The first impression  “John Q. Consumer” will have of your company, more often that not, will come from your logo. Still, it’s always appalling to see some of the horrid imagery people use to represent their company. There are truly a ton of guidelines that various designers and “experts” have come up with over time in regards to the right and wrong way to design your logo but, here are a few that should give you a decent start.

1. MAKE SURE IT LOOKS GOOD. Yes that seems like an obvious rule but, you’d be surprised how many people disregard it. Share you logo idea with trusted friends and if you aren’t an artist, have someone professionally create the logo for you. That being said, if you cant afford logo design there are a few free services that will help you along. a few of those are FreeLogoServices.com, LogoEase.com & LogoMaker.com. There are some fees involved on most “free logo” sites but, they are lower than hiring someone.

2. KEEP IT CLEAN. Not clean as in pg-13, the image you want to represent your company is up to you. We mean clean as it pertains to legibility and cleanliness of design. If people can’t read your company name, it defeats the purpose of a logo. Don’t be afraid to have an “abstract” design but, there has to be a method to your madness. Your logo should transfer well from medium to medium, from paper, to shirts, to web and so forth.

3. BE INSPIRED. Most designers prefer for you as the client to have some idea of the direction you want the logo design to go. The only problem is, you often don’t know what looks good. There are sources of inspiration everyday throughout the day (provided you don’t reside under a boulder). Look at other companies and see how simple of complex their ideas are. Another idea is to visit graphic design websites. There are sites that showcase logo design and it wont cost a penny to peek. LogoPond.com and LogoMoose.com are two good ones.

These are in no way rules or regulations, just a few tid-bits of info to get you started. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you will have to live with that logo for the remainder of your companies life. A nice logo makes branding easy and branding equals success.