Creating a restaurant logo

One of the fastest growing businesses in most urban areas is the cooked, ready-to-consume food and drinks business. In our increasingly fast-paced world, more people prefer to outsource their cooking. For restaurant business owners, this is good news. But it also means that the industry is highly competitive. One way to stand out is through branding and logo design. Here are some tips on what to keep in mind when creating a restaurant business logo.

Why create a logo for your restaurant business.

Many restaurants operate without elaborate marketing plans or logo design. Many don’t even have signage per se and just rely on old customers to keep coming back and keep the place running. If however, you want to be known for what you do and want to establish yourself as an authority or force to reckon with, you will need to invest in marketing your business.

One of the most solid things you’ll need to do in this quest is to create an amazing restaurant business logo. And no, it is not like just any other logo for the same reason you would not use the logo of a strip club to market a church. Your logo is your identity, the entirety of your business ideal.

All the usual laws of logo creation apply of course. It has to be simple, clear, easy to remember and stand out from all others. It also should say something about food that the customer needs to hear. This logo has to be something that applies, even if you change location, country, or even continent. Depending on where you are, you may also want to accompany your logo with a dish that most people in the area recognize.

How can you create a restaurant logo?

In today’s age where everyone seems to be acquiring digital skills from a few articles on the internet, it might seem easy to make a restaurant business logo by yourself. And while some people might do it and come up with something truly nice, you could never compare this kind of logo to what a stained and well-experienced specialist would create.

The smart thing to do is to employ an expert designer who is equipped to give the logo everything that it needs without the fear of the logo being too cliché or even being an outright copy of an existing restaurant business logo somewhere else.

Before you design a logo…

Long before you or your designer sits down to create an image for your business,  you need to hash it out. For instance, you need to find out about the other persons in the same business and what their logos look like. The aim is not necessarily to copy what they are doing but to make sure you’re not doing what they are. You need to research your competition, find out their strengths and weaknesses and put that into consideration when creating your brand.  The attributes you should be looking for in your logo include uniqueness, clarity, conciseness, elegance, and engagement.

There’s a reason Starbucks is so universal, almost to the point of representing the very idea of coffee and it is not just because of the quality of their coffee, but also because their logo fits on nearly everything. From umbrellas to coffee mugs, and t-shirts.

How to design a restaurant logo that  catches the attention

There are some basic rules that guide the restaurant logo creation process. They help you maintain good quality and bring you closer to achieving the logo that you need. Here is a short list and description of these rules.

Choose good elements

Good design is a product of good elements. Your logo elements have to convey the identity and character of your restaurant such that anyone can know what you’re about at the first glance. If you specialize in cakes and confectionaries, it would make no sense to use rice on your logo and vice versa.

The range of elements you can use for your restaurant logo is wide and you just have to pick something that fits. Your specialities, equipment or even ingredients can all form parts of the logo. Aim for something simple, but not too simple. Most extremely simple logos probably already belong to someone somewhere.

Colours and fonts

colours convey and inspire emotions. They are what make the difference between blandness and character in your logo. The combination of colours, shades and hues often goes a long way to pass the message that you want. You wouldn’t advertise brown carrots, not just because it would be inaccurate but it would also inspire a feeling of repulsion in the viewer.

The colours orange, yellow, green, and red are associated with health, healthy living, freshness etc. brown is not a colour that inspires health or vitality and thus would not generally be used in restaurant logo creation.

On the other hand, the fonts that you choose for your texts will determine how your message is received. A clear legible text will make the task of reading your text easier and send the message faster. It is also important to not overburden the logo with text as this can be counterproductive and most people today can’t be bothered really.

Use a good software

Many different applications claim to be able to give you the best graphic designing experience. The reality however is that very few live up to this promise. You could have issues with picture quality and image distortion (when you print on larger surfaces) if you don’t use really good software. Some of the best software you can use is Canva, CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator.

Don’t limit your options

The world of design is limitless. No rule says you can’t try out as many designs as possible, in as many positions, sequences and presentations as possible. Allow yourself to experiment. Try something different, something new. The one way to become sure of what works best is to use as many as you can come up with.

It is also very important to pay close attention to details to maximise the beautiful effect on your work. At the end of the day, it is those tiny details that come together to give the logo a beautiful appearance as well as communicate the brand to the viewer.

Request and accept feedback

This is closely related to the understanding that the logo is not about its creator, but about the people that view it. This is why it is so important to test drive a logo before you declare it as your company’s official logo. There are several user research processes that you can employ, but in the end, the idea is to obtain feedback from the viewers and mock users.

When designing a restaurant logo, it is important to depersonalize the process. It is a little like UX design. It is not about what resonates with you, but about what resonates with your clients and customers.

The universal rule of logo design

There is one rule that has helped designers from times past to get the best out of their logos. It is the introduction of the concept of “child’s eyes” to your logo building project. The very idea of “child’s eyes” is to make sure that even a child can tell what your business sells even before the products are introduced to them.

Hire a professional

Now it apparently will seem tempting to use the knowledge you acquired from your online crash course to work on your logo. And some people indeed do pull it off.  It is however highly unlikely that you’ll be able to develop a complete set of designs that would have meaning and impact your brand positively all by yourself. If it was that easy, people would not have to spend a lot of time, energy and resources learning to do it. It may not be the best idea to create a restaurant logo from scratch. A professional designer will create the best logo for you and put your business on the maps and indeed, in the hearts of everyone who sees it.

Let …create the enchanting logo your business needs.

Is a branding agency that creates unique and engaging as well as irresistible brand identities for businesses all over the world. We pride ourselves in offering value for your business by creating brand identities that resonate with your core value, endear you to the hearts of your clientele and make you a force to reckon with amongst your peers. For us, a logo is not just a symbol of your business. It is your first foot forwards into the lives, minds and spaces of people who want you and we make sure that it carries with it promise, trust, elegance, nutrition, or indeed any other value that best fits your business.

Contact us today and let’s get the processes of branding your business started.