What Makes A Good Company Logo?

Good logo design boils your brand down to its essence. With clever use of colour, typography and imagery, it conveys who you are and what you stand for in a split second.

When you’re competing for the attention of customers alongside so many other brands, a great logo helps your brand shine bright, get noticed and get remembered too.

But what makes a good company logo? What essential elements should a logo include? Here we explain what we mean by good logo design – and provide some great logo design examples too.

Why is good logo design so important?

Your brand logo isn’t just a pretty picture. It’s a representation of your company, its products or services, and its values. Whether you plan to stick it on your website, business cards, product packaging, social media profiles or flyers, good logo design can make all the difference for your brand.

It makes a good first impression

Your logo is one of the first brand touchpoints your customers experience. When you have a good logo design, your brand comes across as professional and polished. This makes it much easier to make a good first impression and build trust with your target market.

It tells customers who you are

A well-designed logo is a powerful image. It allows you to connect with customers on an emotional and subconscious level. Customers know – in an instant – what your brand is all about, without having to watch a video, read a webpage or dive into the company blog.

It makes your brand memorable

Good logos are easy to remember. They help you to make a lasting impression on customers – so it’s easy for them to recall your brand and what it stands for next time they need your products or services.

It provides the basis for your branding

Cohesive, consistent branding resonates with consumers. And your logo acts as the basis for all your business branding. Good logo design incorporates a style and a colour scheme that can be applied across all brand collateral.

The three styles of logo design

There are lots of great logo designs out there. And they tend to fall into one of these three categories.

• Font-based logos: Brands like Sony, Google and Coca-Cola all have font-based logos. This type of logo works particularly well when you have a strong and memorable brand name.
• Pictorial and descriptive logos: This style of logo uses an image with a clear link to what your company does. The logos of Burger King, WWF and the British Heart Foundation are all great examples.
• Abstract and conceptual logos: The Starbucks emblem, the Nike swoosh or the PlayStation symbol don’t communicate much about the products being sold. But these abstract and conceptual logos are great at creating a feeling and sticking in a customer’s memory.

What makes a good company logo?

Whatever style of logo you choose for your brand, there are five key characteristics that can turn an average logo into a great one.

Simplicity

A quick challenge. Close your eyes and try to picture the McDonald’s arches, the Apple apple or the world-famous London Underground logo. Chances are these logos are imprinted onto your memory – and you’d do a pretty good job of drawing them if you had to.

Like all of the very best logos, these logos have a simple design. They don’t use any complex or confusing imagery. This makes them exceptionally easy to recognise and remember.

Uniqueness

All good logo designs are unique. They don’t follow the template set by other brands in your industry. Instead, they look for creative and unexpected ways to represent your brand and show off your brand personality.

A unique logo stands out in a competitive marketplace. So when a customer sees your logo, they’re in doubt as to which brand it belongs to.

Relevance

A unique logo is all well and fine. But only if it remains relevant to your brand and what it stands for. Good logo design aligns with your brand and your audience.

Of course, you don’t have to spell things out with a pictorial representation of what you do. Leaving a logo open to customer interpretation can work really well. But colours, typography and imagery should always communicate something fundamental about your company.

Timelessness

A logo comes to represent your brand in the eyes of customers. So if you change it regularly, you lose the hard-won brand recognition you’ve created.

That’s why good logo design has a timeless quality. It isn’t based on the latest graphic design trends. Quite the opposite. It’s simple, elegant and striking enough for you to use in your branding for many years to come.

Versatility

You’ll want to use your logo in a bunch of different places. Your business cards, your website, perhaps even billboards. You may want to feature your logo in both digital and printed materials. And your logo needs to look just as good in every different location.

When a graphic designer creates your brand logo, they’ll be thinking about all the different ways you want to use your logo. They’ll present the logo in different sizes, formats and colourways – so you can use it across all customer touchpoints.

7 great logo design examples

So now we know what makes a good company logo, let’s see these design principles in action. Here are 7 great logo design examples to provide a little inspiration for your own branding.

Fitness HQ

Here’s a logo we designed for Fitness HQ, a training provider based in the North West. This logo ticks all of the boxes in terms of simplicity, versatility, uniqueness and timelessness. It communicates a sense of strength and power. It’s also very relevant, incorporating the six-pack that Fitness HQ’s ideal clients are often seeking.

Vodafone

The Vodafone logo, with its contrasting red and white colours, is instantly recognisable. The logo is simple and memorable. And it tells us – with the help of that speech mark – that this company is all about communication.

Fever-Tree

Fever-Tree sells a range of premium mixers and soft drinks. And their logo emphasises the brand’s sophistication and elegance while representing the natural ingredients used in the company’s products. The tree illustration is also really versatile – it looks as great on bottle tops and packaging as it does on the Fever-Tree website.

Public Sector Funerals

Public Sector Funerals is an advice service for local authority workers needing to arrange a funeral for someone without kin. We designed a simple logo with a traditional feel that reflected the solemnity of the work that takes place via the website.

Royal Exchange Theatre

The Royal Exchange is a theatre in Manchester. Its logo is creative and playful, especially when you see it in its animated state on the Royal Exchange website. It’s also a really clever and relevant logo design because the three rings represent the layout of the theatre itself.

Airbnb

We love the Airbnb logo. It’s simple and contemporary. And this abstract image can be interpreted in a variety of different ways. Is it a welcoming host, a location pin, or a cosy home from home? The image also represents the A of Airbnb. So it works beautifully whichever way we look at it.

People Legal

Another logo we worked on here at Radical Web Design. People Legal is an employment law firm in Cheshire. This logo communicates People Legal’s professionalism. The dark blue colour is known to build trust among customers. But People Legal also wanted to convey a sense of modernity and approachability, which the sans serif text and contemporary geometric imagery help to create.

Want a company logo that sums up your brand – and makes an impression on your target market? Then take a look at Radical’s graphic design services. Or get in touch to chat about your logo design project.