What are the elements of a good logo?

A great logo is more than just colors, letters and shapes; it's the strategic use of those colors, letters and shapes to create an easily identifiable image that represents your brand, falls in line with your business model and conveys your company's core values clearly, succinctly and memorably. Type, design and color palette are some of the most important components of your brand logo. A quality logo designer will guide you through this process and take most of the work out of it for you. Here are some key considerations as you begin the logo design process:

• Aim for an overall visual that is appealing to look at and easy for people to quickly understand; avoid intricate letters or cluttered imagery that makes customers squint, think too hard, and then dismiss the image.
• Choose the appropriate scale for your text as well as the right arrangement and font to convey your message to your target audience. For example, if you are selling services for seniors, avoid small type in light colors that is hard to read.
• Showcase your company's colors front and center in your logo. Usually you don't want more than two or three colors so as to avoid visual overload.
• The "design" of your logo is the way all the shapes, colors and text are arranged together to tell a story or send a message.