Choose a Logo to use for Ecommerce 8 Mistakes and Examples to avoid

When you're beginning an ecommerce business or considering an overhaul one of the most important parts of this process is to create an appealing, high-quality logo that conveys your brand's message. Before you begin brainstorming your ideas, consider what factors go into an effective logo design and what type of logo will be most appropriate for your company's brand as well as your prospective customers.

In this article we'll look at the importance of logos, the different types of logos, plus some practical considerations including the most effective practices to design logos, software options to design them and designing outsourcing strategies.

What is a logo?

We could get nitpicky regarding the meaning of "logo", the term is used most often to describe a concise layout comprised of images, words, or any combination of the two to represent a brand or an organization.

The importance of logos

Your logo can help people quickly and effortlessly to recognize your brand when looking at your advertisements and posts on social networks, surfing search engine results or comparing items on an online marketplace, or shopping directly on your site.

If you'd like your online business to stand out among your competition, the right logo is crucial. With countless online businesses vying to attract customers' attention, you'll want to use a professional, unique, memorable logo that is a clear representation of your company's brand.

A well-crafted logo is also crucial in building credibility. Think of your favorite, trusted brands. Their logos probably immediately come to your mind. Even seeing a particular design or color might bring back memories of an image.

Your logo is an investment in your brand's development, so invest time and energy to create a logo that represents your business and speaks to your target audience.

There are eight types of logos

Logos usually fall into eight different types:

• Logotype, Wordmark
• Logomark, brand mark, or pictorial
• The combination mark
• Dynamic logo
• Emblems
• Letterforms
• Lettermark, monogram
• Mascots

Wordmark/logotype

"Wordmark" as well as "logotype" are generally synonymous and are used to describe the same style that employs typography only generally the business name or a portion of the name of the business. Logos that use these are often made using custom typography, making the logo distinctive to the company's brand.

One of the most well-known examples of a wordmark logo is Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola logo instantly stands out, thanks to its iconic typography that has barely changed over the last 130 years. L'oreal as well as eBay's logos are also examples of logotypes, or wordmarks.

Brand mark, logomark, or image

"Brand mark," "logomark," and "pictorial" are all used for describing a visual element in a logo that can also contain letters or words in addition to imagery, but that does not feature the brand's name. They can be representative, like the apple, bird and Shell marks used by Apple, Twitter, and Shell Oil, or they may be more abstract as the Atari as well as the Dropbox logos.

The Atari brand mark suggests the shape of an A, but it is not actually a letter and the Dropbox logo is the strategically-placed diamonds to create an abstract look of a box.

The combination mark

A combination mark can be described as the name of the business paired with an image-based mark. Often a company will use its combination mark for most circumstances, however it can also be used with its brand mark and wordmark in different ways depending on the context.

Dynamic logos

Dynamic logos can be flexible contemporary logos that change their elements according to what a branding wants to portray in a specific use. Google is probably the most well-known example of this, with the Google Doodles. Dynamic logos can be static, animated, or interactive.

Google puts all three types into use in their Google Doodles series. The only thing that generally remains the same in every Doodle is the fact that the company logo "Google" is featured in a specific way. All other aspects of the logo can be altered.

In the case of most companies, the Google strategy might not be the best fit - especially ones just looking to establish themselves. It may be challenging for prospective customers to be able to view multiple versions of your brand's logo that have drastically different style.

Keep in mind that Google doesn't apply the same type of flexibility across the various uses for its logo. Google Doodle is a trademark that can only be used on the Google Doodle is specifically used on Google's Google Search landing page. In other places, they use their trademarked wordmark and brand mark.

If you want to create a dynamic logo, you might consider thinking more in the direction of MTV.

For the most part, in use instances, MTV uses the same logo design, however it uses distinct color schemes and may even include co-branding alongside other businesses. The logo is easily identifiable as MTV, but the variation in pattern and color could help people associate MTV to other ideas such as ideology, brands, or even concepts to evoke different emotions and keep them engaged.

