3 ways to make your logo more versatile

Ideally, you’ll be able to use your organization’s logo in all kinds of situations: on your website, on print work, on promotional banners, on those stress balls you sometimes pick up at conferences… You get the idea.

But often, companies struggle to transfer their logo to different mediums. That’s pretty normal. But with a few considerations and tweaks to your awesome logo, you can make sure your logo is versatile no matter where you want to use it!

Color

Whether you’re creating a logo from scratch or updating your current one, the colors you use have a huge impact on how others view your organization. Remember the color wheel from elementary school art class? Think about if you want to use colors that are near each other to create a more subtle look, or if you want to incorporate the vibrancy of colors from the opposite sides of the color wheel.

It’s also worth taking the psychological meaning behind colors into consideration—blue is associated with strength and trustworthiness, for example, and orange is a friendly, high-energy color—and planning versions of your logo with light, dark, and transparent backgrounds.

Text

Less is usually more when it comes to text on your logo. You may want to have a version of your logo with your organization’s full name, and maybe even a tagline—just make sure you also have versions with less text for when you need to resize it.

There are several ways to have a text-minimal version of your logo. You can use an abbreviation of your organization’s name, or an acronym if your name is on the longer side. Another option is to have a logo mark that you use when you need a text-free logo. Most logos are made up of an image (the logo mark) and the text (the name of the company).

Having a logo mark that is recognizable without text, like Nike or Apple, can help you use your logo in a variety of places.

Logo versions

There are a few logo versions I recommend you have saved and ready for you to use to make your logo more versatile.

• Base logo: Make sure it’s resizable.
• Reverse color: This lets you use your logo on light or dark backgrounds.
• Transparent background: You’d be surprised how often this type of logo is used!
• Logo mark: Just the image half of your logo.
• Text-minimal: Use an abbreviation or acronym instead of full text.

This set of logos for the Oklahoma Professional Sales Association shows examples of different logo types for the same organization.All of these may not be necessary for your organization, but the more versatility you have with your logo, the more things you’ll be able to do with your branding.