Did you know that tech startups are one of the fastest growing client segments on 99designs? Knowing how to design a great tech startup logo is an important skill.
The good news is that most tech startups are on the same page when it comes to logo design. As any 99designs client, they’re looking for originality but also expecting you to know what tech startups are all about — sans-serif fonts, vibrant colors and excitement.
Lets explore 5 approaches that will jump-start a great tech startup logo:
1. Picture the name
Most tech startups provide a very specific, concrete product or service that they often indicate in their name. CityCliq is about online business pages. Soundcloud is about storing music. And thredUP focuses on clothes sharing for moms.
Start with a logo design by asking yourself what symbols or combination of symbols can be used to support the startup’s name. It must be clear what the business does or what services it provides.
These companies logos suggest what they do in a pretty straightforward, yet eye-catching way. Their reason for simplicity: life is too busy for people to spend time analyzing our logo.
There is a very fine line between generic and creative when using this specific approach. The challenge is to find a familiar symbol that can reinforce the business name but stays away from cliché imagery.
For example, consider the CityCliq logo above — it uses a familiar hand cursor that creatively shows both clicking and a cityscape. Had they only used the hand placed over the cityscape, the logo would be banal.
2. Get quirky
Every business is trying to differentiate itself from the competition. But for many, being quirky is not an option (just think how successful a quirky looking bank would be). Fortunately, web companies and startups are often about quirkiness or providing unconventional services.
Take time brainstorming how to portray the product or service in an outrageous, funny or unexpected way.
All these companies use quirky logos to make themselves standout. Notice how their peculiarity is almost always achieved by introducing some sort of character into the logo.
A great example of this strategy is the Electric Monk logo, designed right here on 99designs. The winning design for this logo contest was an electric outlet dressed as a monk:
The Electric Monk logo, designed on 99designs, is a nice example of the “Get quirky” approach. If you didn’t get it, that’s perfectly ok — it’s based on the device mentioned in Douglas Adams’ book and only some people will understand what it’s about. That’s what makes it appealing.
This might seem difficult to accomplish but it’s pretty straightforward. While designing a quirky logo, be free and design what looks funny to you — it might not work for everyone and some people won’t get it, but that’s what quirkiness is all about. And most tech startups simply love this kind of thinking.
3. Create a superhero logo
If you don’t want to be quirky but you still want your logo to be fun then consider going for a superhero style. Think about what the company does and how their logo would look as a superhero emblem.
Would it look like Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman? Would it be nice and polite or a bit sharp, like Hellboy? This kind of thinking will help you shape some great logo ideas:
Superhero logos are a great way to approach logo design for tech startups and these companies recognized the benefits. What makes or breaks a superhero logo?
When creating a superhero logo, keep things as simple as possible and design it using either initial letters or a symbol that is enclosed by a shape. Remember, the logo’s graphics should visualize the name itself and look like a badge – this is specific to superhero logos.
4. Twitterize it
Sometimes it’s simply enough to find the right “Twitter looking” font and tweak it a bit. Why? Hard to say but many web startups look up to Twitter when it comes to logo design.
If you do a bit of online research you’ll find that Twitter’s logo is “the gold standard” of web 2.0 logo designs. This fact is something you should keep in mind and use to your advantage.
These logos were inspired by Twitter but still have a unique look and feel. When “twitterizing” a logo, this is what you should aim for too.
The best way to twitterize a logo is to find a great looking font with twitter logo characteristics — a bit technical, rounded and highly legible — and experiment with it.
These fonts are not easy to find, so depending on the importance of the project, you can browse free fonts at Font Squirrel or purchase a professional font from an online font library. Of course, designing your own logo font is always an option.
Font Squirrel offers a great selection of free twitter-like fonts
Remember, that twitterizing a logo is about taking inspiration from Twitter, not copying it. Just imagine what Twitter’s brother or sister would look like – probably similar but a different person altogether.
5. Make it 3D
3D graphics and letters are here to stay when it comes to tech startup logos. This is no surprise – when done right these logos look absolutely astonishing.
But making this kind of logo requires precision and craftsmanship. You need to understand how lighting affects the look of objects, then apply those principles to create a realistic and beautiful logo.
Great 3D icons have to be clear, easily understood, slick and visible at every size. This is not easy to accomplish but there are plenty of resources and tutorials that can help you achieve this.
