A logo is important for many reasons. When starting a business, your logo is the first impression of the company. And it’s important to make a strong first impression. It is the first of many to establishing your Brand Identity.
A company will perform better if their brand connects with people on an emotional and meaningful level. This will help your future and current clients easily identify your brand and even support it.
But where to begin? Here is a break down how to start creating the perfect logo design for your martial arts school.
6 Steps to Designing Your Logo
- Begin with your story.
Every business has an origin story and these stories help build a connection between you and your potential clients. Keep in mind these questions: What is your company? What do you do? and Why?
- Next is the brainstorming phase.
Think of terms that best describe your brand. For instance, a Martial Arts Academy would be best described as the specific martial art style (Karate, Judo, Jiu Jitsu, Krav Maga…). The goal is have 5-10 words that embody what your company does and why.
- Start visually drafting your ideas based on those ‘key words’.
Focus on different shapes, icons, components that really embody your brand. Don’t get frustrated on how well your initial ideas are drawn. Remember, this is just a rough draft and the road to the final product.
4. Review your designs.
Once you’ve drafted a few examples of images or icons that accurately reflects your message, it is then time to select your top 3 picks. Although constructive criticism is hard, it is best to get a second opinion.
5. Finalize Your Picks
Almost done! Reaching this step means you are almost at the finish line. Refine your top picks for the next and final phase.
6. Build Awareness For Your New Logo
Develop the layout of your logo using FREE or paid design platforms. I’ll be listing a series of recommended Logo design platforms.
After you’ve conceptualized your logo ideas down to your top three, it is now time to bring your vision to life. Here are some cost-effective branding services that will help you reach a final product.
- LogoNowis an Australian company that specializes in both print and web design. They pride themselves on delivering the core of every business or brand’s, a logo, beginning with over 17,000 design concepts. They run at a higher price point, but pride themselves on creating high quality designs.
Pros: If you are unhappy with their designs, the company promises 100% money back guarantee. They also offer more than just Logo design services. Their site features web design, business cards, and social media profiles.
Cons: they don’t have the fastest turnover rate.
- Emotive Brand‘s motto is “Transform your Brand. Transform your Business.” This San Francisco company strives to make your brand matter to more people through addressing brand positioning, messaging, go-to-market-strategy, and the brand’s overall behavior.
Pros: They have a great reputation. Some of their more notable clients include: Slack, Udemy, Pandora, Belkin, Samsung Music… They work with business owners to develop their growth strategy and brand aspirations. Emotive Brand is a woman-owned company comprised of an expert team that meets deadlines and makes brands that matter more to people.
Cons: Very Expensive. Minimum Project Pricing is $25,000.
- TrixMedia is a full service digital agency that has 15 years of experience. They are a premier branding and website service that is located in Los Angeles, California. This digital service agency is partnered with notable brands such as Coca-Cola, Amara, Hilton, and Olive Terrace. They create brands with edge and with TrixMedia you can take your business design venture from beginning to end. They have a logical team who is ready to help. There are more steps in their design processes in order to create the best final outcome for their customers.
Pros: “The owner personally oversees that all the work is done in a professional and prompt manner.”
Cons: Not a lot of information about customer experience working with this brand
- VerveLogic: Florida company that specializing in custom Logo design and website development. They are even available via mobile app for your on the go needs. They are transparent when it comes to their business processes and work to produce quality solutions. If you have an Android, no problem, they work with both Apple and Android. They are trusted software company with a loyal team.
Pros: Produce professional and high quality designs.
Cons: This platform is not free to use. - Tailor Brands: Features an A.I. Logo generator that will help you create a logo that matches your brand. They consider themselves to be a one-stop-shop. You can begin your business venture by creating a logo, then designing your website, followed by order business cards, and lastly setting up your LLC all through the same platform.
Pros: Great choices to pick from, saves time, and gives business owners the opportunity to create an LLC.Cons: Some of the editing features can be confusing and users get more options when using their mobile app.
- Canva: Is a user-friendly, free graphic design service that you can use to design your logo. If your looking to create a rough draft or have great graphic design skills, then I highly recommend starting with this app. Their website features thousands of professionally designed templates, along with millions of icons, and hundreds of font variations. We personally use canva for most of our design needs. For those who aren’t familiar with canva, it may be time consuming when designing with all the tools they have to offer.
Pros: Free and customizable, you can unlock your creativity.
Cons: This is do it yourself. So you have to be able to design visually what to do.
- Ucraft: is a FREE logo maker design service that allows you to personalize your designs while saving time and money. You can begin your design process with one easy click of a button. Their designs tools gives you access to various design tools, customizable texts, and the option to preview the final product. Once finished, it is as easy as downloading your logo in a .png or .svg format.
Pros: Similar to Canva, Free and customizable, you can unlock your creativity.Cons: They could feature more template options, time consuming since you’re creating your own logo, and requires the user to get accustomed to all the features they have to offer.
- 99Design: Acts as partnership between the Business owner and the designer. Their motto is “You know your business. We know design.” This platform works great when looking for options. Their process is simple, you describe a rough idea of what you want your logo to be, the idea is presented to a team of design artist who produced dozen of custom logo designs, and the last step is to pick a winner.
Pros: You get multi options. They produce quality work with the promise 100% money back guarantee. This is something that your favorite Partners in Marketing use.
Cons: The cons to 99Design is the limit of 3 color, not a free platform, and sometimes the designs draw inspiration from each other designs which result in very similar final products.
Logos are much more than just the face of the company. They serve as multipurpose advertising tool that:
- Grabs the attention of your audience.
- Makes a strong first impression.
- Is the foundation of your brand identity.
- Act as a memorable indicator that symbolizes the recognition of your brand.
- Separates you from your competition.
- Will help you establish a loyal following.
- The first thing people see and look for, so make it count!
Want to know what’s trending? Here are the top 10 suggestions from a blog by Tailor Brands talking about the best designs this year that can help really make your logo stand out.
- The first is logotype designs. Playing around with different text sizes and putting an emphasis on a letter if you logo features the name of your Company.
- A more artistic and fun approach is sketches. Hand drawn designs give a business a more personal feel and long with a sense of transparency and confidence in their brand.
- Layering adds a level of depth to your design by stacking different letters, colors, shapes, and elements.
- Bright color schemes are an excellent way to grab someone’s attention. For Martial Arts Academies, you can feature you school colors to reflect your academy in your Logo.
- Monograms that feature 2-3 letters have consistently performed well over the years and reflects a level of professionalism.
- Geometric shapes can be the building blocks of your design. Start with basic shapes and try taking away sides, stack shapes, or organize them in a way that creatively reflects your business.
- Another fun trend is negative space. Similar to the A&E logo, it is the use of unused space. This design shows your audience that you like to think outside of the box and will prompt a second glance.
- Word Mark logos or disappearing text can give your logo a neat, minimalist, and professional appeal.
- The Glitch trend gives the appearance of movement or static tv. The popular application TikTok, implemented this design when conceptualizing their logo
- Last trending design is the use of gradients. The method of blending together colors will give you design a 3-D effect.
Check out our origin story and how being the “Best Known is beats being the Best.” If you’re just starting out, learn the secret weapons and skillset every business owner needs to optimize your success!
Remember, a logo is the face of your company and a crucial part of establishing your brand. Your following will grow with the consistency in your logo and how it represents you as a company. No need to worry about the creative process; there are plenty of cost-effective design platforms that will help you reach the end goal! There are several trending designs that will not only help you enhance your design, but it will help your Logo stand out among the rest. Check out our youtube page and Tailor Brands blog to start creating your LOGO today!
