When you start your own business, you have numerous tasks to undertake – naming the business, getting licenses, deciding whether or not to incorporate, talking your spouse into keeping your books for free – and the list goes on. But with all of the start-up mayhem, have you neglected to perfect the one thing that will weather the storm of inevitable change? The thing that identifies your company, speaks to your level of professionalism, and makes you unique?

Yes, I’m talking about your logo. Sometimes a logo design just comes to us like a divine inspiration. However, more often than not, the logo design is a pesky process, one in which everything you hate about yourself is manifested, so that you will never be satisfied. I mean, it’s true, right? As your business is such a close representative of you, your logo is very personal. I can design logos for people all day long, but when it came to creating my own, I was not pleased with anything I created. To avoid that frustrating mind game with yourself, it may be best to just go ahead, bite the bullet, and hire a professional to design your logo. Freelancers like myself are prone to work out an affordable deal.

However – if you feel you must – there are some general rules of thumb you can use for creating your own logo (Note that there are exceptions to every rule).

1. No clip art! Clip art can be spotted from a mile away, and it is no less tacky up close. Here’s the thing about clip art – clip art may as well scream “Generic! Trite! Unoriginal! Amateurish!” Are these words that you would like to use to describe your business? Surely not. If you want a picture in your logo, enlist the help of someone who can illustrate. But keep in mind…

2. Avoid detail in your illustrations. It’s one thing to create a very large drawing with fine lines and an impressive level of detail for everyone to comment on favorably. Shrink that picture down to about one square inch however, and what do you have? Could you even tell what you have at that point? You definitely would not be able to see the detail. Now take that one-inch blur and make a copy of it. And a copy of a copy. Then fax it. Chances are, the end reader would have absolutely no idea what the original picture was supposed to be. That’s not what you want for your logo.

The key is to use bold, solid shapes that will retain their form when reduced or enlarged. Think about the logos from Pepsi, Target, Nike, Apple, and Playboy just to name a few. The art is very bold, very simple – therefore very memorable.

3. A color logo is fine – Just make sure it can also translate into black and white. And no, I’m not talking about black and white as just your color logo printed in shades of gray. You actually need to have a black and white counterpart to your color logo. Think contrast here. Avoid gray. This logo will be used on black and white letterhead, faxes, invoices and one-color marketing pieces. Anybody that has spent any quality time with a copying machine know that gray does not copy well, if it even show up at all. Plus it uses more ink. If there is a light color in your logo such as yellow, go ahead and make that part white for the black and white version of your logo.

4. Here’s your chance to be interesting. Even if you have decided that just the name of your company will serve best for your logo, use a unique typeface for crying out loud. I shouldn’t be able to look at your logo and immediately discern that it is 18 pt. Times New Roman. That just tells me that you didn’t put a lot of thought into the process. And what else would you not put a lot of thought into?

5. Use sound design judgement. Things to think about are color, contrast, scale, alignment, spacing, etc. Check out my Design Tips for Amateurs series to delve further into the subject.

6. Don’t get too wacky with the shape of the logo. Remember that it will need to go on everything that your company puts out. If your logo is an odd shape, you will have a time trying to make it look right with other elements on a page.

7. Finally, make sure you really REALLY like it before giving your new logo the final nod of approval. Because once you get it printed on letterhead, business cards, envelopes, etc., you are stuck to it like super glue. Not only does it cost money to have all those items reprinted, but you also have to form a new association with your company and the new logo. For customers and potential customers seeing your company represented in one way, it can be confusing to register a new logo.

Now that you know some of the pitfalls to avoid when creating your logo, maybe you can slate some time to really begin work on it. If possible hire a professional designer – If not, make a good go of it yourself – but whatever you do, give the main representation of your company the time and consideration it deserves.