10 great small business logos we love

You don't have to be a big business to have a great logo

A logo represents your brand. It is what makes your business recognizable to the public in cyberspace and the physical world. You only have one chance to make a good impression so a great logo is an opportunity to make a powerful impression. It is worthwhile giving your logo a lot of thought.

With this in mind, it is a shame that many businesses have poor logos. Poor logos deliver negative or neutral messages. A good logo embraces the power of your brand to make your business stand out from the competition. It should inspire people who know nothing about the business to want to learn what you offer.

When you have a weak logo, consumers will bypass you to choose a competitor instead. There are four principles for creating a small business logo:

Logos represent your brand

A logo should never be an afterthought. Its point is to define your brand. What your business stands for and delivers. Whether you are creating a logo for a new company or rebranding, it is one of the most important decisions you will make. Your logo is the foundation of branding your business.

Here are five points to follow to create a logo for your business.

Avoid being generic

Avoid a logo that is generic. It needs to be clear and easy to understand. Your logo must link your business name with what your business is about. It needs to express who you are and what you do. A logo should leave a positive impression of your brand. Every impression a small business makes is important. You do not have the luxury of large corporate marketing budgets of corporations. A great logo catches the attention of your target audience so your business stands out.

Choose a format that represents your brand

Choose a format for your logo that represents your brand. This together with the font and graphic elements is the basic structure of many logo designs.

The font and graphic icons chosen are critical for representing your small business. Fonts tell your audience a lot about you; for example, there are whimsical, technical, elegant, sense of humor, solid, futuristic fonts. Which one suits your business? The font should enhance and balance the graphic so it connects with the audience for a good first impression.

Color is important

Color is important. Some industries have traditional colors. For example, car and truck manufacturers use silver (quality), red (masculinity) and blue (reliability) for their branding.

Choose colors that stand out from others. You do not want to be mistaken for existing brands. Try to choose unique color shades to demonstrate your innovation.

Adapting your logo to different uses

Remember, your logo should need no explanation. A logo should make it obvious what your business does or stands for. Logos express your message efficiently and quickly. Ask yourself, does the logo tell viewers what my business is about?

You also need to consider the big picture. It is vital to think how your logo will look used on different mediums and platforms. Will it work in different formats? Before finalizing your logo, consider how well it work on:

How to get a great logo done on a budget

It is probably not a good idea to design your logo even though there are many cheap logo generators. How successful you are at attracting consumers rides on how well you brand the business. So cheap logo solutions may not necessarily be successful.

The best way to get a great logo done on a budget is to run a contest on Freelancer.com . Just determine a budget, write a description explaining a bit about your brand and what you're looking to accomplish and wait for the entries to come in. When the contest ends, pick the logo you like best and award the winning freelancer. It's that simple.

How much does a good logo cost?

Running a contest allows you to get a great logo done on a small budget. As you'll see in the examples below, you can get great results with a budget as small as $15 USD. We'd recommend a budget of around $50 USD for the absolute best results. 

You should also consider a Guaranteed Contest. In a Guaranteed Contest, you guarantee participants that you'll pick a winner. This attracts more and better entries.

Cool business logos we love

Let's take a look at some small business logos designed right here on Freelancer.com. These logos represent some of the amazing work done by our freelancers.

Byebuy Sweets

We love the playful design of this logo that uses the product to entice customers. The pink and burnt orange color scheme works together beautifully, and the kerning on "sweets" manages to give the logo balance without looking like it's straining too hard for symmetry.

Onexu

The brief here was to create a logo for an urban and street fashion brand with a focus on luxury and exclusivity. The logo pulls that off with a simple but powerful word mark.

Filthy

We don't know about filthy, but this playful word mark at least feels flirty. This is a great example of using clever typography to create a logo that embeds itself into consumers' consciousness. We could definitely see this one becoming an instantly recognizable logo for the brand.

Chicken Park LA

This logo immediately conjures the feeling of a specific time and place. As soon as you see it, you're transported to a summer sunset at Venice Beach, watching the tide roll in while you shove your face full of some delicious fast food. Without knowing a thing about the restaurant it advertises, the logo makes the product feel fresh, tasty and fun.

Guitar Brando

We seriously can't believe this gorgeous logo was done for $10 USD. It neatly visually references the legacy of rock music, with some American stars and stripes, a lightning bolt reminescent of KISS or AC/DC and a font that feels like it hearkens back to the genre's Mississippi Delta Blues roots.

Wild People Productions

This logo feels like it succinctly tells the whole story of the production company it represents. You get a feel for the entire brand ethos at a glance, and it creates immediate expectations about what they stand for. This exemplifies how good logos can visually communicate a brand identity.

Meteor Ciders

The Meteor Ciders logo conveys movement and energy in a way that almost makes you taste the product on your tongue. It's got a hand-drawn feel while still remaining clean and minimal, and we love the clever use of the apple as a hurtling meteor.

DaPrince

This logo goes to show that you don't have to be running a traditional small business to need a great logo. DaPrince is a musician from Chattanooga, TN, who wanted to convey a sense of royalty with his logo. The end result checks all the boxes. The typography and the iconography of the lion are appropriately regal, and the symmetrical design accompanied by the white on black background give a sense of power.

Nærland Gårdsmølle

This logo is a for a Norwegian farm that was looking to begin producing flour from its own grain. The farm uses rustic methods, crushing its grain with a stone grinder, and wanted to convey that feel with its logo. Mission accomplished. The logo does convey that sense of rustic nostalgia, but never wanders too far into kitsch. It's a great balance of old world and modern.

Glaciär

We love the simplicity and ruggedness of this design, which almost looks as though it's been screen printed onto a wooden surface. The word mark is strong, and the iconography gives a sense of power and symmetry. But the ruggedness makes this logo deceptively complex.

Brand your business with a logo

Brand your business with a memorable logo that tells the world who you are. It is a strong foundation that sets up your brand for strategic messaging.

First impressions are important in competitive marketplaces. People’s attention spans are fleeting. It takes a mere few seconds for them to form an opinion and judge what they see.

A memorable logo is more likely to receive a positive response from consumers. And, in crowded markets, it can make the world of difference to the success of your business.

GET A GREAT LOGO MADE FOR YOUR BUSINESS