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  • 9 Tips to Create a Perfect Small Business Logo (+Canva Templates)

Every business—large or small—needs a logo. Logos play a vital role in defining your brand’s visual representation and can help you build a connection with customers. Plus, they lend a little extra credibility to your business. The biggest brands have logos—some that are so well-known you know what the brand is just by hearing golden arches or swoosh.

example of recognizable logos like starbucks, nike, mcdonalds, amazon

Just an example of some logos you probably recognize right away.

You don’t need to master small business logo design to be successful, but it does help to understand the best way to create a logo and what goes into the process.

Here, we’re sharing:

  • Why you need a small business logo
  • How to create a small business logo
  • Small business logo templates on Canva

 

Why do you need a small business logo?

Your small business needs a logo because it gives you a clear, concise, and simple way to communicate who your business is and what you’re about to potential customers.

Small businesses with strong, unique logos also maintain better brand consistency—making it easier to build awareness and strengthen your brand with potential customers.

Consider these stats:

  • The human brain can process images 60,000X faster than words.
  • People need to see something at least seven times before recalling it. Having a logo to include in all corners of your business will help your customers recall you later.
  • 59% of shoppers prefer to buy from recognizable brands.
  • The consistent presentation of a brand can increase sales by 23%.
  • 30% of Americans notice the logo first when evaluating a business’s product or service.
  • 50% of consumers are more likely to shop from a brand with a recognizable logo, and 60% would avoid brands that have odd or unappealing logo designs.

why you need a small business logo stat

It’s clear that when your small business has an effective logo, you can increase your chances of building a connection with customers and improving awareness for your brand.

 

How to create a small business logo: 9 tips

Here are some of the major tips that will help you out when it comes time to create your small business logo.

1. Get clear on your brand identity

Before designing a small business logo, it’s crucial to understand your brand identity. This will inform the type of small business logo you create. For example, if your brand personality is fun and playful, you can have a bit more creative freedom with your logo. But if your brand identity is a little more buttoned-up and professional, you’ll want to incorporate that idea into your small business logo design.

what is brand identity

Source

2. Conduct a competitive analysis (and look for inspiration)

You should also conduct research to find existing logos that align with your overall vision for your logo. This can include examples from big brands as well as your competitors. Identify what works about the logos you’re finding and what you would improve upon. This can give you a good guideline as your continue your small business logo design.

You can take it a step further by conducting a competitive analysis. SWOT analyses work great here—meaning to analyze your competitors’ logos based on their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

swot analysis chart

This analysis will give you a better idea of what types of logos work well in your industry and opportunities for your logo to stand out from the competition.

3. Illustrate your business idea 

The best small business logos are directly related to the business and the products or services it offers. Your logo gives your customers an idea of what you are and what they can expect from you right off the bat. That’s why you’ll want to make sure your logo aligns with your business.

For instance, a vet could include a cat or dog or a paw print as part of their logo. That clearly communicates to potential customers that your business is related to animals.

example of a small business logo from legacy animal hospital

Source

4. Choose your logo colors

It’s important to remember that you shouldn’t simply pick colors for your small business logo because you like them. Your logo colors need to align with your brand. If you already have brand guidelines with your colors outlined (which can be developed as part of your brand identity), this process will be easy. If you’re starting from scratch, you can consider the specific psychology of colors to build your brand guidelines around.

chart that shows color psychology for different logos

Image source

5. Pick the right typography

Next up, you need to pick the right typeface for your business logos. This is also an important part and needs to be done smartly by looking at the trends in the industry. It is always recommended to choose a font type that can relate to your design while offering a clean look.

Again, if you have brand guidelines created already, you can use one of the fonts associated with your brand.

If not, you’ll want to know that there are four types of typefaces you can use in your logos including Serif fonts, Sans serif fonts, Script fonts, and Slab fonts.

chart that shows breakdown of serif font psychology

Click for full infographic

6. Create a mood board

Once you know the colors and fonts you want to incorporate in your small business logo, you can gather your inspiration and ideas into a mood board. A mood board is a simple way to make a collage of your ideas. This particular trick works well for designing a small business logo, especially when you need to focus on a bunch of things at a single time. Using a mood board will help you to align everything that is related to your brand theme. Many designers use it to remember every attribute needed to be included in a logo.

example of a mood board for small business logo design

Source

There are various ways with which you can create a mood board. You can either use different images from Pinterest to create such boards or could also manually collect various images, colors, etc. for creating a personalized board. This will allow you to gather every object and reference needed to design a perfect logo, as per the requirements of your business.

7. Create a classic, simple design

The best small business logos are simple, clean, and clearly relate to the business. When it comes time to design your small business logo, you want to keep your design are clutter-free as possible. This will also help you create a timeless design that you can build your brand around for years to come.

small business logo example from legends popcorn

This small business logo example is very simple but you can clearly tell what type of business it’s for.

8. Use the right tools

If you’re designing your small business logo yourself, you’ll want to make sure you use the right tools to create and craft your design. If you’re a wiz at InDesign or Illustrator, you’ll have a lot of freedom to create your design. If you’re not a designer at heart, you can also use free logo design tools like Canva to put something professional-looking together quickly.

how to use canva - canva homepage

You might also decide to outsource your small business logo design to a professional designer. Working with a designer can help you elevate your small business logo and is a worthwhile investment for something that will live on all your business and marketing materials.

9. Pay attention to logo sizing

Speaking of all your business and marketing materials, when designing your small business logo, it’s important that your logo looks good at any size, from as large as a sign outside your business to as small as a logo in one of your display ads. As you design your logo, test different sizes to make sure it’s clear what the logo is and says and what it’s trying to convey no matter where you’ll be placing it.

 

Small business logo templates on Canva

Canva is a free online graphic design tool that can help you make a small business logo. Canva has premade logo templates you can personalize, or you can use it as inspiration on your mood board. Here are some small business logo templates we love to help you get started.

small business logo templates from canva

Get these templates and more here!

 

Small business logo design made easy

You want your small business logo to clearly convey your business, attract your customers, and help instill brand awareness in your area and online. Using these tips, you can either design a small business logo yourself or help inform your designer throughout the process.

Here’s how to create a small business logo:

  1. Get clear on your brand identity
  2. Conduct a competitive analysis (and look for inspiration)
  3. Illustrate your business idea 
  4. Choose your logo colors
  5. Pick the right typography
  6. Create a mood board
  7. Keep a classic, simple design
  8. Use the right tools
  9. Pay attention to logo sizing

 

About the author

Amtul Rafay is a content marketer at renowned graphic design agency Logo Poppin. She loves to explore trends in the tech industry and writes on a variety of topics including digital marketing, graphic designing, branding, and social media. Besides that, she is also fond of traveling and is an avid reader at heart.

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