Logos are an essential part of any business’s identity system. It makes them distinguishable from other brands and competitors. And this case is not any different for the architectural businesses. 

As of 2012, the United States Census Bureau reported a total of 20,836 architectural establishments in the country. And, this has only increased in the past 8 years.

This pretty daunting number of competitors just shows how difficult it can be to stand out; especially when you’re just starting out.

One of the first and most important things you need to consider making when you’re creating an identity for your business is a solid architecture logo design.

And because architectural designs and making a logo design for architectural business are both design disciplines, whether or not you pay close attention to your logo design will say a lot about your company.

In this article, we will give you 7 simple steps on how to create your own architectural business logo design and provide some logo design ideas to guide you on your logo design making process.

 

1. Establish your own brand identity

Before making a logo, or basically an entire brand, you should first determine your brand’s identity. Your brand identity is a visual representation of your company, and it should reflect your company values, personality, etc. 

How do you want your company perceived? The answer to this question should be reflected in your overall brand identity, including your architecture logo design.

 

2. Review your competitors

As mentioned earlier, your company should stand out among your 20,000+ competitors in the architecture industry. So it just makes sense to steer away from generic and basic architecture logo design concepts as much as possible.

This can be solved by reviewing your top competitors, starting with your local competitors. Look up the architecture firms around your area, city, or even state, and review their logo designs.

What do they have in common? What can you do to make your logo different from the rest? 

This way, you can be inspired or spot a trend, like logos designed like houses, buildings, pencils, rulers, compasses, etc. And since you want your logo to be as unique as possible, you can stylize it or incorporate other elements to make it look much more different.

3. Choose a type of logo

Choosing a type of logo involves a thorough introspection of your company’s values and personality. 

The type of logo that you need to choose will depend on the kind of company that you have.

You can check out the 10 types of logos that are broadly in practice and, in the meantime, let’s quickly run through each type of logo so you can have an idea on which one to use for your brand.

Typographic

Typographic logos primarily use type (words or letters). There are three subcategories depending on the number of letters used:

1. Wordmark

Logos that solely consist of a word.

2. Lettermark

Logos that use only a few letters. Lettermarks are used by companies that have acronyms or initialisms.

 

3. Letterform

Logos that use only a single letter. Like lettermarks, letterform logos are used by companies that have acronyms or initialisms.

 

Pictographic

In contrast to typographic logos, pictographic logos primarily use pictures to symbolize the essence of the company.

1. Pictorial

Logos that use literal and recognizable images.

2. Abstract

Logos that use abstract symbols.

3. Mascot

Logos that use illustrated characters. Mascot logos are rarely used in architectural logo design.

 

Combination

Logos that are a combination of typographic and pictographic marks.

1. Emblem

Logos that combine typographic and pictographic marks inside a single shape.

 

2. Signature

Logos that combine typographic and pictographic marks with other elements, like the company slogan.

3. Dynamic

Logos that transform depending on the context. As it is a fairly new logo design concept, dynamic logos are rarely used in architectural logo design.

 

3. Choose the right color

Aside from grabbing people’s attention, colors can also evoke and manipulate their emotions. Color is proven to have an impact on people’s psychology, affecting the way we all think and behave.

By reviewing your competitors, you would be able to know which colors are trending in the industry and which ones work for specific types of architecture firms and for specific types of clientele.

 

4. Choose the right font

For architecture logo designs that use typographic logos, it can be difficult to make your logo have a personality or visually stand out. This is why choosing the right font is important in making logo designs.

Every font has its own unique style and personality, which can tremendously help in the visual aspect of your typographic logo.

Serif fonts can make your logo look sophisticated, elegant, intelligent, and mature; while sans serif fonts can make it look more young, sleek, clean, simple, and modern.

Check out this article to find the best fonts for real estate businesses. 

 

5. Choose the right image

As for pictographic logos, the image you will choose for your architecture logo design will be associated with your entire brand for quite a long time. 

Picking the wrong image for your logo can make for questionable logo designs that might steer away from potential clients.

To help you decide on a particular image to use on your logo, think about what your company is known for. Is it a particular architect? Or perhaps a particular architectural style?

You can also think about different symbols that represent your architectural business. 

Do you want to be represented by your company’s design precision? Your taste in luxurious designs? In environmentally-friendly designs? Or in artistic designs?

Whatever your answer may be, there will always be a corresponding image that can represent it best. It’s your job as a designer to find it and incorporate it into your logo design. 

 

6. Check the layout symmetry

How you layout your logo design will certainly also reflect your architectural style.

For typographic logos, the sizes and spacing in your texts (kerning, line spacing, etc) should make it easy to read while being visually appealing.

For pictographic logos, your logos should follow some form of visual symmetry to make it look appealing to your clients.

 

7. Make it versatile

Lastly, your logo design should be versatile. In terms of size, your logo should be scalable and responsive so it can adjust to various medium sizes.

It should also look good in black and white so it can be easily used in documents such as letters, business cards, architectural blueprints, and so on.

 

To conclude...

So those are the 7 simple steps you need to follow to create an architecture logo design for your business.

Like architects, Graphics Zoo’s professional graphic designers can help your company solve design problems, like coming up with its own architecture logo design. To get started, send us an email at support@graphicszoo.com