It occupies a small area on your website but having a good online store logo can bring big dividends to your business. But what makes a logo “good”?
A logo must be:
- Attention-grabbing
- Unforgettable
- Classic; stands the test of time
- Compelling
- Captures your BVP – Brand Value Proposition
If it’s a bit hard to wrap your mind around what these qualities look like in a logo, here are 3 examples for you to consider.
3 Examples Of A Good Online Store Logo
The examples below exemplify the criteria we just discussed. You might be thinking, “Well, the logos are famous because the businesses became successful.”
Here’s our question to you:
Don’t you think the logos helped them get noticed and become successful?
1. Amazon
Before it became the world’s biggest online retailer, Amazon was an online bookstore. In the logo, you can see that the arrow starts at the letter “A” then ends at the letter “Z”, indicating that Amazon carries a wide variety of products.
Of course, the arrow is curve-shaped which makes it look like a smile. This sends the message that you’ll have a good time shopping online at Amazon.
2. Zappos
Zappos is an online retailer that specializes in footwear. In their online logo, the exclamation mark is shaped like a shoe.
The origin of the brand name is also quite interesting. “Zappos” is derived from the word “Zapatos”, the Spanish word for shoe. But the founder of Zappos, the late Tony Hsieh, decided to add an extra “P” so no one can mispronounce the brand name as “zay-pos”.
3. eBay
eBay is one of the best innovators in the online retail industry. In addition to consumers having the ability to buy products right away, the inclusion of a bid process makes the experience more interesting for both buyers and sellers.
The logo had gone through a few iterations. In the end, the company decided to combine elements of the previous logos to send the message that eBay continues to cherish the relationships it built from the past.
The 9 Business Benefits Of Having A Good Online Store Logo
Unlike a traditional brick-and-mortar store that has the advantage of having signage, an online store has to rely completely on its logo to articulate its value proposition to consumers and entice them with its aesthetics.
Having a good store logo embedded on your e-commerce website can have wonderful benefits for your business:
- Establish your business brand
- Create instant recall in your customers
- Differentiate your brand from competitors
- Create a strong first impression
- Grab the site visitor’s attention right away
- Entice the site visitor to explore your website
- Support your social media platform and other marketing channels
- Professionalize your brand
When you add these benefits together, the final outcome might be higher sales for your business.
It might take time and other resources to design a good online store logo but the investment will be worth it.
Professional Web Designer Tips For Your Online Store Logo
Do it right, do it once.
Can you design your online store logo by yourself? Sure. But we advise getting help from a professional web designer.
We’ve seen it all. Over the last few years, we’ve met and helped several businesses come up with store logos. Each one has different needs and goals and we’ve gone through the process with them.
When you go with a professional web designer, there’s no room for guesswork. Trial and error is kept to a minimum and we’ll have your logo posted shining and bright on your online store in no time at all.
In the meantime, we’ll provide you with snippets of what we can do for you by sharing professional web designer tips on how to come up with a rockstar logo.
1. Define What Your Brand is About
The logo design process starts with defining what your brand is about. You want a logo that resonates with your target audience. It must get your message across to them. That message is your Brand Value Proposition – what can you offer them that others can’t?
Contrary to popular belief, consumers make decisions based on intuition, not information. Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman theorized that emotions influence buying decisions instead of rational thought.
Thus, your logo must be able to stir emotions in your audience. How do you want them to feel when they see your logo? This welling up of emotions is often referred to as your “brand vibe”.
If you run an online business selling 80’s classic pinball machines and video games, you want a logo that brings smiles and misty eyes to the faces of those from Gen X.
If you’re selling healthcare products online, you want a logo that makes people feel secure, safe, confident, and hopeful.
If your online business offers car repair services at home, you want your website logo to make potential customers feel relieved, comforted, and assured.
Think about your brand vibe throughout this article. It will help you come up with ideas on how to create an effective online store logo.
2. Say It With an Image
The saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” rings loud and clear when you’re designing a logo. After all, you are using an image to get your BVP across.
The best image you can use is the most obvious depiction of what your business is about.
Going back to our example, if you’re selling 80s pinball machines, an image of a pinball machine or its silhouette or perhaps a popular arcade character from those days would be obvious to your target audience.
