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Why are Logos Important?

Why can’t you just stamp your company’s name in your favorite color on your packaging and business cards? Because that wouldn’t be anything special or memorable. You must realize the value of a good logo. A carefully designed logo not only attracts new customers, but also causes your existing customers to remember your store and encourage them to return. A logo identifies your company; it tells others what you specialize in and what makes you different from all the rest. Logos are mainly used on custom printed bags and packaging, so every customer will have to see your logo when they purchase something. Your logo can also go on gable boxes and other “to go” packaging; you don’t want to leave out your logo on any type of packaging. Logos can also be imprinted on business cards and other forms of advertising as well.

What to Focus on When Designing a Logo

There are five main components of a logo that should be kept in mind when starting a business. A good logo should be simple, memorable, timeless, versatile, and appropriate.

Simple: The logo should be easy to recognize. If you make it too fancy and intricate, people will get caught up in the design, not in your business.

Memorable: Even though the logo should be simple, it has to be unique so when people see your logo, your company automatically pops into their mind. A good example of this is a yellow curved M on a red background. What pops into your head when you imagine that? McDonalds obviously. That logo is both simple and memorable.

Timeless: The logo should be able to last forever without going out of style. If you make the design too stylish and “with it”, in around ten years it will most likely be very out of date.

Versatile: Make sure the logo will look good in all sizes; on a small business card or a big billboard. A helpful hint is to design your logo in vector format, so your logo won’t become fuzzy when magnified. To see how strong your logo is, switch it to one color (if you’re using two or more colors) does it still give a strong effect? If not, maybe you should reconsider your logo. You want your actual logo to be strong, not the colors, they are just there to give your logo an extra boost.

Appropriate: It’s important that the font, size, and position of your logo are appropriate for your business. When designing a logo for a bakery, it shouldn’t be similar to one of a museum or toy store. A good example of an appropriate logo is Toys R Us; the playful font and rainbow colors matches perfectly with the idea of a toy store.

How to Boost Your Logo

When people look at a logo for a bakery, they shouldn’t say, “Oh, those are some pretty colors” or “That’s a really nice design”. They should say, “Oh, look that’s a bakery!” As mentioned before, the main purpose of a logo is to identify your company. If it’s just a pretty design, people will like it but they’ll likely forget what the actual business is. Your logo has to be able to tell your audience what you want to give over to them; I’m a bakery, come check it out.

To help make your logo more identifiable, it’s a good idea to use a well-known image, like a cupcake or pastry. This is where it gets tricky; though you want your image to be well-known, you don’t want it to be a typical, boring image. You want your image to stick out and help your logo be unique amongst the rest. To achieve this, make sure to give your image a little twist. Take a typical image but play around with it to make it unique and special. That way people won’t say, “Oh ok that’s a cupcake”. They’ll say, “Wow! That’s one cool looking cupcake! Let’s check out that place!” When picking an image, you don’t have to stick with an item that you sell; if you have a running theme, use that to your advantage. Remember, logos are telling your audience what you want them to know about your company. If you run things a certain way or have a specific décor/theme going on, let them know through your logo.

Another important part of your logo to help it stick out are the colors you choose. Before talking about which colors to use, we’ll first talk about how many. You’ll have to keep in mind that printing can be expensive and each additional color you add will add onto the bill. If you have the funds to use two colors, go ahead. Though your logo should be strong enough with one color, two or three colors will definitely spice it up. I would advise using a maximum of three colors though, so to not overwhelm your customers. Remember, you want them to notice the design and logo, not to get caught up specifically in the colors.

Now let’s talk about which colors are most popular and beneficial for bakeries. Bakeries tend to use natural and pastel colors for their logos, but feel free to shake things up a bit. I personally wouldn’t advise using dark colors because that’s too different, you want to be unique but you want to stay within your bakery boundaries. To help make your logo stand out, I would suggest putting a little splash of a brighter color to liven things up. Cake and candy shops actually tend to use brighter colors than bakeries; but again, there are no set rules to abide by, just suggestions. Another popular choice is the color, green (pastel green would usually be more appropriate for bakeries). Green is the color of nature and nature tends to coincide with health and freshness, which is probably how you want to convey your bakery. Remember, it’s very important not to just stick some green in your logo if it doesn’t flow with your theme and also if that’s not what you stand for. If your goal is to make your products the best tasting baked goods possible, despite the calorie and fat content, I wouldn’t suggest putting green in your logo to give over a false idea that you are a health conscious bakery. On the other hand, if you’re an organic or low-fat bakery, I would highly recommend seeing if green would match with the rest of your logo. Remember, the colors shouldn’t be the main focus of your logo; they just add to your already amazing design.

A key part of a logo that we did not cover yet, is the font you choose. Every font style conveys a different message, so pick your font wisely. Even though you may like a certain font style and it relates well to your bakery, you have to make sure it’s easily readable. This is especially important if you plan on making business cards, which will reduce the size of the font making it even harder to read. Typically, bakeries tend to go either with an old fashioned or modern look. Again, it’s all about how you wish to convey your bakery. If you want to promote the idea that your baked goods are just like grandma’s baking, then an old fashioned font would be the way to go. If you want to give over a more hip and fashionable look, then a more modern font would be a good choice.

Extra Tips

If you’re hiring a designer to create your logo, make sure to give them as much information as possible. You should tell them who your competitors are so they can design your logo in such a way that you’ll stand out amongst the rest. It’s also very important to let them know what type of customers you’re trying to attract. Obviously your logo will look different if you’re trying to attract the upper-middle class as opposed to young teenagers. The most important advice I can give is to have fun with it! Bakeries are the type of business that are more fun and friendly than others, so take advantage and don’t be shy to make your logo cute with a little extra flair.