A tech startup is a complex thing. It’s exciting, full of opportunities, and never more relevant than today, but every single decision which has to be made has so many potential implications and there are many possible pitfalls. Amongst all of the vital tasks that will be filling your hectic schedule whilst working at a startup, like securing funding, managing a website, and running a team, the logo holds a particularly unusual spot. It’s fun to design a logo but it can feel like inessential or unimportant work. Similarly, you can find yourself devoting way too much time to it. You have to find the balance because, in reality, it is actually a vital asset to a company and the shining star in your overarching branding attack. It also legitimizes your company (provided it is professionally done) to potential investors and clients/customers. So, let’s take a look at the way to go about achieving a good logo by looking at the great logos that exist already.
Soundcloud
Soundcloud as a company has had its problems. They are a massively exciting music resource, a platform utilized by a myriad of artists all over the globe which even spawned a whole genre in ‘SoundCloud rap’. However, it has always had issues deciding how to monetize its idea effectively. The problems certainly don’t stem from their brilliant logo. It’s minimalistic, establishes the orange-based color palette, and is very smart. It’s in the shape of a cloud, with the left-hand side taking on the effect of audio waves; thus, sound cloud. Visually unforgettable and yet simple it’s a perfect blend.
Elevatr
Elevatr is a tool for people struggling with mental health issues, redefining what it can mean to be in the fight against depression and anxiety. The logo is brilliantly subtle and has a great message within it. It takes the age-old elevator buttons which they identify look like V’s. So, in the middle of the word, they place an inverted V above the V of ‘Elevatr’ which they circle as if it has been illuminated. “This logo is smart since it plays so cleverly on the elevator concept. However, it is smarter still in the story it tells. That, whilst we know that there are times when people will be heading down, at Elevatr, the focus is on lifting yourself and others up”, notices Gregory Jude, web designer at WriteMyx and BritStudent.
Moozicore
Moozicore is a startup that seeks to alter the way in which background music in shops, restaurants, and even elevators, works. It promises to empower the customer, via a smartphone app, to be able to control and alter the music. Its logo is equally special with a clever combination of what SoundCloud was getting at along with an even more minimalistic reference to the M of their name. The end result is emphatic, deeply minimalist, and subtly clever. Though, on account of the orange used and the audio wave reference, I wouldn’t blame SoundCloud for sitting back and wondering where Manticore got their design ideas!
Evernote
Evernote comes at its design for the logo from a different perspective. It’s a cloud notebook service, aimed at streamlining, simplifying, and ‘immortalizing’ the notes and documents you have. “Evernote has thought to themselves, what is it that is the heart of our company, in comparison to others, and what symbol alludes to that most effectively. They’ve chosen an elephant since, as the old saying goes, an elephant never forgets”, writes Maria Lawson, brand manager at 1day2write and Next Coursework. This way of aligning your values with a real-world object or animal or place is a clever way to eternally embed the company in your mind, even when all you are simply seeing is an elephant in a nature documentary.
Conclusion
So, hopefully, this brief look at a few of these vastly different logos demonstrates to you a bit of what is available to you when you look to achieve your perfect branding. It’s very important, the best logos hold a really special place in the minds and hearts of consumers. When done right, it makes all of the rest of your marketing and branding so much simpler.
