Logos are foundational to any business. Whether you’re a large company or a budding one-person show, the goal is to generate recognizability and loyalty in people who see your special mark.
Think of the greats: Pepsi, Apple and Mercedes come to mind, for instance – essentially geometric shapes that instantly inspire a range of thoughts and associations. That’s the goal, to build a positive association with you and your products or services through the intelligent, consistent application of a simple visual asset.
Of course, no one is saying you need to be the next Pepsi to be successful, but it bears keeping in mind that the logo itself is a big part of why these brands have become so widespread and well-respected. Let’s look at why.
Why Logos?
So, what exactly is it that logos provide to your brand? Why are they so important, and why can’t you afford to run your business without one? Several reasons:
- Logos immediately communicate what you do, or at least give a flavor. An astrologist’s logo should include something celestial, whereas a home improvement company should have a straightforward mark that connotes handiwork.
- Your logo will help you build an association between a product your customers are looking for and your company, the solution to that search.
- A logo can stand in for many a word, sharing what you do and who you are without requiring a team of copywriters on standby.
- Logos are useful in nearly endless ways, helping to bind together your social media profiles, company website, business cards, brochures, packaging, sales collateral, email headers, guest post bios and so much more.
In other words, you need a logo to pave a continuous road of excellence across the real and virtual places you do business.
What Is a Logo Maker Tool?
Okay, what about your logo? How can you get a good one that you trust, and more importantly, that other people trust as well? Glad you asked.
Today, the best way to get a good logo is to use a logo maker tool. These easy-to-use, ready-in-minutes apps have proliferated across the internet, giving you access to untold typefaces, graphics, images and fonts. Rather than having to design these yourself or hire a graphic designer (a good move, but expensive), you can now do it yourself for a fraction of the cost and without professional design skills.
Web-based logo maker tools not only let you create one logo, but they also help you iterate so that you have multiple variations by color, size or layout, for instance. Just make sure you keep your basic fonts and images consistent since instant recognition is the entire goal here.
The Best Free Logo Maker Tools
The next hurdle is deciding which logo maker to use. As we’ve said, these are extremely common across the internet, which isn’t necessarily a good thing. It means you have tons of choices, but a lot of them won’t give you the results you’re looking for. Some have limited stock options, some don’t provide nice design files, some pretend to be free but aren’t.
Luckily, we’ve got an antidote to that here. Check out these five free logo maker tools that won’t let you down.
- Zyro
Zyro is a super-simple web-based app that allows you to create a logo in minutes, with full commercial licensing and ownership. Its templates are numerous, and you can customize them until you’re happy, then download them in vector files you can edit away from the app later if you wish.
To use Zyro, you first input the name of your business and it will pull up thousands of templates that align with that name. You choose one, then customize its color, size or fonts as needed. When you feel the logo matches your brand, download the files.
The benefits of Zyro include its simplicity, ease of use and AI-ready design files. Its main downside is that its templates aren’t limitless, and you cannot customize the actual vector shapes themselves. More advanced users probably won’t be happy with these limitations, and you may end up with a logo that is similar to someone else’s.
- Squarespace
Squarespace is a free website legend, allowing users to build beautiful, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) websites in short amounts of time. They take the same approach to their logos, with the drag-and-drop software they’ve tailored over the last decade.
Like Zyro, you start with a business name, then enter a theme to pull up various graphic assets. With customization, you have a lovely logo in minutes.
On the plus side, Squarespace has a large array of different vector images and offers PNG-files completely ready to go for uploading to a range of designs or applications, such as websites or social media sites. However, the fact that you only get PNG files means it will be harder to edit those logos later, outside of Squarespace.
- Tailor Brands
Tailor Brands is a versatile, fun, full-of-character logo maker. They take pains to make their service easy and unique, with cheerful graphics you won’t find other places.
To use this service, you input a keyword, your business type and a brief tagline. You then choose whether you want your logo to be based on an icon, text or initial. After selecting a few font categories that you like, the logo maker then produces several options from which you can choose, all customized and unique from other logo services.
Many people appreciate this logo maker because it offers AI files, which are much easier to update and tweak later. Plus, you get true designer-quality work. The only downside is you do need a subscription to download higher-res versions of your logos. If you don’t want high-res, great! If you do, you’ll likely find that Tailor Brands makes the subscription worth it with a wide range of other design services to help your business succeed.
- NameCheap
As the name implies, NameCheap is all about getting your design up and running without breaking the bank.
Like the rest of our list, their logo maker is simple to use. You input your business name and tagline, choose from an ever-more-tailored list of font options, select logos you like, and get results from which to choose when you’re finished.
NameCheap is great if you’re looking for a decent degree of customizability and a range of file types to download. However, its logos do tend to be somewhat generic, meaning you might not stand out as much as by using a service that involves real designers.
- LogoMakr
LogoMakr is a bit different from its compatriots in that you work with designers to get your logo. First, you look through stock to see what kinds of logos you like, then let the team know. They will create proofs and send them to you, after which you provide as much feedback as you like to tailor your logo exactly. When happy, you can download your files.
On the plus side, this app is user-friendly and versatile, doing most of the work for you. The main downside of LogoMakr is that while the service technically is free, that’s only for the low-resolution files. That will work fine for a small website menu bar, a favicon or a business card. However, if you need high-quality design assets for a white paper or a large splash page, it might not be your best bet.
Time to Start Designing Your Logo
Since the first logo was trademarked back in 1876 (Bass Brewery, look it up), this branding move has become foundational to businesses across the world. But before you hit the market, make sure you’ve got a beautiful graphic asset to take with you wherever you go. And if, like most of us, you can’t afford to spend out on endless graphic design services, make sure to use a free logo maker tool!
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