Your logo ends up everywhere: your website, your signage, your van, your email signature, your social media profile, and the tiny icon in someone’s browser tab. So a good logo isn’t just one that looks nice on a big screen. It’s one that works in all of those places.

When I design a logo, these are the things I look for.

1. It’s simple

The logos people remember are usually the simplest ones. Fewer details means it’s easier to recognise, easier to remember, and easier to reproduce on anything from a business card to a sign. If it needs explaining, it’s probably trying to do too much.

2. It doesn’t use too many colours

One or two colours, maybe three, is plenty. More colours make a logo busier, harder to print, and harder to use consistently. A small, deliberate palette also makes the rest of your brand easier, because your website, signage and socials all draw from the same few colours.

3. You can read it from a distance

A logo needs to work on a sign across the road and as a tiny icon on a phone. Thin lines, fine detail and small text disappear at small sizes or from far away. A good test is to shrink it right down and step back from it. If you can still tell what it is, it’s doing its job.

4. It works on dark and light backgrounds

Your logo won’t always sit on white. It might be on a dark website header, over a photo, or printed on a coloured shirt. A good logo has versions that work on both dark and light backgrounds, including a one-colour version for when colour isn’t an option.

5. It comes in horizontal and stacked versions

Different spaces need different shapes. A wide website header suits a horizontal logo, while a square social media profile or a sign suits a stacked version. Planning for both from the start means your logo never looks squashed or awkward.

6. It has something recognisable

The strongest logos have a logomark: a symbol or icon people come to recognise on its own. That mark becomes your website icon, your social profile picture and your stamp on everything. If a logo doesn’t have a symbol, the wordmark itself needs to be distinctive enough to do that job.

7. It’s adaptable

A good logo can stretch to fit a lot of situations without losing what makes it yours. It should work in full colour and in one colour, large and small, on screen and in print. If it only looks right in one exact setting, it will cause problems later.

8. It’s unique

Your logo should look like you, not like a template that a hundred other businesses are also using. It doesn’t need to be wild or complicated to stand out. It just needs to be genuinely yours, and something that suits your business and the people you want to reach.

A logo is a tool, not just a picture

The best logos aren’t the fanciest. They’re the ones that work hard in every place your business shows up. Simple, clear, flexible and unmistakably yours.

I design logos and simple brand styles alongside websites, so everything matches from day one. If you’re starting fresh, or your current logo isn’t pulling its weight, let’s have a chat.