It can be hard to remember that your logo design, your website and your stationery isn’t a piece of artwork for your company. It’s purpose in life isn’t to please you (although it’s good if it does).
No, what you really need out of your business artwork is something that will resonate with and inform your customers.
Even better, what you want is design work that your customers will love – that’ll appeal to and attract them actively. What’s difficult is trying to capture that elusive ingredient before you’ve actually shown it to your customers. But there are some things you can look at and things you can think about to get you on the right track to picking a design that your customers will love.
Always, always follow the golden rules
The first thing to check is that you’ve covered the basics. Take a look back over our logo design rules – these are design rules that have been true for many, many years, and they will continue to hold true for many more. They’ve been tried and tested by the experts for the last 60 odd years and it’s been pretty conclusively proven that simplicity, originality, relevancy, memorable, focused and timeless logos will perform the best over time.
Keep it modern
Your average customer nowadays is pretty design savvy, and one thing that is sure to put off a heavy percentage of your target audience is an obviously outdated or old-fashioned looking logo. It gives a message that your company is also behind the times, and not as professional as it could be.
A modern logo design that is executed professionally is a must-have basic for building a design that your customers will really love.
Benefits
The most important thing to get right when you want to create a powerful logo that will resonate with your audience is the right frame of mind. A very common misconception is that your logo is an expression of who you are – which isn’t quite right. Your logo is there to communicate your core message to your customers – which is more about what you offer than who you are (although the two can be intertwined).
If you want a logo that your customers will be attracted to you need to remember one key fact – your customers don’t really care about who you are; they care about what you can do for them, and the benefits you offer. So if your logo design brief is written with this in mind you are far more likely to get a result that your customers will instantly be attracted to.
Personality
Your logo is the very first taste your customers will get of what you are like as a company, and the execution of your design reveals multitudes about what your customers see as your personality (whether you thought about it or not).
It is always worth thinking about what kind of personality will resonate with your target audience and making sure that you convey it.
Frequent winners in this area include being friendly, funny or witty to distinguish yourself from competitors. But you do have to be careful that it is right for your brand and appropriate for your industry (or that you’ve thought about the risks – a funny law firm, for instance, isn’t going to go down well).
Clarity
My personal must for a really good logo design for small businesses is that it has clarity. I like to be able to get a good sense of what a business does and their key message from their logo.
Logos that really attract customers (as opposed to ones which win art & design competitions) are ones which have what is called a strong ‘scent’ to your target audience. These are logos which convey exactly what your target market are looking for in the words and images that they have in their mind. If you can capture this essence then you’ll see the conversions pour in.
Want to know more about how to get a logo your customers will love?
Look at the great example set by Apple in this detailed analysis of why their logo works so well
Check out our guide (and free worksheet) on how to find the brand values that will work for your business.