What should you look for when having a logo designed?

A logo is made once and used everywhere, from the shop sign to the business card, from the website to vehicle wraps. Here is what you need to know before commissioning one, and the files you should receive at handover.

The logo is the design your business will use for longest. Your website is renewed every few years and your brochure changes every season, but your logo stays on your sign, on your invoice and in your customer's mind for years. So it is not a job to decide on in a hurry, looking only at the price.

What makes a good logo?

• It is simple: The fewer the elements, the more memorable it is.
• It reads when small: Can you still make it out in a profile picture on a phone screen or in the corner of a business card?
• It works in one colour: Invoices, rubber stamps and vinyl cut for a window are all printed in a single colour. If the logo only makes sense through its gradients, it gets lost on these surfaces.
• It suits your business: The logo of a law firm and the logo of a nursery do not speak the same language.
• It does not lean too heavily on fashion: The style you see everywhere today will look dated in a few years.

Which files should you receive at handover?

This is the most common problem: a logo is commissioned and all that is left is a JPG. The sign maker asks for a vector file, there is none, and the logo has to be redrawn. Be sure to receive the following at handover:

• Vector file (AI, EPS, SVG or PDF): It can be enlarged without limit; it is essential for signs, vehicle wraps and print.
• PNG with a transparent background: For the website and social media.
• Colour, black and white versions: For use on light and dark backgrounds.
• Horizontal and square layouts: A website header and a profile picture do not call for the same proportions.
• Colour codes and typeface details: So the same colours and font can be used in every design that follows.

What should you tell the designer?

A good logo starts with a good brief. Go to the meeting with the following prepared:

1. What do you do, and who is your customer?
2. Who are your competitors? Do you want to look like them or stand apart from them?
3. A few examples of logos you like and dislike.
4. Where will the logo be used most: on a sign, on packaging, on Instagram?
5. Colours or symbols you definitely do not want.

Ready-made logos and AI tools

There are tools online that produce a logo in a few minutes, and ready-made logos sold very cheaply. If your budget is very tight they can be a temporary solution, but be aware of two risks. First, the same template may have been sold to other businesses as well. Second, it is harder to register a logo that is not original as a trademark.

Trademark registration

Registering your logo and brand name with the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office is the only way to stop someone else using the same name. Having a trademark attorney check whether the name can be registered before the design starts saves you from having to change your logo and sign later.

A logo alone is not an identity

The logo is where a corporate identity begins. If the business card, letterhead, proposal folder, social media templates and website are prepared with the same colours and typeface, your business looks the same everywhere and leaves a more trustworthy impression.

For a logo drawn for you, with alternatives, revisions and delivery of all the files above, see our logo design service; for what comes next, see our corporate identity design page.