Logo Design & Branding

This guide will help guide and mould the design of your custom logo by blueprint.red. Please see over the different sections to gain a understanding of the logo styles, logo fonts & colour psychology.

Let’s learn about you

Before I start designing your custom logo it’s important that I get to know you, your business and it can be quite inspirational to hear how your started and if that story can have any ties with the logo.

First I must ask What do you offer as a business?

Physical Goods

Material products that you can hold, like perfumes, personalised animal accessories or a tinned food.

Services

A particular set of skill honed over the years. Things like transport services, beauty services, construction services etc.

Leisure & Hospitality

Material products that you can hold, like perfumes, personalised animal accessories or a tinned food.

Original Content

Material products that you can hold, like perfumes, personalised animal accessories or a tinned food.

Technology & Software

Material products that you can hold, like perfumes, personalised animal accessories or a tinned food.

Other

A grand tinkerer of colours?
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Or perhaps something even more unusual!

Choosing your typography Style

Your typography style plays a critical role in how the public perceives your brand. The font style, weight, kerning, letter-spacing, tracking & leading of font are all aspects that come together to build beautiful typography.

Choosing the correct font to begin with can make or break a great logo design, you can see the main styles below.

Sans Serif

There are modern fonts that have straight clean edges.

Serif

A more traditional font category which feature embellishments.

Script

A whole plethora of flowing calligraphic fonts.

Slab Serif

Similar to Serif’s but thick bolder and traditional.

Blackletter

Gothic style script.

Hand

Usually handwritten or handmade fonts.

Monospaced

The characters of monospaced fonts have a fixed width.

Decorative

Fun, crazy and themed.

Choosing your logo style

When creating a logo there might be a certain look you want to achieve.
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There's are 7 main types of logos to choose from which all have their own benefits for different situations.

Lettermark

Other names: Letterform logos, monogram or initial style logo.

They emphasize a few letters from your business name to create and identifiable mark for your brand. They are used commonly on abbreviated business names or to capture a business with a long name and make it more memorable.

Pictorial Marks

Other names: Brand Mark, Logo Symbol
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Pictorial marks feature a customised picture icon related to your business, this icon carries meaning and its known as a logomark. It's very important to put much though in to this as the mark may evolve and change slightly overtime if you rebrand but the core of it will always remain the same.

Mascots

Mascot logos carry a lot of personality and can work really well for some brands. A loveable, memorable,
family-friendly charter that represents you brand.

The shape and the style of the logo can be asynchronous with you brand to give it more of an edge.

Abstract Logo Marks

Abstract logo marks are just that, an abstract interpretation of your brand. Unlike pictorial marks they can be completely unique to your brand, this can be a very powerful mark with a truly distinguishable identity.

Wordmarks

Also know as logotypes. They have similarities with a lettermark logo being typography based. Using the the right font (custom or modified) can help tell people what the business does before they even browse your services.

Wordmarks are best used for business with a shorter name, like Coca-Cola, Superdrug & Zara e.g. They can be very memorable and work very efficiently in these type of cases.

Combination Mark

A combination mark is a combination of a word & a graphic. It is such a versatile & popular choice,
it's a great choice to start with.

As your brand grows and gains more recognition you may want to evolve your logo. The logical next step could be to simplify your logo down to a pictorial mark or abstract mark that people will instantly recognise from the recognition you've built.

Emblem Logo

Emblem logos are the rarest of them all. They are so detailed with intertwined text and graphics that they are very difficult to scale effectively. As of recently you would have noticed that Starbucks logo is leaning more towards the pictorial mark logo category as they have now dropped the text, being recognisable by just their image now.

There is some instances where they can work and they look great but in most cases it's the last choice.

Logo Style Summary

Emblem logos are the rarest of them all. They are so detailed with intertwined text and graphics that they are very difficult to scale effectively. As of recently you would have noticed that Starbucks logo is leaning more towards the pictorial mark logo category as they have now dropped the text, being recognisable by just their image now.

There is some instances where they can work and they look great but in most cases it's the last choice.

your logo & Brand colour Palette

Choosing a general colour palette (colour theme) for most businesses branding and logos follow the colour psychology process 🚦. You’ve seen it applied a million time around you and it’s not something to go changing willy-nilly or you would look very odd in your field, usually brands with a lot of marketing resources can be a bit more brash to their approach. However there maybe a few situations where we can stray a little and break the mould, just a tiny bit.

I've made interactive graphic below to help you gain a better understanding and broaden your knowledge of how your brands colour palette can affect your business and see examples of real world business already exceling with their brand. You may already know a lot of the information but some may surprise you 🎆

Red

Photo by Kevin Clarke on Unsplash

Associations

Passion
Energy
War
Danger
Strength
Power
Determination
Warmth
Anger
Hot
Youthful
Bold
Desire
Love

Existing Brands

Red Colour Summary

Red is the most emotionally intense colour, it stimulates you, increasing your heart rate, your blood pressure and metabolism helping you feel more energised and alert. It is highly visible and carry's a sense or urgency, which is why it's commonly used for stop sign, warnings signs and traffic lights.

The colour of courage, it's prevalent in a lot or heraldry like the royal arms of England and Scotland and many flags of various countries around the world, also the queen's guard dressed in their red uniform.

As a stimulant colour it can help prompt people to make quick decisions, like buy now or claim discount or entice people in to a store with big 'clearance' banner beaming in the window. You can see around you that it is also associated with being erotic (like a poster with red stilettos appealing to woman to buy), dangerous (warning signs and alert signs) and high energy.

