How to Come Up with Logo Ideas That Tell Your Brand's Story

13 min read

A logo isn’t just a pretty picture on your website and merch. The best ones reel in customers, make connections and leave a mark on your audience that sticks longer than a catchy tune.

From designing to researching and even rebranding, the logo is the captain of your business ship. Coming up with logo ideas and crafting a logo is like penning the first chapter of your brand saga — vital and oh-so intriguing!

If you need some inspiration, this blog post delves into how a logo can spin your brand tale, gives tips for brainstorming business logo ideas, and discusses the perks it packs for your business. Read on!

The Importance of a Strong Logo for Businesses

The best logo tells consumers precisely who you are, what you believe in, what you offer, and how you can help improve their lives. Clean, well-designed logos convey that your business is professional and consistent. In turn, they can even improve brand loyalty!

In an oversaturated market, sloppy logos are all it takes to lose a potential customer. With so many fish in the sea, a logo is the first interaction many people may have with your brand, so it has to be memorable.

Starbucks’ siren logo is one of the most recognizable ones; it’s the metaphor for the coffee’s siren song that pulls in coffee fans

Think about it — if you were shopping for a product and the brand’s website or social media page had a messy design, would you stick around or find another company that had its act together?

Logos work in the same thread. If the key design elements look unprofessional, consumers will assume that your business, products, or services will fail to deliver at their level of expectations.

That’s why it’s important to do your homework and create a cohesive, professional, and captivating logo that can grab a potential customer’s attention and keep them interested.

How to Come up with Logo Ideas that Represent Your Business

As you begin the design process, it’s important to ask yourself — what makes a good logo? The most compelling logos are simple, memorable, and inspire the brand’s target audience, no matter how broad or focused.

Here are a few steps and strategies to help steer the ship as you brainstorm logo ideas for your brand.

Leverage Your Niche or Industry

Specific niches and industries have visual elements that are easily associated with that category. For example, if you are creating a logo for your personal training business, your logo could include a dumbbell, running shoes, or the flexing-arm emoji.

Say, you’re a small shop selling t-shirts and other apparel and accessories like purses and shoes. Incorporating these elements into your logo tells the story of your brand in a simple but concise way that allows consumers to understand what it is you do.

Use Your Story or Mission

Sharing your business’s story, values, and mission sounds too complicated to fit into a tiny logo, right? Think again! There are so many ways to implement parts of your story into your logo. You can start by writing down your why — why you started your business, what drives you, who your customers are, and how you want to inspire people.

Writing these stories down may spark an idea that can help form the foundation of a logo. You never know what you may draw inspiration from!

One theory about why Steve Jobs chose an apple as the company’s logo is that he was on an all-fruit diet at the time The apple may not have been part of Jobs’ mission or values, but it was top-of-mind for him at the time. A simple thought became one of the most iconic and recognizable logos on a global scale.

In 1999, Apple changed its original rainbow logo to a sleek monochromatic design

Sketch out Different Ideas

When you’re ready to put pen to paper and start sketching logo ideas, let your mind wander and see where inspiration strikes.

It’s always a good idea to brainstorm in a quiet place with calm music on so you can calm your thoughts and let the inspiration be loud. Some graphic designers choose to sketch ideas in a place different from their typical workspace so their minds are open and relaxed.

When brainstorming, if you come across an idea that strikes a chord, try to create different iterations of your initial idea to see what you come up with.

One of the first Nike logos, created in 1971

Keep in mind that no famous logo was born that way. It takes time (for some companies, it takes decades!) for a logo to gain recognition in any industry or market. Stick to the design rules you know work and let your inspiration do the rest!

Use Design Elements from Your Brand’s Identity

If your brand identity is already carved out, it’s both logical and effective to incorporate those design elements into a logo.

The logo design ideas should include the brand’s color palette, fonts, and visual elements to create a feeling of cohesion and professionalism.

