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A Comprehensive Guide on Designing an Inspirational Food Logo

A Comprehensive Guide On Designing An Inspirational Food Logo

Any brand is about representing your nature and what service you offer. It articulates not only the product but also the purpose. It is a commitment that the business makes to customers – promising to never swerve away from maintaining quality and standards.

A logo is a key element of a brand and decisively affects the nature and outcome of any branding exercise. A logo particularly gains additional significance in the case of food and restaurant branding.

Building a restaurant website is the first step to digitization. Similarly, creating a logo is the first and most important step of restaurant branding.

While building a brand is a time consuming process, there is one element that also involves fun and creativity – logo designing.

Characteristics of a Good Food Logo

  • Restaurateurs must completely be aware of the characteristics and realities of the food industry while designing the logo.
  • Prospective customers must be drawn to the restaurant simply by looking at the drool-worthy logo. The logo must propel their craving for food and appeal to their taste buds.
  • Logos must look trustworthy because trust plays a major role in restaurant branding. People must be ready to trust you about providing healthy and tasty food.
  • A logo must be well-thought out and professional. Any logo done hastily without appropriate research will only leave a negative impression with potential customers.
  • The logo must also be unique to stand out from the highly competitive restaurant industry.
  •  When something gains popularity, existing brands try imitating it. This crowds the scenario even more, making competition intense. So, one must achieve a successful balance between speaking the common language and also staying unique enough to attract customers with one’s USP.

Let us understand this scenario with a simple example. Frozen Yogurt is a relatively new trend. But, the industry is flooded with several outlets serving this delicious and healthy dessert. So, how would you stand out amidst the crowd? That’s when you need to ponder about and discover what is unique about your brand. Is your froyo more affordable than the ones sold by your competitors? Is it more flavorful? Do you offer more choices of toppings?

Such questions will be your guiding light while designing your restaurant logo. If it is froyo that you primarily sell, use images of cups with froyo swirls and delicious toppings on the logo. Illustrations will also come in handy. Make it colorful, playful, bright and also natural as Froyo is a healthy alternative to ice-cream as a dessert.

Why Should One Create Quality Food Logos - Its Importance?

A logo is like a ribbon wound around the brand. It helps create a positive first impression and is also the most recognizable element of any business, more so, a restaurant or food business.

Logos play a significant role in defining the raw picture of a restaurant. It helps guests to perceive the brand in the right way. So, getting it done professionally is important. Lest, it will damage the brand and the business in one go.

Logos provide a clear idea to customers about the business. An image of a pizza on the logo is more than sufficient to tell people that you run a pizzeria. Also, protecting the logo with official copyrights is mandatory to avoid unnecessary future complications of mistaken brand identity.

A logo copyright secures the business by providing an official endorsement, thereby allowing you to promote the business in the market without any apprehensions of misuse by other players.

Making the logo unique to stand out from the crowd is essential to help the brand reach places. Here are certain tips that will guide you in making a beautiful logo for a prosperous business.

Tips for Designing an Inspirational Food Logo

1. Check on the Competitors:

The most convenient destination to start with during the logo designing process is to check what the competitors have done so far or what strategies they are using at the moment. By looking at platforms with whom you are trying to compete, you get a better idea of what you wish to achieve. Glancing at the logos of competitors will get the inspiration flowing.

Take a look at the words they have used, their typeface and also their logo as a whole. Check whether the logo is a standalone design or has some phrase attached to it. Analyze the common trend while looking at several food logos. All of them will have something in common – maybe a certain shape, a simple brand name or anything to hint that the business is related to food or restaurants.

2. Think About the Brand:

Restaurant owners can ask themselves questions like, “What will best represent my values?”, “Am I going to be cool and quirky or calm and composed?”. This will help them in picking a few logo ideas to work on. One can never go wrong while aligning the brand’s personality with the logo making process.

While brainstorming or thinking of several ideas, put it down in writing using sticky notes. Place them all on a wall and later remove those that do not fit the brand’s personality.

This will give a greater direction during your strenuous logo making process.

