This doesn’t necessarily mean your logo must be a hamburger if you are a restaurant. It’s more about getting across the key qualities of your business. Nike’s swoosh logo, for instance, reflects the company’s dynamic nature. The swoosh is active and aggressive, just like the target Nike customer. Keep the attributes of your audience in mind when designing your logo.

There is nothing worse than an image stuck in time. If you capitalize on an of-the-moment trend, your logo will look dated just a few years from now, which will reflect poorly on your company. Choose timeless illustrations and fonts to avoid having to rebrand every time new design crazes arise.

You want your logo to be memorable. Why? So people will recognize it, whether it’s on an advertisement or your packaging. Logos help you brand your company, and so they should capture people’s interest. What does that mean? Your logo should include: A small element of mystery that makes people want to learn more Exceptional artistic and graphic values Easy-to-read fonts For instance, Apple could have chosen to go with a logo of an apple without a bite taken out of it — but it’s that tiny chomp that sets the image apart. Who took that bite? What does it symbolize? The logo makes people want to find out the story behind it.

Make your logo unlike anyone else’s. Imitation will just get you mixed up with other businesses — and you don’t want that.

Think of the most iconic logos in circulation — Apple, McDonald’s, Twitter. What do they have in common? They don’t overdo it. All rely on one very simple symbol to capture people’s attention. Apple and Twitter don’t even include any words in the logo. They don’t need to. The right font, character or illustration should sum up your company with no extras needed. The image you choose should be dynamic, so it’s memorable. But don’t load it down with excess wordiness or art. A logo should tell a story in a glance.