Commercialization is rapidly increasing with new businesses evolving every now and then. With the escalating competition in the business sector, people often find it difficult to differentiate themselves from their competitors. This is where clever business logos come in handy. In order to be unique and recognized, your business logos must portray creativity that has never been witnessed before. This makes the logo attractive, appealing and eye-catching for the customers.

No matter whatever genre you are catering, the first impression is always the last impression. Especially for small business, first impressions are everything. But how can one define creative business logos? Let me explain…A logo is creative if it has the ability to mesmerize its viewer and communicate the company message in a clever and unique way. For your inspiration, here are 25 fresh business logos that display utmost creativity and resourcefulness in them:

2011 Year of Rabbit

Aquaris

Branding in Business

Bossa Nova Café

BATTERY

Bullock

Chef’s Art

Empire Dentistry

Crowd Think Tank

Digital Tree

dig

Cut

Consummate Pet

Heavy Design

Handy Andy

FatCat coffee

Illuminarty Creatives

Lunch with me

Mysore Dasara

Kitchens in Bloom

Lighthouse Stories

Tutti i fiori

Venture Network

World Wine Fest

Twyst

No business can succeed without adequate and proper promotion, especially small businesses, that are unable to create awareness of their company. You cannot sell what does not tell…right? I remember when one of my clients came back after a long time with another project for me. I asked as to how he remembered me, to which he replied that he found my business card in his wallet, reminding him of my creative skills and talent. That’s the importance of having a stationery design.

Stationery items include all kinds of marketing props like business cards, letterheads, flyers and envelopes. All these have individual and collective roles in the promulgation of your business identity. Since business logos are synonymously used across all kinds of stationery designs, it helps in effective recall of your firm.

Following are 20 creative stationery designs, that would serve as an inspiration for graphic designers, to help you build a strong corporate identity:

Basement

Crusoe College Stationery

CSP Stationery

Indigo Stationery

LaRue Stationery

Le Cupcake Stationery design

Pixel Stationery Design

RI Stationery

RYG stationery

St. Victorian Stationery

Stationery Design for Naturopathy Client

Stationery

Stationery Design Practice

Architect Stationery Design

Stationerylicious

STK stationery

Taman Bunga Nusantara Stationery

Vino Blak Identity

Walkman Stationery Design

Wine bar restaurant stationery

Business logos designed in the correct way can do wonders for the image building of the business. But a bad business logo can be a disaster to the business as a whole. A logo design is the first image of a company which is viewed by the customers. It is the first impression and as the saying goes…The first impression is the last impression.

However, if a business logo is not able to communicate the desired message of the company to the customers, then it poses a downfall for the company. A bad business logo can confuse them and they might drift aware to another company as competition is fierce in the market. Hence, creating company logos with a purpose is critical for every business.

So What Makes a Bad Logo?

Inappropriate symbols and colors: 

Ever wondered why the London Olympic 2012 logo was a disaster? That is because when it comes to designing corporate logos, appropriate use of colors and symbols is imperative in generating the right response from the target audience. The symbols used in the London 2012 logo designed by Wolff Olins were unsuitable and not according to the needs of the London 2012 brand name.

Too many details and confusion:  

A logo design crowded with too many elements spells trouble for a brand. Small business owners and other businesses cannot afford to create confusion among the minds of their customers as to who they are and what they do. Hence, logo designers must be careful of the risk of using elements imperfectly in corporate logos.

Inconsistent with the company purpose:

Sending irrelevant messages to your customers is the last thing that small business owners can afford to do. Hence a bad business logo includes a logo design with an inconsistent message that is not parallel to the vision and purpose of the company. This is one of the reasons why small business owners fail. It’s because they cannot express their company purpose to their clients.

Unappealing to the customers:

Company logos are useless if they do not have the power and charisma of appealing to the target audience. The major purpose of a logo design is to compel customers to retain your company name and recall at the time of purchase decision. If your business logo is not relevant to your target audience, it will not be appealing to them.

A corporate logo is, by far, the single most important aspect of a corporate identity. It provides you the means to promote your business in the marketplace in an efficient and effective manner. Think of corporate logos as a visual clip of your business. It directly communicates the purpose of your business to your customers and leaves an everlasting impression in their minds. Hence it is extremely vital for corporate entities and small business owners to invest sensibly in their corporate logos.