Emblems

The word "emblem" is used to describe an emblem design which uses words and images to make an integrated, singular logo. Emblems typically look similar to badges or crests. You see this type of logo most frequently with schools, teams of athletes and automobile companies, but plenty of other firms use emblems to create their logos. Companies such as Starbucks, Warner Bros., as well as Stella Artois all have emblem logos.

Letterforms

The letterforms are the first letters and sometimes the initials of a brand to create an easy brand logo. Although they are generally simpler than a monogram logo a letterform can also be a monogram, like the image above. New York Yankees letterform/monogram.

Lettermarks/monograms

Monogram or lettermark logos employ the company's initials or acronym to form the entirety or even a part of the design. The letters often overlap in a pattern, or may be inset onto the background.

Monograms first appeared in the early days of Greece as identification marks on coins, marking what city it was issued by. Later, they were used as signatures for those who had wealth and power and by artisans and artists.

Monograms are a part of a long tradition and are frequently employed by beauty and fashion brands to convey an element of elegance and heritage. However, monograms aren't solely used by these industries. Just about every category of business makes use of monograms. They're an efficient and space-saving way to create a logo, and are ideal for any type of business.

Mascot logos

Mascot logos make use of famous characters to represent the company's corporate brand. Lacoste's alligator Cheetos' Chester Cheetah, Reddit's mascot-like creature Snoo, KFC's Colonel Sanders, and Wendy's hero, Wendy Thomas, are all famous examples of mascots used in the corporate logo.

Mascots are a great way to highlight a brand's personality, and make it more casual and likable. They can also be used as creative elements in your marketing. The use of a mascot within an image can be a challenge since it's difficult to replace the character you chose to use (see: Ronald McDonald) however it is difficult to remove them from the minds of the public.

So you'll want to carefully look at your mascot's image and make sure it's in line in the direction you plan in expanding your business.

Seven suggestions for creating an appealing logo

Your logo can be the first contact a potential customer has with your business. We've already established it must be memorable, easily identifiable, and represent your brand image, however there are proven best practices for the design of your logo that you'll need to consider when choosing a logo.

If your logo's design is striking and distinct, that does not necessarily mean that it's a great design. Some of the most renowned companies have experienced certain unreliable logo launches which led to negativity in the media.

Many businesses adhere to the old saying that "any publicity is good publicity." However, unless your business is attempting to be controversial, you'll want to adhere to a few tried-and-true strategies for designing to prevent ending up on a blog post that discusses the worst logo designs of all time.

Keep it simple

You may have heard the expression "less is more" which was invented by the Minimalist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1947. The phrase is used frequently in business jargon and is sometimes used as an excuse for minimal effort design. The idea behind "less is more" does not mean to keep things plain and boring.

It's a method of design that is focused on functionality as well as aesthetic. Ultimately, the goal is to use as few elements as are necessary to convey the intended message and supply the required function, while simultaneously creating an aesthetically-pleasing appearance.

It is a crucial element in logo design because it is important for your logo to be simple for a viewer to understand. You should be able to put it on backgrounds using different colors and textures, adapt it to different space and aspect ratios and utilize it in a variety of sizes without it becoming difficult or complicated.

The idea doesn't imply that it is necessary to choose an uncluttered logo also. It can be applied to any type of logo - modern, traditional old-fashioned, retro, or even any other style of design that is trendy and modern.

Use a style that reflects your company's image and the target audience

If your business produces vintage or antique items it is possible to go with a retro-inspired logo design that is reminiscent of the time your brand represents.

For instance, Big Chill appliances use the look of a typographic style that evokes vintage appliance emblems from the 1930s-1960s.

Trader Joe's logo has the look of tiki art from the 1960s while Ben and Jerry's is a playful and fun 1970s vibe that is in line with their brand personality. Altoids' serif font logo featuring a gold embossed look along the edges provides it with a timeless and traditional appearance.

