In just 400 milliseconds, a human being can recognize a logo. This makes every little detail you put into your logo super important, since it can affect brand awareness.

If you don’t have a logo for your company yet, you need to get on that pronto. Here are a few tips on how to design the best logo for your small business.

Think About Your Goal and Mission Statement

If your company is setting out to change the world, it’s important to incorporate that goal into your logo. For example, if you make vegan-friendly products, you might want to include a cute animal in your logo. Or if you want to help reduce waste, have your logo be green or put leaves on it.

By incorporating key values of your company into your logo, people will quickly come to associate you with whatever message you’re trying to send.

Go with Concepts

You don’t want to be too literal with your logo design. If you’re a dry cleaning company, using an icon of a pressed dress shirt is so overdone and boring. You want a logo that’s unique and catches the eyes of your potential customers.

Take a page from Nike; they don’t use clothing or sports as their logo. Instead, they have the memorable swoosh icon. So for a dry cleaning company, you can choose something like bubbles or sparkles to symbolize how clean and spotless your service is.

Keep It Simple

You may be tempted to go all out with your logo, but the fact is, keeping it simple is the best course of action. For instance, think of all the big companies like McDonald’s and Coca Cola; they all have very clean designs that you can recall in a flash. You can do the same thing, and all on your own too! Use something like Adobe Spark’s free logo maker to whip up something that’s uncomplicated, yet unique to your company.

Make Sure It’s Timeless

It’s natural for designs to rise and fall in favor, so you want to make sure your logo can withstand the tests of time. Yes, many logos go through redesigns, such as with McDonald’s golden arches and Starbuck’s mermaid. But the main designs remained the same with small touch-ups.

Along with keeping it simple, you also want to pick a logo that won’t be hard to edit as the years go by. Plus, with too much editing, your logo may become something unrecognizable by consumers, which can hurt your business.

Come up with the Best Logo for Your Business

Since it’s a form of art, there’s no single best logo for your small business. Play around with designs and enlist the help of your family and friends. With a small group of people to give you feedback, that’ll assist you in picking the right one for your company.

Need more reading material? Then check out our business section.