Is your Logo Inspiration Pinterest Board Giving you Nightmares?

We can go haywire when we start the process of dreaming up a new logo, and it can get overwhelming. In this post, we’ll look at the 3 components of a logo & I’ll give you some tools that’ll help you feel courageous again.

Do you remember the good ole days when opening up Pinterest brought inspiration and joy into your life?

The images of ooey, gooey, fall-apart-in-your-mouth cinnamon rolls were enough to keep you lingering there for just – One. More. Pin!

The inspiration you got from all of those perfectly minimalist Swedish homes was almost enough to help you forget about your own clutter while you sipped your tea.

So you happily took the expert advice and went back to your happy place for inspiration for your logo design too, assuming that it would be just as fun as drooling over guilty snack-pleasures.

But 72 open tabs and a whole lotta overwhelm later you’re regretting that choice, aren’t you?

I know. You’ve found a lot of beautiful logos for other businesses, but you have no idea what direction to head for your own. What in the world should you do next?

The anxiety is making your palms all sweaty and your heart feels like it might burst. You’re at overwhelm levels and it’s like every single decision is going to make your whole business fall apart. All you wanted was a fun logo!

Those pinboards won’t magically mix together to create the perfect face for your business…will they?

Creating a logo, by yourself or with a designer, can be a fun experience. And it can set your brand up for success from the very beginning. You can make decisions that will help you (and your designer) create a logo that you can be happy and proud of.

It doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

Many of my clients show up in my email box excited to get their logo designed, but underprepared and overwhelmed by what they need to do to get to a finished design.

Many have never worked with a designer before, and some have tried to create the logo themselves without much success, so they’re already feeling some…not so fun feelings about the process.

And that’s okay! I’m there holding my hand out to take them on the journey. Since I’ve done it so many times, it’s really not a scary thing for me – so I try to bottle up a bit of that courage to share. I trust in the process and I let my clients know that I’ll be there with them every step of the way.

I want to send a little bit of that courage your way today too. It doesn’t have to be a scary process.

I’m not totally sure how to get actual courage to upload to my wordpress site yet (I’m working on it though), so I decided to give you some tools to use. These are some of the places I like to start when I’m imagining a brand for one of my clients:

1- Color Resources:

Colourlovers.com

The great thing about the Colour Lovers website is that you can type in specific keywords and search existing color palettes that others have created. I like to type in words related to the feeling of the brand I’m designing like “fun” or “creative”. You can even search under trends to see what’s cool right now.

Adobe Kuler

This site is great because you can use images to create a unique color palette by clicking on the little camera in the upper right hand corner of the site.

All you have to do is upload the photo, and it will choose colors for you! You can even set the color mood to things like bright or muted. For those who have the Adobe CC programs, like Illustrator, you can even save your palettes directly into your library. Time saver!

[clickToTweet tweet=”These 2 tools will help you to find a color palette inspiration for your logo.” quote=”These 2 tools will help you to find a color palette inspiration for your logo.”]

2- Font Resources:

Font Squirrel

This website has free commercial use fonts that you can use for your logo and branding. You can easily search the various styles by their classifications and tags, and did I mention that they’re all free?!

My fonts

While most of the fonts cost money on this site, there are so many great font families to choose from. My favorite part is that you can type in your own text! So, if you want to try different fonts on for size, this is a great way to do that.

Google Fonts

You most likely won’t be using Google Fonts as the main font in your logo, but you can always use these fonts as a supporting font and as the body font on your website.

[clickToTweet tweet=”By getting acquainted w/different font combinations, you can get a feel for the ones you’d like in your own branding.” quote=”By getting acquainted with different font combinations, you can get a feel for the ones you’d like in your own branding.”]

3- Symbols/Icons/Graphics Resources:

Creative Market

This site has more than just graphics. It has fonts, patterns, and other great tools to create things for your brand. While I don’t necessarily recommend pre-made graphics for your logo, you can get some great ideas for different styles here and see what kinds of things your designer can create just for you.

Design Cuts

What used to be a place for designers to get deep discounts on fonts, graphics, patterns, and more, has now become a marketplace. Design Cuts now has a central location for various products that can be used in design, which makes it super easy to browse. You can search by clicking on the category in the left hand menu. There’s not a HUGE selection, but it’s growing!

[clickToTweet tweet=”The symbols you & your designer create for your logo can be very powerful. Explore examples before you choose yours.” quote=”The symbols you and your designer create for your logo can be very powerful. Explore some examples before you choose yours.”]

Don’t worry! I’m not giving you these resources to overwhelm you even more.

I want you to be able to take the inspiration you found on Pinterest and then explore the actual components of your logo design with resources that I love to use, so that when you’re ready to take the leap and make your logo happen – you’ll be ready.

Exploring these components will set the stage for you and help you to make some of those preliminary choices before working with your designer.

You won’t have a solid plan in place just by playing with colors, fonts and symbols – but you will start to have some ideas about what you want in general, and you’ll start to feel excited again.

If you want to have a more solid idea of your brand’s personality, then you’ll want to join my 7-day Brand Personality Vision Board Challenge that will be opening up soon.

It’s not going to be your standard, “Answer these 487 questions” kinda homework that many designers require you to do before working with them. This is going to be a fun, hands-on learning experience that will land you with something wonderful to help you focus your brand…& maybe decorate your office too.

And I can’t wait to get started!

All you have to do is sign up here to get on the list to be the first to know when the challenge is ready for you (it’s almost ready!).

Remember: a rising tide lifts all boats, so if your online biz buddies could have fun with something like this, share! There will be plenty of fun to go around.