10 Hallmarks Of A Great Logo

A logo is a way for you to communicate your brand and what you represent, at a glance. Think of major logos all around the world where you just have to see a hint of it to know what it means. VanossGaming, Syndicate, DrLupo, and DrDisRespect are just a few well-known content creators that make great use of a simple, well-designed logo. Having a streamlined professionally- designed logo helps build trust within your audience and shows off a little bit of your personality at the same time.

Brand Identity

We’ve touched on this briefly above but your logo is a snapshot of who you are, what you represent, and what you deliver. It should be clear why your logo looks the way it does. Think about the identity of your page, streaming site, or website and how you want to be perceived. These are what should come through in your logo. Take the ‘D’ symbol seen all over DrLupo’s channels, with a portion of a line tracing from an electrocardiogram diagonally splitting the letter. The logo conveys a clear-cut message that sets DrLupo apart from the wider community. While logos may seem like simple pictures, a logo holds great significance when it comes to perception.

Easily Recognisable

Your logo should be easily recognisable and not convoluted with too much imagery or saturated in such a way that it becomes difficult to recognise. Let’s use another example, this time Ninja’s ninja symbol. Ninja is arguably one of the most successful streamers of all time, bringing in large volumes of viewers with each stream or video. Ninja’s logo, featuring the bust of a ninja with his particular hairstyle, can be picked out and immediately associated with the popular streamer. This could be said of any company but particularly, fast food chains. The more complicated the design, the easier it can blend in with the surroundings.

Keep It Simple

Linking with being easily recognisable, your logo shouldn’t be too busy or so packed with objects and imagery that people cannot easily determine what it’s depicting. You are trying to convey a message with your logo and much like a written or spoken message, if you try to say too much, the meaning becomes lost. Some of the most iconic logos of all time are incredibly simple and in some cases, are comprised of stylised words. The basic nature helps the logo stick into the minds of those who saw them, leading to a higher chance of an individual returning to watch your stream, read your post, or buy a product. For example, take VanossGaming’s logo, featuring a minimalistic owl on a black background, it’s simple yet distinctive, and fans can easily distinguish what it is and who it represents.

Colour

There is a type of psychology known as Colour Psychology that studies how different hues affect human behaviour. In this regard, colour can be leveraged for your personal brand to steer anyone who views it towards a particular emotional mindset. You should provide careful consideration to the colour palette you decide to utilise. For example, red is seen to represent excitement and youthfulness, blues bring out feelings of trust and dependability, while blacks and whites can convey balance. Colour, again, plays into how you want your brand to be perceived and the message you want to convey.

What Does It Mean?

This may seem kind of obvious but still needs to be said – know what your logo means. Your logo represents your brand, your personality, and all your endeavours, so it needs to have some form of meaning connecting everything together. Beyond the Summit is a production company with over 391 million total channel views on Twitch that creates and broadcasts esports content. The logo for Beyond the Summit features a minimalist mountain with the clever use of negative space, not only identifying directly with their name but also with the concept of rising above.

It Has To Be Appropriate

Do you focus on RPGs to the exclusion of all else? Do you love board games? Are you more of a general gamer? Your logo has to appropriate and properly targeted to your potential audience. Does it communicate the right style? There are plenty of banners and headers that have been designed with 8-bit pixel elements incorporated into them. They are easily identified and attributed to the gaming sector. Consider the Critical Role logo, which has their name, with a sword striking through it, surrounded by a Dungeons and Dragons die. It is targeted towards an audience interested in D&D and conveys a lot by saying very little.

Versatility

Your logo should look great everywhere, regardless of whether it’s printed small on a piece of paper, resting digitally at the top of your website, or blown up massively on a billboard. This is where simplicity reigns supreme, being understated enough so it presents wonderfully in any medium. Xbox, along with PlayStation, has a basic logo that conveys decades’ worth of meaning. The sphere with the slightly curved ‘X’ has been rendered into many forms of media, even going so far as to change the colour. Whether it’s the classic white and green, a minimalist white on a black background, or rainbow Pride colours, the Xbox logo stands out in a great way.

Timelessness

When designing a logo, you should be aiming for something that will thrive as time goes by, being just as strong during the fiftieth year as it was during the first. This is why it’s important to try and avoid design trends that will fade just as soon as they arrived. As you are creating your logo, consider how your logo will age and if it will age well. In this regard, DrDisRespect’s branding of his character is quite timeless, due to his logo perfectly emulating his character. For those who are unaware, DrDisRespect sports a shoulder-length black wig, reflective sunglasses, a tactical vest, and a rather distinctive mustache. The logo is basically just a stylised image of his character.

Abstract Meaning

This can be interpreted as a battle between being literal and being creative within your logo design. You don’t have to spell out every part and segment of your brand or purpose but you do want to leave everyone who sees it with a good visual first impression. If you’ve ever seen a PlayStation, you might have also seen the colourful abstract-looking image that represents the console. It draws the eye, and gamers everywhere know what it stands for. Featuring a stylised ‘P’ standing atop a stylised ‘S’ to help push the meaning home, PlayStation plays with an abstract concept that you can’t help but remember.

Be Unique

You’re an original, you’re unique, no one else is like you. This same perspective should extend to your logo, don’t copy anything that already exists. Aside from the dangers of copyright, what works for one individual or company won’t work for all others. You want to highlight what sets you apart from your competition and revel in enhancing the differences and benefits of what you can offer. Nintendo, Xbox, PlayStation, Steam; all operate within the same sphere, yet they all feature different designs, different colours, and some use typography while others use imagery. Don’t be afraid to stand out.

Logo design is as much an art as it is a way to represent and brand yourself. There are many facets and considerations you must think about when designing, to ensure you create a logo that is perfectly representative of who you are and what you are trying to accomplish.