Jack Daniels whiskey has not substantially changed their brand logo since 1947. It still looks very similar to its pre-Prohibition era logo. Unlike brands like Levi Strauss that massively changed their brand identities over time, Jack Daniels has only made small updates to their logo throughout time, bringing back to consumers of the brand's long tradition.

If you're a business that offers software as a service (SaaS) and offers tech-based products, or has a logo that's clean minimalist, simple, and contemporary You may want to go with something more minimalist. These companies use sleek, modern designs.

A few of them have logo marks, some are purely type-based and use distinctive letterforms that represent their brand, and others have a badge or emblem-style appearance.

If your online store has a focus on niche customers it is important to choose an image that resonates with the target audience. Whether it's organic food and toys, comic books, toy stores and women's clothing, or hunting gear, it's possible to make a strong, relevant genre-specific logo that doesn't stray into the realm of childish or cheesy.

Some examples of niche audience logos include Walt's Comic Shop, Nelson Rare Books, KiwiCo, and Chewy.

Walt's Comic Shop makes use of a cartoon-like design, but makes use of simplified lines as well as a two-color palette along with a clean, sans-serif font. It's a lot of fun and draws inspiration from the business, however it's not overly cartoonish. the typography and graphic elements are a good match both separately.

Nelson Rare Books uses an intricately illuminated initial within their logo. It's like the one you might find in the opening chapter from an antique book. In contrast to the decorated serif typeface, they employ a clean, wide sans-serif font that is used in the uppercase letters of their company name. It provides a visual balance and conveys their brand's identity as both a seller of rare and old-fashioned books, as well as the shop is built on modern technologies and organization systems.

KiwiCo offers science and arts kits for kids as the basis of a subscription. They've picked a modern and minimalist logo design, yet kept it a little playful with its kiwi mascot and the serif font that is chunky. The logo's simplicity will allow them to expand their brand in different directions without having alter the logo whenever they do so.

Chewy is a pet-related delivery service for pet owners. You'll note that their logo does not include any imagery and it is purely based on type. The font is a round sans-serif design that's been jumbled, lending it a playfulness that we associate with animals.

Don't use clip art

If you think you can simply pick a logo off a free clip art site - think again. Technically, you are able to use clip art if you'd like. However, chances are lots of different businesses have also utilized this technique. People may recognize it and mistake it for another brand's logo or could give an unprofessional appearance.

Also, not all clip art is publicly available. Simply because you can find it online doesn't mean that it's free to download. It's not a good idea to be the target of an action!

It doesn't mean you shouldn't make use of a graphic that has been designed by a professional as the basis of your brand's logo. There are royalty-free stock images available on marketplaces such as iStock Photo or Creative Market, where you can find higher-quality, ready-made graphic elements to use to use for logos, or completely-designed logos. All you need to do is replace your placeholder with your company name.

If you decide to utilize a pre-designed feature within your logo, bear an eye out for other logos that could be using the same element in theirs as well. Be sure to use the appropriate license to your intended purpose. Certain stock image websites have different types of licenses you can purchase for different reasons, including print, online, or editorial use.

Beware of cliché and overused pictures and fonts

Doing a search for "worst logo typefaces" as well as "worst logo design" will give you a few ideas of what to avoid. But you should also ensure sure that the elements of your design and fonts are not employed by any other company. In addition to helping to avoid confusion between brands, but it also will push you toward a more innovative and unique design will be a source of pride for you.

There's no wrong choice to use a common symbol or image in the design of your logo if it's relevant to your industry. Veterinary logos are a great example of this. How many veterinarians use some combination of either a dog or cat or paw print an medical + symbol and a heart?

Perhaps the majority. But that doesn't mean it's impossible to utilize the same type of images It's simply that it's much more difficult to create something unique while using common topics.

Here are some great examples of common logo image selections that have been well executed:

To design Aurora Veterinary Hospital, the artist used a simple palette with a somewhat abstract image of dogs... or perhaps it's a cat. The design is vague enough to represent the two animals. It's charming without becoming cartoonish. It's modern, clean and easy to read, while being an unique representation of the motif of cat and dog as a logo for veterinary use.

