Your logo is the most visible signal your brand sends. It appears on your website, your business cards, your packaging, your email signature, and — if you're growing — eventually on signage, merchandise, and investor decks. Getting it right from the start saves enormous time, money, and confusion.
These 10 tips are written for founders and business owners working with a designer — whether that's an agency, a freelancer, or a specialist like Evoke Studio. They'll help you brief better, evaluate proposals more clearly, and end up with a logo that actually works.
1. Start with strategy, not aesthetics
The most common logo brief starts with "I want something modern and clean." That's an aesthetic preference, not a strategy. Before you talk to any designer, answer these questions:
- Who is your primary audience?
- What is the single most important thing your brand should communicate?
- Who are your three closest competitors, and how do you want to look different?
- Where will this logo be used most: digital-first, print-first, or both?
A logo built on clear answers to these questions will outperform a logo built on visual preference every time.
2. Understand the different logo types before you brief
Not all logos are the same. The main types are:
- Wordmark — the company name in a distinctive typeface (Google, FedEx, Coca-Cola)
- Lettermark — initials only (IBM, NASA, HBO)
- Symbol/icon — a standalone graphic (Apple, Twitter/X)
- Combination mark — icon plus wordmark used together (Nike swoosh + "Nike")
- Emblem — text inside a shape or badge (Starbucks, Harley-Davidson)
For most startups and small businesses, a combination mark is the most practical choice: the icon can be used standalone once you're recognised, but the wordmark helps with early brand-building when people don't know you yet.
3. Design for the smallest use case first
One of the most common logo failures is a design that looks great at billboard size but becomes an illegible smudge on a favicon or embroidery patch. Before approving any logo, test it at:
- 16×16px (favicon)
- 32×32px (app icon)
- 24px height in a navigation bar
- On a dark background
- In single-colour (black only)
If the logo doesn't work at these sizes, the design has a structural problem — not just a scale problem.
4. Limit your colour palette
The strongest logos work in one or two colours. Three is often one too many. More than three is almost always a problem. Reasons:
- Embroidery typically limits you to 4–6 thread colours
- Screen printing adds cost per colour
- Single-colour logos have unlimited application flexibility
- Simpler palettes are easier to maintain consistency across vendors
Coca-Cola is red. UPS is brown. Tiffany is that one specific blue. Colour restriction is a feature, not a limitation.
If you're using an AI-generated logo: AI tools often produce logos with gradient fills, complex colour combinations, and multiple tones that are impossible to reproduce accurately in print, embroidery, or embossing. Evoke Studio's AI logo vectorization service converts those assets into clean, Pantone-certified vectors that work across every medium.
5. Choose typography with intention
If your logo includes text, the typeface is making a brand statement whether you intend it or not. Some principles:
- Serif typefaces signal heritage, authority, and tradition (law firms, financial institutions, luxury brands)
- Sans-serif typefaces signal modernity, clarity, and accessibility (technology companies, consumer brands)
- Script/handwritten typefaces signal creativity, personal touch, and warmth (food, wellness, personal brands)
- Custom lettering signals premium positioning and uniqueness
Avoid using default system fonts (Arial, Times New Roman) in a professional logo. Also avoid free font downloads without checking licensing — many prohibit commercial use.
6. Make it work in black and white first
Before you fall in love with colour, see your logo in black and white. If it only works because of colour contrast — not shape and form — it has a design problem. The strongest logos work in black ink on white paper just as well as in their full colour version.
This matters practically for fax covers, legal documents, newspaper ads, and low-cost printing. But it matters strategically too: a logo that relies on colour to communicate is fundamentally weaker than one that communicates through form.
7. Avoid the literal trap
A bakery logo shaped like a loaf of bread. A dog grooming logo with a dog in it. A tech startup logo with a computer chip. Literal logos are common and almost always forgettable.
The most enduring logos communicate the brand's values or personality abstractly — not the product category literally. Amazon's arrow suggests both a smile and the idea of A-to-Z in one simple mark. FedEx hides an arrow in the negative space between the E and x. Nike's swoosh suggests motion and athleticism without depicting a shoe.
Think about what your brand stands for — not what you sell.
8. Get it delivered as a proper vector file
A logo is only as good as its file format. If your designer delivers only a JPG or PNG, you don't actually have a usable logo — you have a rasterised image that will degrade at scale and cannot be used for professional print, embroidery, or signage.
You need:
- SVG — for web and digital use
- PDF — for print and sharing
- EPS — for printers and embroiderers
- AI (Adobe Illustrator) — if you want to make future edits
If you have a PNG or JPG logo — including one created with AI tools — Evoke Studio converts it into full professional vector format from $50 with 24–48 hour turnaround. Learn more about AI logo vectorization.
9. Brief for variations, not just one version
A single logo file is not a complete logo system. A properly delivered logo should include:
- Full colour version (RGB for digital, CMYK for print)
- Reversed/white version for dark backgrounds
- Single-colour black version
- Horizontal and stacked/vertical layouts
- Icon/symbol only (for social media profiles, favicons)
- Minimum size guidelines
When you brief your designer, explicitly ask for these variations. An incomplete logo system creates expensive problems as your brand grows.
10. Give it time to be right — but know when to stop iterating
Logo design takes time to get right. Expect multiple rounds of refinement. But there is a point of diminishing returns: after 6–8 rounds of feedback, most designers and clients have lost perspective entirely.
The test is not whether you love the logo on day one — it's whether it communicates the right things to your target audience and whether it works technically across all your use cases. If both of those are true, the logo is right, even if it takes a few weeks to feel natural.
Need a logo that's ready for print, web, and everything else?
Evoke Studio delivers complete brand identity systems — logo, colour palette, typography, and usage guidelines — built to work everywhere. From $50 for AI logo vectorization to complete brand identity from $500.
A good logo is simple enough to be immediately recognisable, distinctive enough to be differentiated from competitors, versatile enough to work across digital and print, and built to last at least 10 years without needing a redesign. Simplicity is the most important single quality — complex logos fail at small sizes, in single-colour contexts, and in embroidery.
One or two primary colours is optimal for most logos. Three is manageable. More than three creates production complexity (embroidery costs, screen printing charges) and typically weakens the logo's impact. The best logos in the world are often monochromatic or use a single strong colour.
For most startups and small businesses, yes — a combination mark (icon plus wordmark) is the most practical choice. The wordmark helps with name recognition while you're building brand awareness. The standalone icon can be used once you're established. Pure symbol logos (like Apple's apple) only work after years of brand-building investment.
You should receive SVG (for web), PDF and EPS (for print and embroidery), and PNG (for digital use where vector isn't supported). If you only receive a JPG or PNG, you don't have a production-ready logo — you have a preview image. Evoke Studio delivers all formats as standard with every logo project.
Yes, but AI-generated logos typically need professional vectorization before they're production-ready. AI tools generate rasterised images (JPG/PNG) with gradients and imprecise shapes that won't survive embroidery, large-format print, or colour-matching requirements. Evoke Studio converts AI logos into professional vector files from $50 with 24–48 hour turnaround.