The logo for your website is essential. This is what is going to make you recognisable from everyone else, so it has to be something eye-catching and unique. But it also has to be practical. Something you can easily transfer onto paper, vehicles, property etc. Here are some tips to create a better, more versatile logo.

Clipart
First of all, probably best not to use clipart. It doesn’t look very professional and besides, you are unlikely to be given permission to use it anyway.

Special Effects
Shadows, reflections, lighting effects etc can look great on your website, but you should also check what they look like on paper as well. Sometimes what looks great on the screen doesn’t look so good on paper, the side of a vehicle, a building etc. Unless you are willing to pay out large amounts of money for a quality print every time, it is probably best to avoid special effects.

Colours
The best colours you can use for your logo are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (CMYB). You are best to use solid, quite dark colours, as light colours and gradients usually don’t work well when you try to photocopy or fax them.

Monograms
You should probably not use just a monogram for your business when you first start up. If you are an established company, then you can get away with just M&S for example, and most people know who you are talking about. But when you first start up, people aren’t going to know what the letters stand for. If you want a monogram, then probably best to make sure you also include what it stands for to begin with as well.

Complex Logos
A simple logo is easier to reproduce and can be scaled up or down as required as well as being able to reproduce it without losing any of the detail you have worked hard to create.

Vector Formats
You can use vector formats in order to make your picture sizable. This means that you can increase or decrease the image size without losing any of the detail of your logo. If you use jpg or gif instead you will see pixilation as soon as you start to increase the size of your logo. You can save secondary copies in these programmes, but always best to keep the original as a vector format.