Advanced The logo of Veterinary Care Center is really original, with hints to a tail of a cat as well as using the standard medical + symbol to create the shape of the letter"A" for "Advanced." It's a more corporate-feeling mark while remaining true to the field that they are representing. This logo has a different meaning than Aurora the logo of Veterinary Hospital. The design is more minimalist and abstract, while nevertheless utilizing common themes.

Creating your own font, or modifying a font's appearance substantially to fit your company's identity, can be a good way to create an original and powerful logo. However, if you're interested in typography or graphic design but not your primary background in, then you'll need to study fundamental typographic concepts before you start working to create custom fonts or changing existing fonts.

Do not go too far with colors or visual effects

You should limit your choices only to a minimum of four shades. If the logo you are designing requires over four color options, you should try not to exceed the color limit of a single graphic element within the logo.

In this case, for instance for instance, the NBC logo uses an image of a rainbow on their peacock mark, but their font is black. Each element is easy to understand by itself. The simple colors and the tiniest amount of geometric shapes make the peacock element readable despite using a rainbow of colors.

However, if you start adding different colors to each alphabet, the logo will begin to lose impression. If you add drops shadows, rainbow gradients, and glow effects, the logo begins to appear chaotic. It's certainly unique, but it's pretty difficult to stare at.

Make sure your design is easily readable in all applications

For an ecommerce store it is essential to make sure that your logo is attractive and is accessible on your site and especially mobile devices. But you'll also want to be sure that your logo looks great on paper, and can be translated effectively to horizontal and vertical layouts, and also includes colors that are different for background colors and textures.

Don't squish or distort the aspect ratio of your logo to fit a particular area. It is possible to rearrange the logo elements or make your logo smaller or larger while keeping its aspect ratio, but stretching or squeezing your logo will make it harder to read and less professional.

Utilize a vector-based design software to create your own logo

There are two different types of images that you can create using design software - both raster and vector. Vector images are created using mathematical formulas which permit them to be scaled without losing clarity or becoming distorted.

The images in a raster format, on the other hand comprise an undetermined number of pixels. After you've scaled your image down the image isn't able to be scaled to the same size without losing the quality of your image or distorted image in some manner.

Since your logo may be employed in a wide range of sizes and in a variety of situations in your marketing collateral You'll need to be sure your logo will scale without losing the quality. The use of a vector layout makes editing your logo later much easier and helps to preserve the image quality regardless of how often you reduce or expand the size of your logo.

It is recommended to save copies of your logo in multiple vector (ai pdf, eps) file formats, as well as export both high-resolution raster file formats (png, tiff, jpg) as well as lower-resolution web-optimized files such as webp.

Are you interested in knowing more about logo file types? The Mean Creative provides the useful checklist.

Logo design software

Do you need the best software for creating a fantastic logo? With so many options out on the market, it's hard to figure out what to do. If you've got some graphic design experience, you might want to use a desktop or online design application that gives you complete freedom to create your company logo.

If you're not any design experience then you may want to consider an online logo creation software. If you aren't able to create a logo that is the exact image you're after, it could serve as a great starting point if you decide to hire an artist.

If the logo you've created matches the style you'd like however, it still requires some modifications, you may be able to save money by giving the freelance designer a logo that's 90% where you'd like it to be but just needs a few small modifications.

Desktop and online design software options

    Adobe Illustrator  

• ProfessionalsIllustrator is a market leader in vector design software. Versions for iPad and Desktop are both available, and the software is feature-rich.
• Pros:Illustrator uses a subscription-only model for its software, meaning that you'll have an ongoing monthly cost. The software can come with a significant level of learning, and it may be suitable only for people who plan to perform a significant amount of graphic design.

