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When most people think about a brand, they remember the logo. The logo is usually the first thing that stands out and is the most memorable part of the brand. But what else goes into making your brand identity cohesive across the board?There are millions (if not billions) of companies trying to stake their claim on a part of the industry. Where do you fall in? How can you make yourself stand out without losing the core of what made you start this brand in the first place?
Being memorable is about your logo, but it’s mostly about what goes into the design. The fonts, the colors, and the style of your logo all help build your brand identity. You want to be recognizable even when your logo is not front and center.
Now, when you’re first starting out in business, you don’t always have the money to spend on an expensive designer. My favorite tool for creating a recognizable brand is Canva. It’s the perfect online tool that allows you to be your own designer. The platform is completely user-friendly.
Let’s start with the basics.
Design
I’m not a designer so when it comes to creating or updating my logo, Canva’s templates are a lifesaver. You can customize, change, delete, or completely start over at any time. At the very least, the templates will give you an idea to run with and start putting together on your own. At the most, you’ll get a completely done log that you just need to customize with fonts and colors.
Fonts
While Canva has a large stock of preloaded, free fonts to choose from, one of the best parts of the Pro subscription is that you can upload fonts you purchase from other websites. The font you choose is a large factor in what makes your logo, and therefore your brand, stand out amongst the rest. Being able to add your own font from a tattoo font site can make all the difference in your logo being basic or bougie.
If your font is unique and eye-catching, it will get noticed. Don’t think that because your logo is a simple text file that you won’t be as memorable. The font you choose makes all the difference. That font will be used throughout your branding on webpages, on flyers, on merchandise, etc. You need to love that font.
Colors
Access to every color in the wheel is right at your fingertips. The hardest part will be actually choosing them. Almost every element you add to your design is customizable by color so your creativity won’t be stifled by limited color choices.
A great way to find colors that match and create a cohesive look is to search color palettes on Pinterest. It’s a great search engine for anything creative. I often find myself searching Pinterest more than Google when it comes to anything creative.
Photos + Videos
Drag and drop whatever you like but the best part is the free selection already in the Canva database. There’s really no reason to subscribe to another stock photo website when you can use Canva for free. The Pro version offers more selections if you plan on using stock photos fairly often but it’s not at all necessary to start with just for stock photos.
Sizing
The free version of Canva is perfectly fine to start out with. It has everything you need to get started and create a logo, flyers, resumes, and videos. But the pro version has this one amazing tool that just makes everything so much easier: the resizer. I’ll admit, I used to be the one completely recreating my designs in all the sizes I needed but I quickly realized that just wasn’t worth the extra time. Being able to quickly resize your design to fit social media and other websites is a huge plus for the Pro version.
I hope this helps you start thinking about your logo in a different way. Your logo is one part of your brand but the elements that make your logo are what’s going to help you stand out to the public.
When choosing your design, don’t rush it. You can easily change your mind while you’re still in the design phase but once you put the logo out there, changing your mind becomes a little more difficult. When you’re first starting out, you want your audience to think you have it together and know what you’re doing. If everything other time they visit your website, your logo is different you can’t expect them to connect with you.
Use these tips to start playing around, learning yourself, and defining your brand. Once you do that, your logo and brand identity will start to fall into place.
