Designing a Logo for Your Print-On-Demand Business

Making a logo is not an easy task. It requires patience, research, trial and error, and determination. That’s not to say it’s impossible to do so, we just don’t want you to take this task lightly. Let’s go through all the steps of how to design a logo for your print-on-demand business.

Start with Research

A lot of research needs to be done before you can start drawing. There are many questions you need to answer to get a proper idea of what your logo should look like.

What Do My Customers Like?

First and foremost, what will your customers like? If you already created your buyer persona, think about what they want in a logo. Consider the demographics you’ve collected about your customers to help fill in any blanks.

Think about their lifestyle, what they like, what they buy from you (if you already have customers), and other types of information.

Don’t be afraid to ask your current customers what they think. You can use social media and surveys to get their opinion. If you don’t have customers, look to trusted friends and family members to get their opinion. They may have ideas that surprise you.

What’s My Competition Doing?

Do you have direct competitors that have their own logos? If you do, take a look at their logos. Write down what you like and dislike about them, write down ways you want yours to stand out from the rest, and take note of the colors they used.

While it’s good to study these logos, do not steal anything from them. Not only is it bad practice, but it won’t separate you from them which is the ultimate goal here.

What Kind of Logo Can I Make?

There are actually many different types of logos you can create. You should look at each one and decide which would be good for your business.

Wordmark (Logotype) Logo

This type of logo uses just your business name. There are no added shapes of symbols, just your business name in a specific font. A good example of this style is Google’s logo. It’s just the name with a distinct style of typography.

Monogram Logo

This logo has just your business’ initials, the monogram becomes the symbol for your store. It’s great if your store’s name is long.

The style of logo focuses more on typography because the letters are the focus.

Pictorial or Symbol Logo

This style of logo has an image as the focus of the logo. Think of Twitter’s blue bird or Apple’s apple with a bite taken out of it.

This style of a logo can be hard for new businesses because people may not realize what your logo means without a built-in audience. Imagine if you’ve never heard of Twitter and just saw the blue bird. It wouldn’t mean much to you, would it?

Abstract Logo

This is a specific style of the pictorial logo. It tends to be more artistic, using shapes and colors to represent your business. This style can be hard to use because you need to figure out how to summarize your whole brand with a shape.

Mascots

Mascot logos are when you have a character as your logo. They’re usually cartoonish and colorful. It’s helpful because you also create a spokesperson for your brand.

Combination Logo

This is a combination of using an image and name together to create a logo. This is a helpful style because it gives an image to associate your name with, making it a little easier to recognize.

Emblem Logo

This logo also involves an image and text but is done in a different style. They look more like badges or seals. They have a more traditional, detailed look and are good if you want to show off your old-fashioned style.

The Starbucks logo is a great example of this style.

What is a Logo Made of?

A logo may seem complicated but if you break it down to its essential components, it’s not as intimidating.

Think About Shapes

You need to decide if you will incorporate shapes into your logo. Different shapes can be used in a variety of ways and can have different meanings.

You can use shapes as a form of container, meaning that you can put your store name within a shape like a circle, square, or rectangle. It can be an outline or filled in.

Circles often convey unity, security, protection. They’re good for monograms and shorter names.

Squares and rectangles are associated with stability and balance. They’re good for longer names and are popular with large corporations.

Triangles are connected with strength, conflict, and speed. It can also represent a direction for movement.

Organic shapes are great for a natural feel, warmth, and comfort.

Color

Color is going to be a huge part of your logo, so it’s crucial you take color into account before sketching anything.

Colors have different meanings, and you should think about that as well as you brainstorm ideas. What feelings do you want connected with your brand? What colors are your competition using, do you need to choose the opposite?

You should only use two to three colors because any more will make your logo too complicated. Also, one of those colors should be black or white. While some logos do without black and white, they are few and far between.

You should also create a black and white version of your logo in case you can’t use the colored version for some reason.

Fonts

Time to talk about fonts. If you choose to have text in your logo, then you need to think about what font you want. Different fonts have different meanings.

• Serif fonts: Have little feet at the bottom, associated with timelessness and being high end
• Sans-serif fonts: no feet, associated with being modern, clean, easy to read
• Script font- handwritten looking, associated with personality, formal, elegant, feminine, hard to read sometimes
• Display fonts: billboard-style, visual impact, unusual style

Make an Inspiration Board

If this seems too overwhelming, try making an inspiration board. You can put everything that you like about other logos, images, fonts, and more, in one place. This can help you organize your thoughts and allow you to visually see all your hard work.

Designing a Logo

Alright, now we’re at the point when you can start to make your logo. Are you excited?

Do It Yourself

So you’ve done all this research, you’ve got an idea of all the pieces you want to use, now it’s time to put it all together.

You have a few options, you can take a pencil to paper and design it from scratch. You can also use Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, and Canva. This is a great option if you have artistic talent because you’ll save money by not having to hire a designer.

If you don’t have artistic talents, no worries, there are plenty of ways you can still design a logo on your own. You can use logo template makers, or alter a template on graphic design programs like Canva.

Hire a Designer

If you have no interest in creating your logo, that’s fine. It’s time to hire a designer, we have a great Academy lesson about how to hire a designer.

Before Finalizing the Design

There are a couple of steps you need to take before you finalize your logo design.

Testing It

• Can you enlarge your logo and have it still look good?
• Can you shrink it and still have it look good?
• Does it look good in black and white?
• Will your logo look good in different places you put it, like social media, your website, and emails?

Ask Yourself?

• Is this logo original?
• Is it future-proof?
• Is it user-friendly?
• Do you like it?

Can You Change an Existing Logo?

Of course! Many famous logos have gone through different versions. You can still use this advice to improve the logo you have.

Making a Logo is an Undertaking

We know this is a lot of information. Making a logo is no joke. Take things one step at a time and it won’t seem as overwhelming. Hopefully, by following all these steps, making your logo will be easier than you imagined.

Take your time, there’s no need to rush.

‍