YELLOW

Photo by Joshua Coleman on Unsplash

Associations

Friendly
Cheerful
Warmth
Attention-Grabbing
Stimulating
Clarity
Happiness
Hope
Positivity
Chilldish
Imaginative
Warning

Existing Brands

Yellow Colour Summary

Yellow the beautiful colour of the sun, so bright and intense such as the feelings it can evoke, one of the most friendly and cheerful colours of the whole spectrum. Do be careful with it's use though as too much can cause eye fatigue and it is the most commonly used colour for warnings as it is so attention grabbing.

If your aim is to invoke quick thinking, yellow is a great choice, but don't over do it, too much yellow can cause feelings of frustration, that's why you rarely see it adorning the walls of any businesses or public places, if you do, it's likely a bad mistake!

green

Photo by Hoach Le Dinh on Unsplash

Associations

Growth
Peace
Health
Liveliness
Harmony
Nature
Life
Safety
Positivity
Ambition
Wealth
Soothing
Balance
Restfull

Existing Brands

Green Colour Summary

The colour of nature, seeing green brings reassurance and calm to users, such as nature it's self. It's very asynchronous with it's associations in real life and it brings them to the digital world. Think and reflect on how you feel walking in the woods, looking out over the moors or sitting in the garden, all these feelings you associate with the colour green.

It goes with out saying that green has a great positivity about it, with very few bad linked emotions (envy, money & greed).

PURPLE

Photo by Francis Cheung on Unsplash

Associations

Wealth
Inspiring
Adventures
Prosperity
Mystery
Wisdom
Spiritual
Ambition
Royalty
Sacred
Delicate
Nobility

Existing Brands

Purple Colour Summary

Such a rich a deep colour, with a strong psychological tie to royalty. It's a great choice for a accent colour and can really add an extra level to your design. Purple is also used a lot to portray mysticism and you would commonly see it in traditional magic shows or the like of a palm readers hut.
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As with yellow, avoid using it too much as it can cause feelings of frustration if overly done.

BLUE

Photo by Matheus Cenali on Unsplash

Associations

Calm
Peace
Freedom
Trust
Loyal
Sincerity
Melancholy
Dramatic
Tranquil
Confident
Strong
Responsible
Professional
Intellect
Stable

Existing Brands

Blue Colour Summary

Blue is the most popular colour for men & woman, over 57% males & 35% females voted it as their favourite colour in a survey conducted in 2003 by Joe Hallock. Blue is predominantly the colour of trust & professionalism, it's a very sincere colour which doesn't scream for attention, it's very grounded and instils viewers with a sense of stability & professionalism, blue is Mr Good Ole'reliable!
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Such as the sea & the sky, blue fills you with a feeling of calm, like looking out over the crisp blue ocean or admiring a bright blue summer sky. It's this association that gives you reassurance and trust.

'I'm feeling blue' - A popular phrase that ties the colour blue to the feeling of depression, being a cold colour it can have a sense of gloom and sadness, but as with all colours, there are pro's & con's.

ORANGE

Photo by Mae Mu on Unsplash

Associations

Warmth
Health
Happiness
Energy
Enthusiasm
Confidence
Clarity
Creativity
Joyous
Compassion
Security
Fun
Freedom
Cheap

Existing Brands

Orange Colour Summary

Orange has a strong connection with creativity, fun and enthusiasm, it's adds a little fun to some designs and can subtly grab the eyes attention. In a negative light, some people may perceive orange as cheap or childish, it can all depend on the context and what shade or orange you use.

We can see in the B&Q logo how it empowers there product portfolio, capturing the creativity of DIY and home decorating. It heightens your excitement for that next project!

PINK

Photo by Stephane Yaich on Unsplash

Associations

Compassion
Femininity
Playfulness
Love
Comfort
Warmth
Happiness
Innocence
Flirty
Gentleness
Optimism
Excitement
Imaginative

Existing Brands

Pink Colour Summary

Blue is for boys and pink is for girls...

This saying wasn't always true, it's only this way as of the 19th century when marketers started to capitalise on the colour associations for new born baby boys or girl. It used to be quite the opposite before then, pink was for boys as it was seen a a more strong & confident colour and blue was for girls as it was associated to be quite dainty.

21st century pink and now its main association is femininity & playfulness, commonly associated with makeup brands, beauty products & product packaging. In moderation it lends itself to be more comforting and playful, as seen with Baskin Robbins branding.
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BLACK

Photo by Mathew MacQuarrie on Unsplash

Associations

Power
Strength
Intelligence
Glamour
Death
Luxurious
Modern
Authorative
Prestige
Serious
Expensive
Sophisticated
Mystery

Existing Brands

Black Colour Summary

Black in one of the most popular colours you see in high street clothing stores, it's a strong and powerful colour that provides a great contrast. Paired with the correct typography it screams prestige and elegance.

As black is such a strong colour it also tied closely to death and mystery, using black incorrectly can create a very sombre feeling to your brand. There maybe certain situations where you want to convey that feeling, like a remembrance day image or promotion (I.e - 10% of profits to charity)

There are only a few distinguishable shades of black before we start going in to the grey category and usually a lot of logos are all in!

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There are many websites in the world, but how many have friendly, helpful people behind them? I understand you are looking for a company that can help you get your message out there. I am glad to help with whatever you need.

I have experience developing many different types of websites and can help you with yours. I'm always available to answer questions and provide insight when needed, and I guarantee that every customer is satisfied with my work.