The power of a personal logo & how to choose the right one for your brand

Entrepreneur Taylor Robinson saw a need for a service that safely and reliably connected music instructors to students. He also turned his name into a brand with a unique logo. Taylor Robinson Music Lessons’ logo features his name in bold letters and a microphone to clearly show he’s in the music business, making it a great brand logo.

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For someone who has their own business, a personal logo is essentially how your audience will recognize you. No pressure! The process can be complicated, especially if you don’t have any design experience, but a logo is necessary to set yourself apart from your competition, create a lasting impression amongst your audience, and create a brand that represents what you stand for.

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Why a personal brand needs a logo

A logo is a symbol, emblem, or image meant to be identified with a quick glance. It’s supposed to be easily associated with your brand, plus help your customer visualize what it is you stand for, who you are, or what it is you do.

Your logo needs to be simple enough that you can draw it. That makes it easier for your audience to remember it.

Your logo also needs to be scalable because it will go on everything from your website to your emails and your products, even your business cards. Scalable means more than just multi-platform or multipurpose. It also means that your logo needs to be readable when it’s HUGE as well as tiny. Think billboard vs. social media avatar. Does it work for both? Or do you need different versions of your logo so they can be applied to both?

Most importantly, your logo should set you apart from your competition. It needs to be unique.

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Parts of a logo

Because there are numerous ways to design a logo, there are also multiple features that can be used to make your logo unique to you and your brand. Each component is optional and interchangeable, but they are essential aspects to consider when creating the visual and message that you want.

• Logomark - This is the graphic element or icon for your brand. Sometimes they’re letters; sometimes they’re animals, shapes, people, or other symbols. This icon can be just about anything. Think of the target bullseye, which is a great example because the name of the company is visualized when you see the icon. Logomarks usually stand alone or can be presented with other elements, such as behind your company name. They can also be used to identify what type of market you work in. For example, if you’re a writer, your logomark might be a pen.
• Wordmark - This is the text part of your logo or a stylized way of writing your name. The vital part of your wordmark is that it’s legible.
• Tagline - This is your company motto. Your tagline plays well with your branding. If you don’t have a tagline, Copy.ai’s Motto Generator can help you write a tagline without a professional marketing team.
• Framing - This is the border or space around your logo. Good framing helps your logo stand out. Logos without defined borders can look almost like a signature.

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Personal logos vs. business logos

A logo should represent what a brand or individual stands for. For this reason, personal logos tend to have more personality than business logos because they don’t have to encompass such a broad swath of characteristics.

Keystone Experts and Engineers is a professional engineering company with a simple, sleek, and eye-catching business logo that’s still unique and cool. The prominent K-shaped logomark is the first letter of their company name. It’s just three simple lines, making the logo easy to identify and scalable. The right center corner encompasses their full company name, so there’s no doubt who the logo represents. But it’s pretty light on personality.

Brand designer Josie Noel created her own website and logo. Since she’s a designer, her logo is an excellent representation of her playful characteristics and her design style. Her logo is her name in her brand colors, artistically done playfully. She uses flowers and curly accents to add a feminine touch. If you browse her portfolio, her logos are soft, dainty, and fun. They pair beautifully with her logo.

These logos both use wordmarks and similar colors, but both give off very different vibes and represent very different brands. These are the core aspects to keep in mind when you design your logo. Make sure its characteristics are personal to you.

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7 tips for designing a personal logo

To determine what kind of logo you want to go with, you should have a clear understanding of yourself. to be a graphic designer to figure this out. You just need to envision what you want your company to look like, understand who your target audience is, add a little inspiration, and mix in some creativity. The artistic tools and the logo designers are optional.

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1. Define your brand

What do you stand for? Do you want to stand for female entrepreneurs? Maybe provide education to under-resourced countries? What is it you want to do with your business? If it’s important to you that your company is eco-friendly, then your brand colors could be green, or you could incorporate an image of the world in your logo. Consider icons that are relevant to your cause.

What are you selling? If you’re a blogger, you could incorporate an image of what you blog about. Like if you are a travel blogger, you may incorporate an image of an airplane.

What interests you? Perhaps you have a hobby or a special interest in nature photography. Can you work that into your logo? Is it relevant to your work? Designer Jorgen Grotdal worked an interest in nature photography into a logo for a wedding photography business.

