For maximum value, avoid logo templates.

Logo templates tempt new businesses with the promise of quick, cheap logos. The first and foremost problem with this premise is that good design isn’t cheap. A lot of strategic thought, sketching, more sketching and brainstorming go into the creation of a logo by a design professional in order to position you at the top of your industry. We cannot stress the importance of this process in building a good design foundation from the beginning.

Online resources for “professionally designed” logo templates are crowding the marketplace with generic graphics ready made for you to slap your name on and go. Excuse us for repeating ourselves, but just step away from them and don’t look back. A logo is supposed to be a voice for your brand story. It should evolve through a process of collaboration with a designer to communicate your vision to the marketplace. It needs to be a custom message that appeals to your consumers, built with your philosophy in mind. There is no way that a pre-created logo created by someone with no thought to your brand strategy can accomplish this.

Logo companies have to use generalities for the types of professions they are designing for. Crosses or hearts for health care, fish for a seafood restaurant, a plane for a travel company are a few examples. Buying into those generalities does nothing to distinguish you from your competition. You cannot expect to be memorable by doing the same things as everyone else in your industry.

The image to the right is an actual logo template that we downloaded from an online resource. How can that possibly work to define you?

Another downfall is that anyone else can choose the design you chose, too. In many cases these logos are difficult to copyright, and impossible to trademark. So, not only are you not getting a custom message to your customers, you are also saying the exact same uninspired thing as someone else out there.

Even if you can dig up an image that is somewhat fitting, you’re still ignoring an important part of your logo: type treatment. An appropriate type treatment is critical to the success of a good logo. Different fonts evoke very different emotions, not all of which will be appropriate for your brand. Logo templates come with one font that usually reads something like “Your Company Name.” You are expected to replace that with your business name. You name may or may not fit well into the space provided. If it does not, it will throw the proportion between type and graphics in the logo off.

Template logos are by definition not unique or memorable. They simply create too many chances to make a bad brand decision. The best thing you can do for your business is create a custom, unique, effective brand image from the beginning.