Whether you are a brand new entrepreneur on the block without a logo or you are a seasoned veteran who does have a logo, but you feel like it could use a little refreshing, this video is going to be just for you today because I’m going to break down creating a logo.

You might be surprised to know that you might have to create a couple different logos for your business depending on what your business model is.

For instance, if you are a course creator, you might need a different logo for each of your courses. Or if you are a product designer, for each product you create, you might also need a logo to represent that product. And then you would most likely also have a main brand logo that goes on all of your products or all of your courses depending on what it is that you are creating.

Your logo is so much more than just picking out a font and a color scheme that you like. It is what represents your brand, and you want to make sure that it does resonate with who your ideal customer is, but also who you are as that entrepreneur and business owner.

Get Inspired

The first step to creating a great lasting logo is to get inspired. Start by looking outside of your niche at different brands and logos and how they represent themselves.

The best idea is to get a Pinterest board together and start putting photos and inspiration and ideas in there so that when it is time to create that logo, you have this feel and this look that you are going for. And it’s not just a bunch of ideas up in your head. You actually have a visual for what is up there.

Pinterest is essentially a vision board, but it’s also really a search engine. Even though that’s not what a lot of people use it for.

Go through Pinterest and search color schemes and patterns and fabric samples. Start to build out this feeling of a brand of what you’re looking for with your logo. There are thousands of fonts and millions of combinations to put together. You want to create something that is unique for you. Search for things that evoke feeling and emotion that are tied to your business that might also help give you inspiration for your logo. There is no right or wrong way to go about this. This is about creating your vision for what you want your logo and your brand to be.

Once you have the feeling nailed down, it’s time to decide whether you are skilled enough to do a DIY approach or whether you need to bring in an expert, somebody that is more skilled and can really put together this logo for you. It doesn’t have to cost you a fortune to put this together.

And in fact, if you are brand new to being an entrepreneur, I highly recommend that you don’t invest thousands in putting together a brand because it might change in your first, second, maybe even your third year of business. You want to bootstrap and start small.

Do-it-Yourself Options

If you decide the DIY route is for you, you might want to check out Creative Market for some logo templates that are already built and there for you to customize and put your information into. What I love about creative market is that it is a marketplace of entrepreneurs just like you that have designed goods that you can purchase and use in your business.

Some of them have even taken it a step further and created social media packs that go with that logo. Not only are you purchasing that logo, but you’re also purchasing some other branding items that help you make sure that it all matches and it’s within your brand’s standards.

Photoshop is a great tool to use if you have it and if you know how to use it. But if you don’t have Photoshop or you don’t know how to use it and you are trying to bootstrap and do a DIY logo, then PicMonkey or Canva are two great online programs that are gonna help you build out that logo.

Now, I don’t recommend this for really high end graphic design, but it is something for those that are just getting started. It’s perfect for you. Depending on your plan, you can even upload additional fonts that you might have found through Pinterest that you wanna use in your logo to really help you build and design that logo out. Again, that logo is probably not something that you’re looking at using for 10 years. It’s just something that you’re looking at getting started with right now. Something that you can begin using and putting your business out there with.

Find a Designer

If you decide that DIY is not your route that you want to take and you want to hire somebody, but you are bootstrapping, some ideas of getting started is make a post on Facebook and see if anybody out there has any graphic design skills and they’re looking for a side hustle or a side project to help you out.

Somebody might even know a college student that is looking to build their portfolio and can help you put this logo together. If you have an art or a creative or advertising college local to you, you can reach out to them and see if their graphic design department has any students that might be interested in doing some work as well.

It is helpful to find somebody that has a similar design style as to the type of logo that you are looking for, but it’s not required. As long as you have a vision of what you’re looking for and you communicate that to the graphic designer, they should be able to duplicate that for you.

If you belong to any Facebook groups with entrepreneurs in there, making a post asking for recommendations is another great place to ask for help, or on LinkedIn if you have an active profile on there. If not, some other places that you can hire graphic designers from is hiremymom.com, 99designs or Upwork. SPECIAL OFFER :: You can save at 99designs when you use this link. { Affiliate Link }

Create Brand Standards to Follow

Once you have that piece nailed down, whether your doing it yourself or you are having somebody do it for you, you want to make sure that you walk away with brand standards that you can implement and use in everything that you do.

What this means is knowing and understanding what your fonts are and what your specific colors are to make sure that everything that you create has that on there and it’s all consistent and concise. You’re most likely going to want to have a logo that is for print and one that is for online views.

You may also want a light version and a dark version of your logo depending on what it is that you’re going to be using it for.

If you are doing product design and you’re not sure if your packaging is going to be light or dark, having both of those types of logos is going to allow for you to make sure that it looks the best on that packaging. And you also want to make sure that you have a logo sample with a transparent background. This is so important because everything that we do, we use our logo on it, and you want to make sure that that transparent background is there so that if it’s being put on something of color, then just your logo appears.

Again, that’s why that light and dark logo is also going to be important because depending on what color of background your logo is placed on, you want to make sure that it looks the best at all times.

By understanding these brand standards and what is the makeup of your logo and your brand, it will help you keep that concise look whether you are doing an email marketing campaign, or you’re designing a new page on your website or maybe even making a social media post.

I hope you enjoyed these tips today on how to get started creating a logo for your business, for your product or maybe even for your course.