Digital Logo Design: Tips for Success

Posted by Lindsay Brown on February 13, 2014 in Brand Identity, Color, Logo Design

In a follow-up to one of our recent articles, 8 Tips for Logo Design Success, we would like to share a few additional tips and best practices in logo design: Logo Design in the Digital Era. What does it take for brands to succeed in designing a logo that is effective both in print and through digital/social media? Our team at IDeas BIG (Brand Identity Group) looked at the top logo design trends that we’d like to share with you below.

As part of a recent article by Social Media Today author Courtney Hunt, the top digital logo trends are highlighted in her article “Logo Design in the Digital Era: 6 Critical Factors.”

Most of us know the basic elements of a good logo design in terms of representing the core ideals of an organization and/or its products and services. But there are a number of unique factors that should be considered to ensure the logo design works well in a variety of digital applications. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Employ simple, clean design, which ideally these days means flat design. Less is decidedly more when it comes to logo design in the Digital Era, so you’ll want to limit the number of elements in the design, as well as the colors.
Use strong, clear colors. Colors with cool undertones are generally better for digital representations of logos, but regardless of the colors you choose they should render well across a variety of screens and resolutions. Get people to help you test that.
Ensure the primary image is square – and scalable. A square logo is necessary to create a profile image for channels and pages on various social media sites (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, SlideShare) where you want to establish a branded image. You’ll also want to make sure it will look as good in a favicon or thumbnail as it does in a full version. This may require creating different versions of the main image. For example, we had to create a bolder version of our logo for small applications so the elements could be seen.
Pick a logo font that compliments the image and also uniquely represents your brand. With literally hundreds (thousands?) of free or low-cost fonts to choose from, there’s no reason to use an ordinary font for your logo. Just remember to pick a true type font that you can download and use in applications like PowerPoint and Word.
Consider monochromatic as well as full color versions. Monochromatic versions should include black on white, white on color and white on black. Unlike print, most digital applications can work with full color, but to maximize flexibility you want to make sure you can employ different representations. For example, the logo for our Denovati Solutions division is white on cyan, which is the primary color of the Denovati Solutions brand.
Create a logo that is deconstructable (and reconfigurable). Being able to deconstruct a logo enables you to use specific elements in different applications (e.g., as a bullet in a slide deck, or to create a custom cover image for a Facebook or Google+ page). At the same time you may also need to combine the logo and font in different ways. For example, the standard logo size for LinkedIn company pages is 100 x 60, requiring a horizontally-oriented image.