We talked many times about how important it is for your reputation to make a high-quality website. However, there is something that customers will firstly look at recognizing you – your personal brand logo.
The logo is the face of your brand. Based on it, the client forms the first impression of the company, sometimes even before getting acquainted with the product.
It is worth paying careful attention to the brand logo development process. A capacious, talking symbol will definitely attract traffic and public attention.
In this post, we will tell you a little more about different types of logos and share the secrets of creating the right personal brand logo. You can also learn more about branding theory in the BDA’s branding glossary.
Types of personal brand logos
1. Letters and wordplay
The illustration should not necessarily consist of symbols. It can also be a set of letters or text. This option will be independent of trends – timeless. Staying fashionable regardless of the time is an extremely important parameter for a personal logo. Read more about this in an article from Forbes magazine.
In this case, it is important not to be afraid about going beyond the limits. Text is not always letters arranged one after another in a straight line. The letters in the logo are an opportunity to experiment with fonts, colors, and shapes. This category includes wordmarks/logotypes, letterforms, and lettermarks/monogram logos.
2. Iconographic logo (or pictorial marks)
This is the most recognizable type of personal brand logo. Let me guess, with the word Logo, a small symbol is the first association in your mind. This is a pictorial mark, which is also called the brand mark or logo symbol. Usually, it is a small graphic fragment reflecting the essence of the company. The most difficult thing in creating a brand logo symbol is just choosing this symbol. It can directly symbolize your product, be a metaphor for your values, or simply be random abstract elements. The main thing to remember is that the logo will accompany your brand throughout its history, so take care of what emotions your pictorial mark evokes among the audience.
3. Mascot logo
You can choose a fictional character as a symbol of your brand and an image on the personal brand logo. The painted creature will become the personification of your company, and your product will be associated with it. Most often, this type of logo translates family values and attracts an audience of parents and children. In addition, mascots are often used as logos of sports companies. The mascot is a friendly and cheerful ambassador of your values. A personal brand logo with the image of a character almost inevitably provokes a response in consumers because people tend to instinctively trust the image of a person or other living being.
4. Emblem logo
From a technical point of view, this is an inscription inside the icon. It looks like a coat of arms or a seal: due to that, emblems often give the impression of something historically established, serious and time-tested. As you may guess, emblem brand logos are usually used in more formal and conservative institutions like those from the government or the educational sector. Emblems are also popular among companies in the automotive industry. This is usually a symbol of a built-up clear mechanism of work.
Difficulties in using the emblem are similar to a mascot – high image detail, which is difficult to adjust to different formats. In addition, the logo contains text elements that become difficult to read when reduced.
5. Combination logo
As it is easy to guess from the name, this type of brand logo combines several of the above. Instead of choosing one, you can combine a wordmark or lettermark with a pictorial mark, abstract mark, or mascot. They can be arranged in different ways, side by side or even stacked on top of each other.
The combined type of personal brand logo will perfectly cope with the task of increasing brand awareness. In addition, it can be used in diverse variations: as a whole or in parts.
How to create a personal brand logo?
Experts say that the best logo is the one you drew unconsciously. For those who haven’t had this experience yet, we have prepared a list of tips that will help you draw a beautiful and meaningful brand logo for your company.
Understand what your personal brand is about
To make the right choice of a logo, it is important to clearly understand what you want it to broadcast. To do this, you need to highlight your unique sides, values, and aesthetics. Think about what you want to associate your name with and what impression to create.
Choose the right colors
The right color palette (not only in the logo but also in branding in general) will help you to provoke the right emotion when mentioning your company. Keep in mind that colors are a powerful tool in branding, but how a particular shade will be interpreted depends on the context. Read more about the theory of color and color psychology in brand logo design in the 99designs article.
Decide on the visuals
Sometimes, even if you understand what your logo should broadcast, it is not very clear how it will be implemented. In other words, what your brand logo will look like. The ideal technique for this would be a moodboard. Make a collage of visual references that you associate with the brand. You can also add something that inspires you in the context of the company or just visually attracts attention. This way, you will get a collective image and will be able to fit a lot of meaning into your personal brand logo.
There are a lot of tools for visualizing and structuring ideas on the moodboard. Our favorite boards – FigJam and Miro – have tons of them. Read more about BDA’s experience in using these platforms: we compared them for you and selected the winner.
Serif or sans-serif?
An essential part of the logo’s appearance is the font. It is important not only what the meaning of the text on your brand logo is, but also how it looks. The shape of the letters can also say a lot. Try to avoid overly graphic and hard-to-read fonts. Serif and sans-serif are two types of font. The first one is mainly used in some traditional and conservative logos. Sans-serif is a choice in more creative and original brands’ logo design. However, you should not drive yourself into the framework, because the use of a particular font depends on the individual case. Although sans-serif is used more often in modern designs, it is already a bit boring. Moreover, Google recently released a retro-styled serif version of the popular Roboto font.
Ask for help with branding
Creating a brand logo that will accompany the company’s style throughout its history is a difficult task. If you realize that you are unable to portray something worthy, do not waste your nerves and contact a specialist. Now there are a huge number of professionals in the digital design market who are ready to implement any of your logo ideas. For instance, in BDA, we have already designed brands for various digital projects. Do not hesitate to delegate the creation of your personal brand logo to us: we will make your brand stand out!
Personal brand logo: Final words
Creating a brand logo is much like creating a concentrated visual copy of your firm. The key problem of this process is to fit a huge amount of the company’s qualities and image into one small graphic element. However, do not be afraid: the main thing, in this case, is to catch inspiration and make it concise. Be sure: your perfect personal brand logo design will find you. Well, if not, then you can always find a designer who will do it for you.
When you decide on the perfect logo and brand style, welcome to Belov Digital Agency. Our web design professionals will help you embody your visual style inside a fast, efficient, and pixel-perfect website.
