How I got the perfect logo design for my business

If you’ve got a startup or a small business, you’re probably acutely aware of how graphic design plays a role in building your company. Similarly, you probably know how expensive it can be to hire out graphic design projects.

That’s why it’s important to know some design basics yourself. Plus, the more graphic design you can do yourself, the more control you have over your brand’s appearance.

Your first big graphic design project is your logo design and a brand guide if your company is like mine. Before you get into the basics of picking things like color and font, make sure you know what personality you want your business to have.

Design is about personality, and it’s about how you bring that personality to your consumers. My business is a media company for young women. We wanted our business to be fun, relatable, and feminine without being girly. As we made design decisions, we constantly returned to those principles to make sure we were representing our personality correctly until I found This logo design service on an online freelance platform.

So, let’s say you know who your company is. Then it’s time to pick a font and some color.

Finding your font

Typography is an important element of design. It communicates not only the name of your company but also its personality. Many companies link their brand’s font directly to profits. For example, White Mountain Footwear says they saw a 20 percent increase in sales after redesigning their font. There are three main types of fonts to choose between. Each comes with strengths and weaknesses, and each has hundreds of varieties.

Serif fonts are classic think academia, Times New Roman, and print newspapers. A study on how font affects trust found that the serif font Baskerville had a statistically significant impact on whether readers found a quote trustworthy or not. So if you’re going for a traditional, professional vibe, then choose serif fonts. But beware, it can feel outdated, especially on a website. Here’s an example of a serif font in a logo:

Sans serifs are the internet’s favorite kind of font — think tech startups, Helvetica, and lifestyle blogs. It’s clean and modern. It’s also easy to read even when it’s in small type. So if you’re going for a fresh, new, and yet readable font, go sans serif. The only thing to watch out for is looking like everyone else. Because sans serifs are so common they’re not always the greatest way to set your business apart. Here’s an example of a sans serif logo:

Script fonts can be tricky. They have a lot of personalities — they can be creative, elegant, and/or casual. But they can also be challenging to read. I love a good script font, but admittedly I’m a little biased. My business’ logo font is the script. It fits really well with our persona, it’s fun, and it’s youthful. Here’s our example of a script logo:

Note: You can find thousands of fonts to choose from online. Many are free, and some need to be licensed for commercial use. My favorite places to find fonts are dafont and font squirrel, and Google Fonts.

Choosing your colors

Colors in and of themselves have a lot of personalities. In fact, 80% of consumers say that color increases brand recognition.

The Logo Company studied the colors of the logos of a handful of companies' colors and their feelings. Red, they said, is exciting, bold, and youthful. Orange is friendly, cheerful, and confident. Yellow brings optimism, clarity, and warmth. Green represents peace, health, and growth. Blue evokes trust, dependability, and strength. Purple is creative, imaginative, and wise. And black and white are balanced, neutral, and calm.

Those meanings, of course, change based on what shade of color you use. In fact, if you look at the three logos used to demonstrate fonts above, you see three very different shades of blue.

From left to right: Gap blue, Google blue, and Driven blue.

The Gap blue is a classic navy; Google’s is a fun, bright blue, and my company uses a pastel sky blue. KISSmetrics found that women prefer soft colors, while men prefer bright colors. Similarly, women prefer shades (colors mixed with white) while men prefer tints (colors mixed with black).

Studies show that people prefer color combinations in similar hues (like blues and purples) if you're looking to use multiple colors in your logo or brand. And if you’re looking for an accent color, the same study found that a color with a major contrast to your main palette is most effective. Personally, I get most of my color palette ideas by searching on Pinterest, but another great place to find color combinations is Adobe Kuler. It would help if you also looked at your competition to see how you will compare.

At the end of the day, think about what your company stands for and who your audience is when designing your logo because remember: The blue you choose means more than you think.