3. Selection of Color:

A logo must contain a color that reminds people of food and in specific, the type of cuisine that the restaurant serves. For instance, if the restaurant serves Mexican food, the logo must contain a red chili. If the restaurant serves food made with locally sourced, organic ingredients, green leaves must form a prominent part of the logo design. Using colors in accordance with the brand specification will provide stunning results.

4. Illustrations to Reflect the Food:

Just like color, illustrations can also be used on the logo to indicate the food that you are serving and promote the brand personality through the restaurant logo. Italian restaurants can include a pasta illustration in their logo design. A Chinese or Thai restaurant can use chopsticks and a bowl or a hut illustration to visually and instantly communicate what they are about to the diners.

5. Use Captivating Images:

While using an image on a logo, it must be made attractive. A cake shop can use a cake’s image on the logo, but also add some chocolate, ice cream, cherries and other various kinds of mesmerizing toppings. If you run a fruit juice shop, make use of images with fruits that look shiny and juicy.

Examples of Jaw-dropping Food Logos

1. Cartoon Food Logos:

A good logo must make the food look like it is just out of the oven. Cartoon logos appeal greatly to the eyes and the stomach alike. They can encompass as many details as possible. Since it accomplishes the purpose of provoking the appetite as much as possible, brands prefer cartoon logos to tempt people and make the brand successful too.

2. Flat Illustrations:

These types of logos lie between cartoon logos and simplified logos. Logo designers and several consider flat illustrations as their golden middle. They not only appeal to the senses with their energizing colors, but also look very stylish and conceptual than the other typical kinds of logos (cartoon food logos)

3. Creative Typography and Lettering:

Creative typography and lettering lends a new lease of life to the process of logo design. This logo speaks functionality and attractiveness alike, making it the hottest among logo design trends.

How to Get a Logo Done

A business has four main options for getting a logo done.

i) Using a Logo Maker:

This is a DIY wherein a restaurant owner can make use of a logo maker or other entry-level design software to create the logo on his own – from scratch.

ii) Hiring a Design Agency:

A restaurant owner can simply hand over all logo design responsibilities to a professional design agency and its team of specialists. But hiring such professional talent or expertise can turn out to be expensive for the restaurateur.

iii) Working With a Freelancer:

A restaurant owner can also work with any freelance designer to accomplish the logo designing task. This will guarantee a professional result at an affordable cost. The restaurant owner also gains direct access and communication with a professional to convey his ideas and thoughts about the brand.

iv) Setting Up a Design Contest:

By commissioning a design contest and explaining what you expect in the logo via a briefing along with visual desires and business goals, a restaurant owner can benefit from the contribution of several of the world’s best designers.

Restaurant owners can review the samples submitted by the designers, pick the one that you like the best and also start revising it to customize it as per requirements. This is extremely budget friendly as payment needs to be made only for one sample that is chosen. One also gets diverse logo ideas from designers across the world.

Restaurant owners must resort to DIY or logo making softwares only if their marketing budget is nil. Since the logo is the name, face and voice of the business, restaurateurs must not reconsider or ponder upon making expenses for such activities.

A professional touch to restaurant logo designing will benefit the business in a great way. Here, the intention is not to save money, but to spend wisely to achieve effective branding results. So, consider factors like cost and preference while deciding how to get the restaurant logo done.

The latest trend is to make use of design contests. They are extremely popular these days as it provides an opportunity for multiple designers to showcase their creativity. They all respond with designs to the same problem. There is a great variety of designs for the restaurateur to choose from. If the restaurant owner is confused about the style to adopt for the logo design, such contests will open his eyes to a sea of possibilities. These visual elements will direct him towards making the right choices in logo design.

As a restaurateur, if you are already aware of the style that you are looking for, then working with a freelancer is the best option. Initially, you can browse designer portfolios to select a design that matches your branding style. Later, you can work with a logo design freelancer to watch your ideas come to life.

This blog must have been an eye opener for restaurateurs wondering how and where to start their logo designing process. Get in touch with Restaurantify for free restaurant website creation as well as other digital marketing services.