After over 30 years of creating and developing brands for numerous companies and products and I finally had to design one for myself as I made the step to becoming an independent visual. Here are 5 quick tips to help you produce your own identity.

1 Size matters:

A design that is too intricate, ornate or subtle will not work well at smaller size. Your logo must be clear and readable at all dimensions, platforms and materials. Imagine your logo on a billboard in Times Square, a smart phone app or a giveaway plastic pen.

2 Avoid trends:

Something that might chime with the times now may not work next year or even next month, so steer clear of current, fashionable styles that will date your brand design and effect people’s perceptions of your business.

3 Concise colours:

Limit colours and make sure they appear the same in print, on screen and other materials such as plastic bags, clothing or metal. It’s also essential that your design works in a mono space. I have lost count of the number of client logos that I have used as part of an event or promotion that doesn’t reverse out or sit on image or colour block.

4 Check your design:

Avoid a clash brand designs by doing an online search for logos that contain the same letters or words as the one you are working on. Another division of a company that I used to work with did a very large public roll out of its new branding only to discover that their shiny new logo looked almost identical to another company. Months of work had to be scrapped and redone with a new design at great expense. You have been warned!

5 Brand guidlines:

Once your design has been finalised, nail down your styles in a brand guideline document. Fonts, colours, logo usage and all other information can go in to ensure that everything related to your brand is consistent right from the beginning.