panda bear. When that was designed there was much in the news about the plight of the Great Pandas and it made a great symbol of their cause. Are you local or international? Are you selling a product or a service? Write down your mission statement and next to it prepare a list of other characteristics that are unique to you including but not necessarily limited to your:

LOCATION
– Country
– City and/or State
– Geography
– Building
– Landmarks

OTHER CHARACTERISTICS
– Your Industry
– Your Product
– Your Market
– Your Owner(s)
– Your Name

Remember, that until you get as large and as reconizable as 3M, Shell or the WWF, you can always change or modify your logo until you find the combination that delivers the best results.