Any seasoned business owner will tell you that a strong brand is key to your success. While branding is more than just designing a logo for your startup company, it’s the first step in building your brand.

With so many businesses online, how can consumers remember your business if there isn’t a logo? There are over 30 million small businesses on Facebook. You don’t want to get lost in that crowd. Here’s how to create a logo for your startup.

Be unique

It’s easier than ever to launch a startup and there are more small businesses. It is becoming more difficult to stand out from the crowd and make your startup stand out among other startups. It is important to create a unique logo for your startup so that customers can’t associate it with any other business.

Although it’s fine to look online for inspiration, your logo should be as authentic as possible. This will ensure that you don’t confuse your company with another one in the industry.

Go for the custom type

We’re still talking about being unique. However, custom lettering can give your logo a more authentic feel than any other type of lettering. We see a lot of logos consisting of just an image and one font you can find online.

Customers want to see that you put in more effort and don’t know the fonts you use. You don’t necessarily have the technical skills to create a new font for your logo. However, you can always hire a graphic designer to help you.

Avoid clichés

There seem to be new trends in graphic design every year, and many of these can be used for creating a startup logo. We still see the same idea being used by business owners. This is because consumers are familiar with many logo design clichés like an arc or random colored dots.

It’s not enough to jump on the bandwagon and incorporate these clichés into your business design. Keep an eye out for new trends in graphic design and find ways to incorporate them into your logo.

Make it versatile

Your logo is your visual representation of your startup. Placing it everywhere will ensure that people remember you. It includes everything, from your business’s storefront to the profile picture on Facebook. When designing it, think about how it will look on promotional items or employee uniforms.

Your logo should be versatile to allow you to promote your business and keep customers’ minds on you. Make sure your logo is easily understood and choose colors that work well with any background.

Use the colors right

Simple as that. Colors are a major part of logo design. Every color has an emotion, and your logo will have more to it than just visuals if you use them correctly. Let’s suppose you own a fast-food restaurant and need a logo. Red is associated with urgency, so it’s a great way for consumers to find another reason to visit you.

If your business is concerned with the preservation of the environment, green, which is symbolic of nature, should be used. Your logo will be more effective if you choose your colors carefully.

Keep it simple

Every logo does not have to be complicated. Many companies are choosing to use simple logos as they move towards a minimalist approach.

Take, for example, the Apple logo. It looks like a simple silhouette of an apple, but it’s not memorable. The logo is unique because it has a missing bite. Sometimes, all you need is creativity to transform a very basic logo into something unique and special.

Graphic designer Tom Satori shares five tips to create minimal logos in the video below.

Know what it means

A logo need not be a professional-designed graphic. A great logo has a story. You can also encourage customers to choose your company over others by having a good logo.

Take a look at the logos of some of the top brands. The Apple logo has a missing “byte”, while the Twitter logo features a bird in flight in an upward trajectory. Don’t just create a logo for your startup. Tell a compelling story to make people feel connected to your brand and be loyal customers.

Although you won’t stick to just one logo forever, it’s important to put a lot of time and effort into designing one for your startup. Fail to do this and people will simply forget about your business even if they liked your product.