What makes a great logo?

A great logo should:

1. Distinguish your company from your competition:
Don't try to emulate another company. Be your own brand. Less than a decade after Coca-Cola was born, Pepsi quickly became successful by setting themselves apart rather than trying to emulate the leaders.

2. Use meaningful colors:
Different colors and shades can have different effects on people because of color association. Green is associated with the environment and is an appropriate logo for a company like the Sierra Club or Greenpeace. However, green is also associated with motion sickness so would be a poor choice for the interior of a car.

3. Use an appropriate font:
You may generally gravitate to bold, exciting fonts, or feminine curvy fonts but if you are a ballet company, you should probably avoid harsh, clunky lettering, and if you are a football team, you should probably avoid graceful, delicate lettering, even if it's more attractive to you.

4. Be simple:
Your logo can have some elaborate features but it should be simple enough to make a quick statement.

5. Be memorable:
Your logo should make a statement about your company. The next time a customer needs your kind of business, he'll choose you just because of brand recognition.

6. Avoid distracting elements:
Your logo does not need, LLC, Inc, and other details. That type of detail can be saved for documentation about your company. The next time you are driving past businesses, take a look at the logos around you and see how other successful logos are handled.

7. Avoid taglines if possible:
Taglines can be an important part of a company's image but should be separate from a logo. The size of the text in a tagline is so much smaller that it often forces the logo to be bigger in order to accommodate the text.