Logo designers have been making use of the round shape for their work ever since recorded history. You can see the shape used way back to Ancient Greece, where kings and emperors first began the practice of carving their faces on their coins to signify their reign. The circle is thought to represent totality or completeness and is often used by designers to convey stability.
Today, the round logo is a staple in logo designs across different industries. Designers love the shape for its simplicity and versatility. Additionally, round logos are very easy to use in branding applications such as packaging because of its symmetrical appearance.
Whether you’re a seasoned designer or a business owner looking to narrow his choices, you may find that designing a round logo is not as easy as it looks like. Some designers find the shape to be constricting, while others may find its symmetrical appearance to be boring. Here are three of our most helpful tips when designing a round logo for your brand.
Get Rid Of The Clutter
There are no hard and fast rules for designing a logo. After all, famous brands do change their logos from time to time to keep up with design trends. However, for a timeless look, it makes sense to keep your logo simple, especially when it comes to round shapes. Many designers recommend using the shape as a container for either your logomark, or your wordmark, but not both. Often, designers put a wordmark inside the shape only if it’s short enough to still be readable on smaller scales. For companies that have longer names, it may be best to use a monogram.
This leaves enough room for your design elements to breathe and stand out on their own. This also makes scaling easier, as the lesser elements there are in your logo, the more readable it will be when scaled down for packaging.
To be fair, it is also very common to see busy designs in round logos. However, this style is usually better used for government offices and older institutions such as universities, who want to preserve their connection to their classical roots.
Maintain Visual Hierarchy
While this tip applies to every kind of design, it is particularly essential for a round shape. This is because the closed nature of the shape means that it is very easy to fill with elements, each competing for attention. Having no visual hierarchy can make a logo confusing, and altogether forgettable. If you absolutely have to work with several elements, make sure that one element stands out and becomes a focal point. Put simply, your round logo should have one central point for the other elements to support. For example, If you’re using both your wordmark and logo mark, inside your round logo, then the logo mark should take center stage, while the wordmark is scaled down.
Ensure consistency
Consistency is at the heart of branding. To achieve brand consistency, your logo and all of its applications should be using a defined color palette and typography. For example, if you’re using a monogram, the accompanying wordmark can use the same typeface to enforce the overall design.
Conclusion
The round shape is always a good place to start when trying to come up with your brand identity. Just make sure to keep it simple, and avoid adding too many elements that are not doing anything for your brand. The best way to test if your round logo works is to test it on objects of differing sizes. True timeless logos should look good anywhere they’re used and should be memorable whether they’re slapped on a coffee mug or on a giant billboard.
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