To jump-start your skills, check out these tutorials:
- How to draw a Glossy yo-yo icon
- How to create a golden compass
- Create a mailbox icon
3D logos look great and rightfully so — you need a lot of experience to make them look just right. Tech companies love this, especially when you bundle it with an accompanying icon or avatar
Remember, that a 3D logo still needs a strong concept. If not, you’ll just get a forgettable graphic that’s 3D. Always sketch and refine your concepts in 2D before you give them depth. This will help you determine if your idea is solid enough to turn 3D.
Wrapping up
Tech startups love rounded fonts that present their business idea in an obvious, yet quirky way. You can make them look like superheroes or simply give them some 3D perspective.
The strategies outlined in this article are not mutually exclusive. You can execute just one tip or you can combine them to create a clever tech startup logo.
Did you find this article helpful or have a tip to share? Lets discuss it in comments.
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Great article, man! It is very inspiring! :D
Thanks Henricus, I’m glad I could help.
Nice article and very nice self-promoting!
Thanks :)
Thank you for the great article,…this can make me more better.
Svaka cast matori! Lepo si se boga mi izreklamirao :D
Ovo je lepo videti :-)
haha bravo, kolko nas je ovde na ovom 99′su nisam ni znao.. daj neki tip kako da osvojim kontest>?
Hvala unapred.
Nesto da se sredi preko veze, a? :D
Hi Paja,
I hope you don’t mind me writing in English, it’s 99designs official language after all :)
I’ll be writing more contest winning tips in the future, but if I could give you only one piece of advice, it would be to find your focus and really understand what you’re good at.
Everything else will resolve itself after that.
Just came across this post – love some of the logos used in the examples. Good stuff.
Thanks :-)
Odličan članak! Lepo :)
Thanks Yellena!
Muchas Gracias, Genial
Thanks Mauro!
great post. very inspiring.
Thanks, good to hear that :)
Hi Peter,
Nice to have you here with your blog. Hope for more tips from you, it really inspire!
Any tips on how to create some creative ads. i really like your winning works, they are all creative and stand-out! Cheers!
Hi Manila,
thanks for the support, I really appreciate it.
As for the ads, there are actually several techniques you can use to come up with some really good ideas. One of the common ones is called “Exaggerate”, which requires you to think what would the product do if it were 10 or 100 times as strong.
For example, if you’re advertising an insect repellent, you could show a spiderman running away from the spray can – exxagerated, but grabs attention and gets the point accross quickly.
If you want more tips, feel free to drop me an email at peter(AT)petervukovic.com
;)
Danke
Dobra objasnjenja. Sva cast Perice! ;)
Glad I could help :)
Really a very nice article Peter. Looking forward to more articles from you they are really a pleasure to read and I’m sure you inspire many designers here :)
Thanks Jurgen, it’s great to hear that from someone with your track record. Talk to you soon about that project I’ve been working on for months ;)
Just the true Peter, yeah would be great to talk about your project soon. Also have some plan about which I want to talk to you :)
Good, drop me an email and we can discuss it.
Very useful article
thanx !
I ve no more juice left for designing ima goto programming
very nice! :)
thanks man….give me inspiration..!!
You’re welcome, I’m here to help :)
Excellent resource links and very clear, straightforward tips. Thank you :)
You’re welcome Jevoy, thank you for the comment.
Very useful :) thanks!
Hey, Thanks for the page it really inspires me. I’m young and a newbie learning from net tutorials. Hope you can share more sites that can hasten my skills.
-=Antoniv of Philippines=-
saya suka artikelnya, saya akan belajar lebih banyak berdasar atas artikel-artikel di atas., terima kasih banyak.
“I like the article, I will learn more based on the articles above., thank you very much.”
Hi mr. peter can you recommend some logo tutorials that i can search and study with. Just dont recommend me on paying tutorials, cant afford them. A lot of thanks in advance.
cheers, ant0niv
amazing! yes, i try to follow your imagination & inspiration …. Thanks again. sucsess!
Hi Peter,
Thanks so much for featuring our logo in your article!
Cheers,
Chris
Awesome logo!
Cheers,
Jason
Ha! Thanks Jason. Much appreciated.
Thank you so much pet, very interesting article and gives a lot of knowledge in the design world and especially to me. thanks again
terimakasih informasinya,,,sangat menarik,,sekali lagi termakasih Peter..
Thank You so much Peter Vukovic. Your suggestions will be also help me to create more attractive logo design. I want to need more suggestions from you…Thank You.
Thank’s Peter…. Nice article… i could learning from you’re suggestions and i got idea from you’re article…
Thats answer my question. Thanks man, thats make some power to me again
I really like it. I have been previously taking into consideration various signifies