How To Design The Perfect Blog Logo
Think about the logos that stick. The pleasing curvature of Apple’s partially eaten apple. The alluring golden arches of McDonald’s M. The quick and decisive Nike swoosh. These logos, which are instantly recognizable, are an essential part of these companies’ brand recognition strategy.
Using their logos, these companies put their stamp on the things they create, establish their credibility in the industry, and strengthen their brand image.
For the same reasons–recognition and branding–it’s important to create a logo for your blog. While big name influencers might get away with branding themselves using their name alone, those of us who aren’t Kim Kardashian need a visual representation of our brand to complete our blog.
That said, coming up with your own logo can be tough. Whether you hire a designer or attempt the design yourself, you’ll need to consider several important factors if you want to create the perfect logo for your blog:
Identify Your Blog’s Personality
The first step in coming up with the perfect logo is to consider your blog’s personality. What is your writing style and voice? What kinds of images do you associate with your brand?
Jot down the words and images that you think your blog evokes. It might be serious, creative, or fun. Maybe it makes you think about finance, flowers, or something in between.
Having a quick brainstorm session about your blog’s personality can help point you towards the images, colors, and fonts you want to include in your logo.
Know Your Blog’s Audience
Your blog logo is less about your personal tastes and more about your audience’s tastes. Identifying your target demographic is key to creating a blog logo that appeals to them.
Consider features of your audience like age group, gender, interests, and hobbies. You should also get inside your readers’ heads. Think about the ideas and emotions that different visuals might convey to your readers about your brand.
This is where the psychology behind different forms, shapes, colors, and fonts is key. Round shapes and curved lines are good for blogs that are artsy, whimsical, cheerful, or feminine. Straight lines and sharp edges, on the other hand, can convey minimalism, professionalism, or seriousness.
Likewise, different kinds of typography have different connotations. Serif fonts–those with little feet, like Times New Roman–are considered classic, formal, and a little old school. Sans serif fonts–those without feet–are sleek and modern, while cursive fonts tend to convey femininity, luxuriousness, or creativity.
Picking the right colors is also crucial. In the color section below, we’ll elucidate the emotional associations people have with different colors, and how you can take advantage of these associations when it comes to your logo design.
Evoke Emotion with Color
As we noted above, selecting the right colors for your blog logo is one of the most interesting and exciting ways to develop your brand image. Your choice of color in your logo design has a huge influence on your brand’s identity and the emotions your audience associates with your blog.
When it comes to the psychology of color, think about the ways different colors might shape audience perceptions:
- Red evokes energy, youthfulness, and passion. It’s great for blogs that are loud and exciting, or that want to make a bold statement.
- Orange is also a high energy color. It’s loud and exciting like red, but a little more eccentric.
- Yellow is the color of happiness and good cheer. It’s best for playful, whimsical blogs that don’t take themselves too seriously.
- Green is most often associated with health, nature or finance. If your blog is about either of these topics, a green logo is a good choice.
- Blue is the most dependable color, since it’s relevant to most topics and appeals to broad audiences. A dark or medium shade of blue helps a blog appear classic, trustworthy, and reputable, while a brighter turquoise shade is playful, modern, and fun.
- Purple is often associated with royalty and luxuriousness, but it also has a quirky and offbeat character that can be harnessed by more creative blogs.
- Pink is widely associated with femininity and is best for blogs whose target audience is primarily female.
- Brown has a rugged character that could be associated with nature or masculinity.
- Black is great for blogs that want to appear minimalistic, classic, authoritative, or serious.
The psychology of color is a great jumping off point when choosing colors for your logo, but it isn’t all black and white.
Different colors can take on different meanings depending on the form, shape, or typography of your logo. For further inspiration, take a look at the logos of other blogs and brands, and see what their colors mean to you!
Choose Meaningful Typography
While big companies can get away with purely symbolic logos (think Apple’s apple or the Nike swoosh), logos that incorporate the name of a company are best for small and medium-sized businesses and blogs. That way, your audience will come to be familiar with your blog’s name–and not just with the image you create to represent that name.
Your choice of typography, therefore, is an important factor to consider when designing your blog’s logo. As we discussed above, different fonts–whether serif, sans serif, cursive, or something more creative–have different psychological effects on your readers.
Besides psychology, you’ll also want to consider the readability of your font. While you’ll want typography that is unique rather than generic, avoid using too many flourishes. The font should be legible enough for readers to grasp your blog’s name at first glance. It also should be readable in small as well as large sizes.
In general, you should use a single font to represent your brand’s name in your logo. If, however, you choose to include a brief subheading, such as a motto, beneath your blog’s name or initials, select a font different from the main one.
Because certain fonts work together better than others, you can use this handy font pairing guide to determine which two fonts you’d like to use for your logo.
Keep It Simple
You want your logo to be epic, but that doesn’t mean it should be complicated. Keep the design simple and not busy or overcrowded. This will make the logo more versatile, whether it’s big or small, on web pages or in print.
Be sure to use just a single version of your blog logo on site pages, marketing materials, merchandise, and more. A single, simple logo is easier for your audience to remember and will help spread brand recognition and unify your brand’s identity.
Also remember–you don’t want your logo to be blurry when stretched, so be sure to design in web vector format so that you can resize your logo whenever needed.
Don’t Be Afraid of Do-Overs
The final trick in creating a successful blog logo is to go through several iterations of the design. Rather than attempting to perfect the design from the start, create a draft that you can keep tweaking until you get it right.
When analyzing your first draft, ask yourself some important questions, and then refine the logo accordingly. Is the logo as simple as possible? If not, cut out excess details, like shadow or glow. Shrink and stretch the logo. Is it readable and recognizable regardless of size?
Experiment with placing the logo on your blog, on social media, and on printed marketing materials. Does it look good in every context? Continue tweaking your logo until you can answer “yes” to all these questions.
Also think about whether your logo conveys your brand promise and personality, as well as whether it’s relevant and appealing to your target audience. If you can, show the logo to other people so that they can give you their opinion. You’ll also want them to let you know if there are any logo “fails,” like hidden meanings or cultural misunderstandings.
Designing The Perfect Blog Logo
Remember to use colors, images, shapes, and fonts that evoke your brand’s personality and appeal to your target demographic. Also remember to keep practical considerations in mind, like the simplicity of your image and its usability in different sizes and across different platforms.
Coming up with a great logo seems daunting, but going through a step-by-step process with several iterations will help you nail the perfect logo in no time. It’s a core part of your branding strategy that’s well worth your time, and it’s the key to creating a unified brand identity and establishing yourself as a credible source among your readership.
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