    CorelDraw  

• Advantages:It offers a one-time purchase option, in addition to a subscription option. It also offers a cheaper version of Corel Vector online software with the option of a trial period of 15 days for free.
• Cons:The one-time purchase price exceeds $500, and the online Vector software is strictly a subscription. Similar to Illustrator however, the process of learning can be a little intimidating for those who are new to the field. Additionally CorelDraw iPad app CorelDraw iPad app has an average rating of 1 1/2 stars rating on the Apple App Store.

    Canva  

• Advantages Canva includes a free account so that you can create a logo and others designs for free. Canva offers an option to create a logo if you find you're not happy with your own design efforts. Canva is a wildly well-known design tool that is simple designed for creative and non-designer professionals, and you can rest assured it's well-supported with regular updates and new features. It also offers freemium access to some of the stock images of Getty as well as other content sources.
• Pros: Premium content and options are restricted to users who have different pay-per-use accounts. It is a software that can only be used online. The search feature of stock images, particularly the search function for stock photos, can be a little difficult and it can be difficult to locate precisely what you're trying to find.

    Vectr  

• Advantages Vectr is a free, simple vector design application that's easy to use.
• Pros:It's online only and could be too simple, depending on what kind of design work you'd like to do. It also runs ads within the software, which can cause annoyance.

Online logo creators

Alongside the feature to create logos, which we mentioned earlier, there's also online software that focuses exclusively on automatic logo design.

Looka and Smashing Logo Both offer low-cost automated logo creation services. You can create for free any number of logos you like, however in order to download the vector files and brand packages then you'll have to pay for one of their premium tiers.

The online logo creator software could be an excellent option to locate the perfect logo for the job with minimal cost, but you're not necessarily guaranteed to get exactly what you're hoping for. Because these platforms are free to experiment with They can at most help you consider the direction of your design, think about the things you like and don't want, and take that concept to a graphic artist or an agency to get a start point.

Outsourcing logo design

Not interested in designing your own logo, or creating iterations with a logo creation program? In some cases, it's ideal to work with an experienced professional right from the start.

Hiring a freelance logo designer or a company to design the logo for your business is an excellent investment for the long-term success of your company. Designers with experience will provide fresh perspectives that you might not have otherwise considered and will be able to handle generating all the necessary files and designs.

It's crucial to know the possible risks associated with outsourcing the design of your logo. You want to make sure that you choose a professional with experience designing logos for brands in your industry, favorable reviews from clients, and who can stay within the budget you have set.

Certain people are successful in finding freelance designers through marketplaces online such as Fiverr and Upwork. Others prefer to work with a local person or was recommended through a relative, colleague, or local chamber of commerce. Each of these is perfectly acceptable avenues to pursue when searching for a designer with.

When you're working with a client, be required to ensure you're ready for working with a designer. Do some research on logos you like, and think about the goals you'd like to accomplish through your logo and then be able to convey your requirements.

Designers thrive when given both clear parameters and some flexible design ideas. If you're not flexible enough in what you'd like your design to look like or if you're too vague the result could be a logo that doesn't meet the expectations you have set.

Ultimately, creating your logo in conjunction with your graphic designer is like a conversation which can take between two or three times over sketches before you arrive at a design that is perfect.

Put your logo to work

Now that you have some ideas for logo design to refer to, it's time to get creating and get your logo use. Study other logos. Find a logo colors and general idea.

Decide if you would like to design your own logo, or use an application to create logos or employ an experienced designer. Once you have a logo that you like, ensure that you've got all the appropriate file types for web as well as print before implementing the logo on your site as well as social media, advertising channels and even products.

It's also an excellent idea to examine your logo thoroughly and run it past some trusted sources for feedback before you go live. Keep in mind that your logo is the visual representation of the company you work for. There may be no consensus on whether or not your logo of choice is great design, but you should at least avoid the most obvious issues that could land it on blog posts about the worst logos of all time.

The design of your logo may be daunting however, through careful planning, thorough research, and the right designer or design tools You can design stunning, memorable logos which represents your business that inspires trust and confidence in your customers.