An online retailer of healthcare products can use an image of a heart, a stethoscope, or a flexing arm.
The mobile car repair service can use images of a wrench, a car, or a battery to drive home its BVP to the customer.
You simply can’t go wrong by going with the obvious.
3. Make Sure the Logo Design Is Scalable
It’s a mobile world we live in. You have to make sure your online store is mobile responsive. Its pages must scale or set up properly on different screen sizes.
And that includes your logo design.
Your online store logo must appear clear and visible to the visitor regardless of what type of device he uses to access your site. The details of your logo must be sharp and well-articulated.
For this reason, it might not be a good idea to come up with a complicated design for your online store logo. Intricate patterns, shapes, and lines plus multiple color schemes won’t present properly in small-sized screens.
To be clear, there’s no golden rule that pertains to the right size for your logo. But as long as it was designed with a high-resolution vector, it should set up clearly and maintain its visual appeal even on small screens.
4. Focus on Clean Design
Imagine not having eaten for 12 hours and going to a buffet restaurant only to find out you’re given one plate to pile on all the food from appetizer to dessert.
And that one plate is the size of a saucer.
Your logo occupies a small space on your website. If there are too many things happening on your logo, it might end up saying nothing at all. The website visitor won’t understand what you’re serving up.
It’s tempting to go overboard with the aesthetic elements of design – color, shapes, lines, rhythm, graphics, and typography. But more isn’t better. The end result might be a convoluted mess.
At Mountaintop, we advocate clean design to our clients. This means being more strategic and purpose-driven when it comes to applying the design elements.
Just because it’s available in the web design toolbox doesn’t mean you have to use it.
Depending on your intended brand vibe and BVP, your logo might encompass the use of more white spaces and just classic typography without shapes and graphics.
Clean design is a good approach to your logo because it can get the message across faster. The audience has no smoke to filter out as there’s none. What they see is exactly what they’ll get.
5. Go Subliminal
People think going subliminal means using hidden messages. In web design, the definition goes a bit further.
To go subliminal in logo design means to use images that trigger the subconscious – a thought or a feeling that stays hidden until something rouses it out of slumber.
It’s a powerful tool because studies have shown that subliminal messaging strongly activates brain activity and influences consumer behavior.
By now you might be thinking, “Wait a minute! If I use a subliminal message in my logo, doesn’t this contradict your advice to be obvious?”
Go back to our description of the Amazon logo. The shape of the arrow that goes from the letter “A” to “Z” resembles that of a smile. Not many people will notice it but when they do, it’s an “Aha!” moment that stays forever.
Another good example is the Wendy’s Hamburger logo with the design on the girl’s dress spelling out the word “Mom” – sending out the message of having a burger that tastes the way Mom makes or having a burger that tastes familiar.
These graphics are simple but when expertly embedded in your design can turn your logo from so-so to classic.
6. Be Open-minded About Your Logo
Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nike, Apple, and Microsoft to name a few. Every successful brand goes through logo changes. Companies undertake logo design changes for a number of reasons:
- To reflect changes in consumer behavior
- To stay current with design trends and the times
- To refresh and present something new
Even if your logo has successfully embedded itself in the consciousness of your customers, don’t hesitate to do changes in design if warranted.
For this reason, you have to constantly keep yourself updated on changes in trends, consumer behavior, tastes, and demand preferences.
You can do this by doing regular online research or by reaching out to your customers. Conduct surveys and engage them in social media or via newsletters.
After you’ve compiled enough data and feedback from your customers, come up with a few redesigns of your logo and beta test them. Send samples to your customers and get their opinions and suggestions.
Having your customers involved in the logo design process is also a great way of fostering loyalty to your brand.
Conclusion
Designing your online store’s logo can be a daunting, nerve-wracking process but it’s also fun and richly rewarding… especially when it’s done right.
No one knows their business better than the owners. However, articulating the brand and translating the BVP into logo design goes beyond business acumen.
You need the help of a professional web designer to turn your ideas into a logo that best captures your purpose and vision.
Not only do we understand the science behind logo design but we also have the tools to create one that’s aesthetically pleasing and endearing to your customers.
If your current logo isn’t delivering results or if you need one for your online store, give us a call and we’ll put our tips into action.
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