Last updated on January 2nd, 2024
Why do you create a logo? This tiny graphic is the most crucial part of branding for any company. It’s present on every company’s product/service and marketing material. But its layout plays a vital role in its success because it can either make or break its ability to convey the brand’s intended message. Picking the right logo layout is an art that needs you to understand design principles, target audience, and brand identity well. This blog explores the key factors of logo design and provides tips and insights for choosing the perfect layout for your logo.
When discussing logo layout, it is about strategically arranging the crucial elements of text and symbols. It is about where the company name or a symbol will appear in the layout.
A logo’s layout significantly impacts how it appears and functions at various sizes and platforms. How your audience perceives and remembers your brand can also be affected by the layout of your logo.
For example, the length of your company name and the presence of a symbol or monogram will determine how to arrange them to make an impressive Custom logo design. Similarly, a tagline also becomes a factor in deciding on a suitable logo layout. Some layout types function better than others, depending on these variables.
Choosing a suitable logo layout will depend on your brand’s personality. For example, if yours is a creative or playful brand, its logo layout could be of some unorthodox or whimsical style. On the other hand, if a brand wishes to project a professional or traditional image, it can choose a classic and straightforward layout.
But there are some common factors to deciding on a logo layout. These include the length of a company name, symbol or monogram, and tagline.
Here is How To Choose The Proper Logo Layout
Logo layouts come in different forms. This is because brands want to convey their personality and message by arranging text and symbols in their own ways. You can compare these many arrangements to find which suits your brand best.
01. Place The Symbol To The Left
Left-aligning logos is a common design practice as most reading is from left to right. This results in a precise and practical design, regardless of whether you have a slogan.
However, it’s essential to be thoughtful in leaving enough breathing room around your symbol and ensure its size matches the height and weight of your font.
Use caution when utilizing a left-aligned symbol if your company name is longer. With this arrangement, your logo may become excessively long horizontally, making it challenging to fit into smaller locations like social profiles.
You can stack the books to get around this issue. You may either stack the text and maintain it left-aligned to address this issue. Or, shift the symbol above the text to free up additional space.
02. Put A Logo Symbol On Top of The Company Name
This is one of the most used logo layouts since it makes the symbol and name both visible quickly for an impact. When the symbol is above the company name, such a stacked arrangement looks unique and compact. It highlights the emblem.
But if a brand name is much smaller than the symbol’s width, stretch the text up to the symbol’s width. However, many logo layouts have company names wider than the symbol above. So, find out what works best for you.
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03. Place It To The Right of The Company Name
This logo layout is less commonly used, but you can explore it and see if it goes well with your company name. For example, think of placing your logo symbol on the right side of the brand name instead of the conventional left side.
Test this layout to look different and get noticed instantly. However, the layout imbalance is risky if you do not care. Such a layout may also look unnatural as well.
If you still want to opt for the right-aligned layout, it would be good to right-align text when stacking multiple lines. Again, take the examples of The North Face and the Continental Airlines logos as inspiration.
04. Place It Below The Company Name
Another option is to place the logo below a company name. It will look impressive depending on how much space it occupies. However, placing it below the text in a logo design may not look impressive.
As shown in numerous logo samples, the sign is typically utilized as an underlining with a long, horizontal shape. However, if the symbol is not horizontal or doesn’t resemble underlining, then you need to take extra care.
It might be challenging to follow this layout if the symbol doesn’t naturally follow the wordmark in this arrangement.
05. Put The Symbol Between The Words
A two-word (or a word that may be divided into two words) company name can be laid out creatively and distinctively using a symbol as a divider. However, some changes could be needed to achieve the desired appearance.
To keep the logo small, it is essential to pick a straightforward and condensed symbol and ensure there is little space between the symbol and the text. Of course, this rule has some exceptions, such as the Ralph Lauren emblem.
The symbol is often positioned in the middle of the text. But it is vital to remember that this arrangement functions best when the two words in the company name are of a similar length.
06. Replace A Letter With A Symbol
Using a symbol instead of one or more letters in your company name is a unique and powerful arrangement. This logo-making method has the potential to be visually pleasing, but it can take some trial and error and perseverance to get it just right.
If you decide on a symbol-as-letter style, use a straightforward symbol that matches the relative weight of your font to make sure folks understand and understand your company name. The most accessible letters to replace with symbols are usually O and I.
However, use caution if your company name contains no characters that a symbol can readily replace or if you cannot find one that accurately captures and complements your firm.
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07. Think of A Single Horizontal Line
The most straightforward choice is a text-only logo with a single horizontal line. Due to its simplicity of modification and appealing appearance across many platforms, companies with apps or physical products use this logo.
The disadvantage of adopting a straightforward logo is that it could appear dull. So instead, you can choose a bold typeface, a splash of color, or a recognizable character to make it stand out to avoid.
Although this strategy can still be effective, as seen by Trust Banking, be wary if your company name is lengthy. The logo will get stretched horizontally, making it difficult to fit into smaller locations such as social media profiles.
08. Put Text In A Solid Shape
While making a text-only logo, an option could be incorporating it into a solid shape or container. This method can improve a wordmark and works incredibly well for initials or shorter company names. It can also be used as a “stamp” on goods like clothes tags or labels.
However, be cautious while choosing a shape because squares and rectangles are more suitable for stacked text, while circles are better suited for shorter names. Custom shapes, like the Salesforce emblem cloud, often require a designer’s skill.
If your firm name is long or if you have a motto, be careful because you might need to stack the text or place the phrase below the form, which might only sometimes look well.
09. Place Wordmark In An Outline Shape
If a solid logo layout is not your style, you can use a container or outline shape for your wordmark. Or, you can choose to arrange your text between two lines, as seen in the example for the Blackbird Bakery logo. If you have a background color, it can be seen through this design.
The same rules apply to a filled container. But note that shorter names work better for this layout, and you can add a slogan as well, although it may make the layout appear cluttered.
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10. Stack The Text
The North Face logo is an excellent example of combining stacked text with logos. Still, this design is also helpful for wordmark logos because it can add visual interest and assist in fitting long corporate names into a smaller space. But when stacking text, it’s essential to pay close attention to how the top and bottom rows are positioned and how lengthy they are.
If yours is a small business name, take some caution. It could be more difficult for visitors to read or understand your company name at first look if a single word is split over two lines. So, keep that in mind!
Be prepared to scale and change the text if your logo has two words with significantly varying lengths to create a visually pleasing design.
So, these are the logo layouts to consider when creating your logo. Compare these layouts extensively and see which will help build trust for your brand.
If you are a small business, you can easily experiment with different logo layouts using a logo maker from Designhill. This DIY tool has a vast library of fonts, colors, and symbols from your industry. You can quickly mix and match various elements to know which logo layout will work best for your business.
Wrapping Up
A logo layout can make or break its brand. Only a suitable layout can help convey a brand message and build trust. Different layouts arrange a company name, symbol, and tagline in dozens of ways. These logo layouts are the most popular and comparable. The whole purpose here is to find out the best arrangement that helps build trust for your brand.