Creative Hand Drawn Logos by Jorgen Grotdal

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2. Focus on your target audience

Who is your target audience? Because your logo is part of your brand identity, you should understand what your target audience will be looking for and what they’ll like. Your logo should speak to them. For example, if you’re selling social media management to business professionals, you’ll need a professional and bold logo. If you don’t know how to figure out who your target demographic is you can simply envision who will be buying your products or services.

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3. Find design inspiration

Where do you look for inspiration? When looking for inspiration, have some fun with it. Choose a variety of sources, not just logos. Look at some street art and see what speaks to you. Look at design elements, look at patterns, fonts, all of it. Figure out what you like.

What’s your style? One way to figure out your style is to set up a vision board. Cut out and pin images of different things that interest you. Look at color schemes, font styles, and brand images. Get on Pinterest and look for ideas.

What are your favorite logos? Look at other logos, such as big-name brands or at competitors’ logos for logo ideas. Perhaps you’ll find that logos you tend to like are simple, or maybe they’re vibrant or are just letters. Monograms and typography are easy to recreate and scale.

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4. Keep it consistent

How do I create a uniform look? Branding is how you present yourself to your audience. Your personal logo and your branding work hand in hand in creating your image. Your logo, your website, and your marketing should all have the same themes, colors, and fonts. There should be no question as to which logo and brand go together.

Are you having trouble figuring out your branding? Branding can get overwhelming if you don’t know where to start. Copy.ai has an entrepreneur’s guide for building your brand from scratch, which you can use as a reference.

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5. Find the right design tools

What can I use to make my logo? Sometimes designing is as simple as getting out a pen and paper and sketching out ideas, but there are also tools you can use to get a more refined look.

Are there free design tools? Canva is a free graphic design software. It allows its users to not only design logos but also make presentations, social media posts, videos—basically anything that requires digital design work. It’s easy to use because they have preset templates, and it has a library of images/icons that you can choose from to use in your logo. It has a drag-and-drop feature making it easy for you to put your logo on just about anything, meaning it’s scalable, compatible with multi-platform, and can be used for multipurpose.

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6. Hire freelance talent

Should I hire a logo designer? These creative professionals are pros at making custom designs, so if you’re intimidated by things like Adobe Illustrator (which is very technical to learn) or even web design, this may be a route you’d like to take. But if you feel like you can do the design yourself, this process is totally optional.

Where can I find a logo designer? Fiverr and Freelancer both have logo designers that you can hire. With that said, you can’t expect your logo designer to do all the work for you. You’ll still want to present your logo designer with some ideas that you have. That way, they can understand the vibe that you’d like to go for, and you don’t go in blind; plus, fewer revisions have to be done. These are a few things you can keep in mind with your logo designer:

• First, look at your designer’s portfolio and see if you like the types of logos they do and if their vision aligns with yours.
• Second, look at the logo designer’s reviews.
• Third, you’ll want to share with them that vision board we mentioned prior in tip number 3. Find design inspiration.
• Try to have a color scheme in mind, possibly a logomark, or some fonts you’d like to play with. You don’t need it all, but the more you present them with, the more closely aligned their design will be to your vision.
• Lastly, don’t just hire a designer who can turn around work in the timeframe you need.

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7. Ask for feedback

Who should I ask? After you’ve gotten your logos cut down to a few select choices, ask a sample of your target audience what their opinions are of your logos. It’s worth noting: don’t ask too many people. You’ll want to keep your feedback limited so it doesn’t get too overwhelming, and you don’t get too many contradicting ideas for what a great logo might look like. Another option is to create a survey, like on SurveyMonkey, where you ask people who visit your site what their favorite logo is.

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Get more guidance on personal branding with Copy.ai

Once your personal logo is out in the world, it’s time to do a deeper dive into your branding. Branding is essentially the way you establish the view of your company to your customers. Your logo plays a part in your branding, but branding also consists of things like your website, your ads, your social media networks, and your blog. Make sure all of these things work together. The color schemes, fonts, backgrounds, and types of images should be consistent. The goal is to create a uniform front of how your customers see you.

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Check out these additional article resources from Copy.ai on how to refine your branding:

• How to start blogging for personal branding
• How to write a personal brand statement

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