There are a plethora of possible mistakes to make when designing one’s logo, and equally many mistakes to make when using the said logo for one’s website. Combine the two, and it can become a real minefield for the unprepared. Furthermore, many best practices often go unnoticed or are forgotten. In this article, we’ll delve into both, listing some of the most common dos and don’ts of using a logo in your website design. We hope this brief checklist will help prepare you for a common task that still requires its due diligence and research.

From choosing the correct font to inserting your logo into your website and everything in-between, there are certain key factors you should consider. There are best practices to adhere to closely and common mistakes to avoid. As such, we’ve gathered a list of 10 dos and don’ts of using a logo in your website design; 5 dos and 5 don’ts.

5 things to keep in mind when using a logo in your website design

First things first, let us begin with common best practices.

1. Try your logo in black and white

An elementary future-proofing test is to try your first logo designs in black and white. While a few websites will likely use black and white logos across the board, there may be places where either color will best fit an individual page. Furthermore, this is a great test to ensure clarity and visibility. If your logo doesn’t satisfy you or its design is hard to discern in black and white, it could be a sign that a redesign is in order.

2. Keep text and icons separate

A similar way to ensure clarity and visibility is to keep your logo’s text elements separate from the icon. This will help ensure your logo is more shareable and readable and make downscaling it for use on your website easier.

3. Use the PNG format and keep a version of your logo with transparent background

While JPEG remains a popular format option due to its smaller size and decent quality, PNG ensures there’s no quality loss. As long as it doesn’t visibly impact your website loading times and thus image SEO, PNG is always the better option in terms of logo quality. Moreover, keeping a “secondary” version of your logo with a transparent background will provide some versatility. You may use this “secondary” logo version on your website in places where its color would typically clash with the background color.

When using a logo in your website design, consider the quality benefits of the PNG format.

4. Align your logo to the left

As you begin using a logo in your website design, keep in mind that you should, in most cases, align your logo to the left. Western audiences respond significantly better to it, given the tendency to read from left to right. You may still align your logo at the center, but your website elements should adequately support this. In most cases, a left-aligned logo is a safer and more profitable choice.

5. Check how your logo looks across different devices through WordPress

Finally, cross-device optimization is a vital factor towards proper SEO – and how your logo looks across devices is no exception. Given WordPress’s dominance, it likely powers your website as well. On this front, ensure you’re using the latest version of WP for accurate results and preview your website for desktop, mobile, and tablet screens. If your logo feels off, you may need to readjust it accordingly.

To ensure image SEO and cross-device optimization of your logo, employ all features your CMS platform offers.

5 things to keep in mind when using a logo in your website design

Next, let us briefly touch on common mistakes and oversights.

1. Don’t overuse or underuse your logo

There are two extremes to avoid when using a logo in your website design; overusing it and underusing it. Ensure you’re using your logo anywhere appropriate, from the navigation bar and footer to landing pages and checkout pages. At the same time, make sure your logo doesn’t overwhelm visitors. There is little benefit in splattering your logo across the same page, and it may negatively catch the eye. For example, if your footer already includes your logo, you should ensure you don’t use duplicates of such elements of your logo as text.

2. Don’t oversize or undersize your logo

By the same token, you should avoid the extremes of oversizing or undersizing. In the former case, it can make using a logo in your website design needlessly challenging as it occupies too much page real estate. By contrast, in the latter case, it can become unreadable and lose vital design detail.

3. Avoid using too many colors or industry-inappropriate colors

Overlapping with the above, using too many colors to design your logo can present needless complications. A multi-colored logo can be harder to insert into various pages, and colors may be lost when downscaling. Similarly, your choice of color hinges on your industry; color research should always be a priority since your logo is an integral part of your branding strategy.

Color research is invaluable, as different industries target different demographics.

4. Don’t overshadow or crop out your logo across your website

Furthermore, when using a logo in your website design, you should ensure you don’t overshadow it or otherwise obscure it. Your website layout should not crop out your logo, and your background colors and other page elements shouldn’t overshadow it. As mentioned above, your logo is an integral part of your brand image, so it should always stand out and catch the eye.

5. Avoid using clip art

Finally, you should avoid using clip art whenever possible. While many clip art designs may feel appropriate and cost-effective, remember that you can’t trademark a logo based on clip art. Furthermore, to establish a unique brand identity, your logo needs to be unique instead of generic and widely available. Thus, avoiding clip art early on can save you from some very costly rebranding efforts in the future.

Conclusion

In conclusion, using a logo in your website design doesn’t need to be challenging to be effective. With knowledge of the most common best practices and frequent mistakes, you can inform your logo design from start to finish for optimal results.