Yeah, we have come to our last part: Colors. If you followed all the steps and articles towards the credible logo – which is the best option – you know it’s just missing colors. It’s not about being the most shiny, creepy or cool, it’s about meanings and relation to your brand personality (again!).

Colors

The power to affect feelings and emotions. That’s why you need to understand how colors work and what they mean to make the right approach. Tip: Try not to exceed three colors unless it’s the intention. Look at your logo in one-, two- and three-color versions before you decide.

The Loyola University in Maryland showed that 80% of brands are more recognized because of their colors and the way it relates to emotions. Keep in mind that the color you choose will stablish the way you are noticed. For example, luxury brands use silver, gold, black and white for a sophisticated image. And restaurants like Pizza Hut and Burger King abuse of red as a stimulation to hunger.

In brief we have this general guidelines:

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Are you ready for step 4? We are heading to the credible logo finale. But no spoilers are allowed at this point. Today we are going through typography tips. Hope to help you choose the right font for your logo to transmit the right message and match the personality of your brand with the type’s personality.

Typography

Rule number one is legibility. You should imagine this logo from an outdoor to a business card size. Thus it has to be easily readable or identified, there is a rule made by the designer Jessica Hiche that I love. It’s called “rule Il1”. When you decide to use a Sans Serif font, type (i) on uppercase “I”, a lowercase (L) “l” and the number one  “1” side by side to see if you can distinguish them. In case you don’t, the ideal would be to change it so you don’t have comprehension problems. 

Typography style, as everything else we are discussing, need to represent your company. Each type has its personality, so pay attention to match the adjectives you defined to your brand at the planning step with the typography options. Some types are elegant, others are informal, others traditional. Based on Dan Mayer’s study and article I’ve come to this families and meanings:

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If you are following my guide towards a credible logo, you’ve gone already through Planning and Naming steps. But now, we are going to start building your logo choosing its system and format.

Now, in this third part I’m going to deep into the system options for you to understand which one fits better your company’s brand.  Letters, images, emblems, name, there are so many options when it comes to logo systems that you might be lost. But this article will brighten up your mind to the possibilities when designing your logo. Always focusing on being true to your brand.

System

There are many types of logos and classifications around the Design world. But I’m going to stick with Alina Wheeler’s book Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team that is very well written and composed. She divides logos in 5 categories: wordmark, letterform, emblems, pictorial marks and abstract/symbolic marks. They all include typography and/or image, but each type of logo gives your brand a different feel. So let’s see what Alina says about them.

Wordmark

A wordmark is a strong word (or words) that should be easy to read at the same time presents a very distinctive typeface. Work really well when the name itself is catchy and memorable. And when combined with strong typography, the logo gets a strong brand recognition. Continue Reading

Once you have a logo the next step for many businesses is to put your brand on the web. One of the most important features of a website are the images. If you don’t have your own images you probably are looking for stock photography. They can get quite expensive, but before you purchase it’s worth checking out these 10 sites which offer free stock photos.

Each one has a Creative Commons license which makes it possible to use the images for personal or commercial use. All the images are available for download in high definition.

1) Pexels

Pexels bills itself as the best free stock photography search. They have a great functionality where you can search and browse by popular photos, popular searches, and color. The search by color function is particularly helpful if you are using a specific color palette.

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