Uncertain where to begin? Explore the article below, which delves into crafting a captivating brand identity:

Creative Logo Ideas for Specific Industries

While logos are an important piece of any brand, getting creative in design is half the fun! Here are some logo ideas and ways to get creative within specific industries.

Photography Logo Ideas

Photography logo ideas basically create themselves, but there are so many approaches to make yours stand out against the competition.

Play with a simple image of a camera, lenses, or other film elements. Embrace vintage styles with an old-school Polaroid or a large format camera, or make a playful logo designed after the classic 90s disposable cameras.

Real Estate Logo Ideas

If selling homes is your gig, you can be endlessly creative with real estate logo ideas. Use simple house shapes against a stark background to make the design pop, or add your name inside the silhouette of a key. You could even play with interesting textures by using a stylized rooftop to draw customers in.

Bakery Logo Ideas

Cooking up something tasty can’t be done without the perfect logo to tell your story. Bakery logo ideas can utilize the trusty baking tools you use daily, like your rolling pin, oven, or the famous mixer on everyone’s countertop. You could also create an illustration of your favorite pastry to represent the products you sell.

Real-Life Logo Examples That Tell a Brand’s Story

Here are a few real-life logo examples that embody a brand and pull from its identity to perfectly encapsulate what the product or service offers.

Mercedes Benz

This logo was created in 1909 and remains to this day. At first glance, the logo design looks like a three-point star. Upon further investigation, many know that the three prongs represent air, land, and sea, symbolizing the three segments of the brand’s automotive industry.

Target

While Target’s logo has undergone five iterations since its inception in 1962, the symbol itself has remained unchanged. The vibrant red bullseye logo is the perfect example of using wording, language, and messaging to create a logo that aligns with a brand.

When Target was founded, the creators wanted to establish a store where they could perfectly guess what society wanted and needed. Did they hit the Target? We think so!

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)

The simple image of a black and white panda may not seem like much, but the WWF panda is world-renowned and serves as a great example of how sharing your mission can be done simply. The WWF exists to protect and restore endangered species to their natural habitats, with pandas being one of the most displaced.

Amazon

The retail giant wasn’t always that — Amazon had extremely humbling beginnings, just like many others on this list. Today’s version of the Amazon logo forms an arching arrow from the A to the Z in the name, representing that shoppers can find everything from A to Z on Amazon.

The simple orange arrow is instantly recognizable, making it a solid example of logos that will withstand the test of time.

Logo Generators as an Easy Way to Come Up with Logo Ideas

If design isn’t your forte, there are great tools out there that can help create logo ideas for you. Using a logo generator, you can simply type in your business name, share specifics about your style, and gain access to various logo designs at your fingertips.

Some logo generators leverage the power of artificial intelligence to create tailored logo designs using the visual elements you describe. You can customize your color palette, style, and feel to create a logo iteration that feels unique to your brand. You can even specify fonts, graphics, and other elements to ensure the logo aligns with your existing brand identity.

One logo maker you might want to check out is Looka. It is an AI-powered logo maker that uses a non-template approach, resulting in unique logo designs that you can tweak to fit your style.

If you’re selling online using Ecwid, you can get the Looka app from the Ecwid App Market.

With Looka, you can create a comprehensive brand kit

As you experiment with logo generators, take your time and make adjustments to what information you input, and see how designs change. If anything, you’ll come out with a few great options that you can tweak to create something that fits your brand.

Power Up Your Branding and Create a Compelling Website with Ecwid

In the competitive ecommerce space, strong branding is everything. It sets you apart from the competition, establishes your brand reputation, and can even build customer loyalty over time.

Now that you’re on your way to becoming a successful brand, it’s time to start selling products! Ecwid provides an all-in-one platform for businesses and entrepreneurs to sell their products and services anywhere — from a website to social media platforms, marketplaces, and everywhere your potential customers shop online.

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About the author

Anastasia Prokofieva is a content writer at Ecwid. She writes about online marketing and promotion to make entrepreneurs’ daily routine easier and more rewarding. She also has a soft spot for cats, chocolate, and making kombucha at home.