Elements of a corporate logo:
A corporate logo is a combination of several elements. It is an amalgamation of various graphic design components. Following enlisted are the most common elements of corporate logos:

• Color
• Symbol
• Font
• Size
• Tagline

But a branding disaster happens when these elements are incorrectly used in a corporate logo. To strike a perfect balance between the elements is the most difficult task for a logo designer. He must be aware of the do’s and don’ts of company logos

Incorrect use of elements in a corporate logo:
As mentioned earlier, if a correct equilibrium is not achieved between the elements of a logo, it may end up as a total failure. Let us analyze how each element, if wrongly used, can impediment the purpose of a corporate logo.

1. Inappropriate Colors:

Color plays a major role in the logo making process. Every color has its unique connotation and contextual meaning. Inappropriate use of colors can severely dent the show of your corporate logo.

2. Irrelevant Symbols:

Symbol forms the core portion of corporate logos and carries the image of the business. One of the logo designing mistakes that logo designers make is use symbols in a logo that are irrelevant to the nature of the business. This ruins the corporate image of the company.

3. Unsuitable Fonts:

Although actions speak louder than words, but in the case of corporate logos, it is the entire opposite. The words used and the typography in which they are used is extremely essential. Be it typography logos, using unsuitable and unreadable fonts can create a negative image of your company. For example, using casual and informal fonts in a luxury type business can seriously dent the class of the corporation.

4. Improper Size:

A logo too small becomes unnoticeable, too large becomes uncanny. In short, if the correct size is not made, then the identity is useless to use. The size should be determined keeping in view all places where the logo is to be used. Sometimes, a large size logo becomes unclear when resized.

5. Lengthy Taglines:

A tagline or a slogan comes as an added feature of the logo. It serves as the message platform where you define your business in a few simple but effective words. But if a tagline is too lengthy, it can damage the corporate logo as a whole. Additionally, when the logo is resized, the tagline becomes unreadable.

There has been a persistent tendency of small business owners designing their company logos themselves. The prime reason they give is that it saves them money. Let alone the argument that business without a corporate logo is saving or losing, what is a few dollars saved compared to thousands lost? This is because a corporate identity has the strength to decide the future of a business. But designing corporate logos is not as simple as a house paint job. Heaps of future dollars are at stake when a corporate identity is created.

Nowadays, many designers are unable to come up with a creative and innovative logo design because of lack of logo design ideas. A little inspiration always instigates the creative flare inside a person. It gives you new and innovative ideas to build your company logo on.

Here are 24 fresh and inspiring logos that are sure to provide novel ideas for corporate logos.

Selecting a logo designer is never easy pickings for clients. Since a majority of business owners who want corporate logos are not familiar with the design community, they tend to stick with the first logo designer that they easily find. Usually, they end up with someone who is not capable and talented enough.

Finding a logo designer can be a very hefty and difficult task for business owners who are not well aware of perfect logo designers’ attributes. Sometimes, in order to avoid the burdensome process, many small business owners either make their own logo design (often amateur) or get it done from their relatives (mostly school-going kids).

The Decisive Factors:

The design world is flooded with logo designers varying in the level of experience and capabilities. For clients, it is never easy to hire a logo designer that can render them suitable business logos. In order to save time in selecting a logo designer, clients will benefit if they keep the following factors in mind while looking for a logo designer:

• Always inspect the design portfolio of the logo designer; a strong portfolio signifies a strong designer.
• Logo Designers should have adequate marketing skills; brand knowledge is crucial in logo designing for corporate logos.
• Avoid favoritism while choosing a logo designer for your corporate logo; never risk your business over personal preferences.
• Look at the identity of the logo designer; creative logo designers will have creative logo designs for their own identity.
• An experienced logo designer will effectively communicate with their clients; it is important that the logo designer understands what the client requires.
• Speedy client response is the hallmark of a dedicated logo designer.
• Read the testimonials of previous clients of the logo designer; also the referrals from other designers add to the credentials.
• Professional logo designers always work on formal contracts; both the designer and the client are provided guarantee through contracts.