An academic logo design is the identity and face of an academy that attracts clients and makes you distinguishable from others. At first glance, it is the most direct way for consumers to properly perceive your institute. It is a design that represents and conveys the academy's message and makes its first impression on the audience. It is also the fastest way to communicate what your academy is all about, which eventually leads to students wanting to apply for admission. These days, academic logos selected from logo design contests are used by universities, high schools, and even preschools to reach out to their audiences.
The logo should be designed to represent the ideology behind that design and decode the message to customers. There are many factors to consider while designing a logo for your academy:
Fonts are an essential part of academy logo designs. The font that conveys elegance and tradition is the serif typefaces such as Times New Roman. Fonts like these are mainly used for academic logos and have been the most traditional choice for academic designs. Every font has a different impact on the audience. Fonts for playgroups would be different as well as undergraduate or graduate ones would be separate. Each has its way of communication, which sets the image of the academy.
The factor that must be considered is the readability of the text. It must be designed in a way that is clean, visible, and communicative for the target audience. As we can see in the Bennie Adkins Foundation logo, they have used a traditional serif typeface font that is understandable and readable for the audience.
Every logo has a shape that makes it unique. Either they have text or they have a distinct icon. In addition, they must be simple and designed in such a way that communicates the message through a few details. There are four approaches when it comes to selecting the shape for your academic logo:
These shapes are specifically used because of the meaning behind them. They are often used to give a sense of order or cleanliness in the design. Every geometrical shape has a meaning. Circular shapes represent unity, community, and friendship. Triangular shapes indicate power, law, and mainly science. Square shapes show strength, stability, and professionalism. Vertical lines mean aggression and power while horizontal lines reflect a sense of calm and community.
To design the Sara Lily Advising logo, a rectangular shape is used to symbolize strength, stability, and professionalism. It gives a sense of order when perceived by the audience.
Abstract shape logos might not be recognizable every time. It may have a complex appearance that represents any abstract meaning. This complex academic logo design can make your business memorable and help with the interpretation of the concept or ideas behind it.
As shown in the NCSML Excellence logo, they have tried to convey the conceptual meaning of their academic logo in visual images like a shield that indicates the strength, controlled environment, and safety of the academy while the roaring lion in the logo shows the symbol of strength, courage, and leadership.
Symbolic logos use a visual image that is the symbol of your academy and pictorially represents values of your academy. Choose the image that describes your academy and the idea could be easily relatable and communicated to the audience.
In the Washington Academy of Barbering and Arts logo, they used the pencil as a visual aid to translate the idea of the academy as the pencil symbolizes sketching, drawing, and mainly the field of arts. Through this, the audience can understand the purpose behind the logo within a glance and remember it easily.
The organic logo displays images that show warmth, comfort, and give nature vibes to the audience. This increases the desirability and likeability factor among the audience and that can’t be given by any other shape. The symbols could be trees, rocks, plants, clouds, a rain puddle, or anything else that occurs in nature.
In the Steamulation Academy logo, they have used the tree as an organic shape with different learning areas as its branches to show the variety of learning offered there. The tree also communicates the meaning of stability and growth for the future and is the symbol of knowledge.
Color is an essential part of the logo. It determines the mood, tone, and emotion your logo is giving out to whoever sees it. There are different color palettes and schemes that you can count as options when creating an academic logo:
Bright colors are generally bold and more intense than cooler colors. They carry positive emotions and vibes, and are memorable for the audience for a longer time. Warm colors are more likely to attract an audience of younger age as they are more striking and fresh.
In the Harvard University logo design, bright colors like red and gold have been used by the designer to make the logo stand out from the rest. The audience would be attracted by the bright and warm colors that set a professional tone which is a suitable theme for academic logo designs. it gives off the appearance of prestige, royalty, and regality.
Black and white colors in the logo send out a clear and concrete message to their audience. Black and White color gives a message of authority and demand to the audience. The logo details must be definable, especially if in black and white.
Brothers of Excellence Programs have used only two colors in their logo instead of making their logo vibrant. They have made it simple and definitive by demonstrating multiple elements that relate to their values. They have successfully avoided over complicating it by sticking to a two-tone color scheme.
These are strong and bright colors that are not childlike. Instead, they are prominent to the eye as neutral tones create a cozy effect and balance the logo by mixing two colors.
Academia College has used blue as their neutral color to make it prominent and calm as blue resembles professionalism, authority, and loyalty. Blue is generally considered a relaxing and calming color and is used for mostly learning situations.
Monochrome logos are easy to create but have only one color. They are composed in the shades of one color at a time. This creates a balanced look and helps the academy to make their logo impressive. It also makes the designing process much easier for the academy by not making it hard to select a color.
In the logo for Dartmouth College, they have used a monochromatic one-tone color making it different from the rest. It lets the audience focus on the logo by composing it only in one shade of green efficiently. The Dartmouth College crest features the lone pine tree, motto in Latin, and other elements all in different hues of a single color.
An academic institute is judged by the logo representing it. Experiment with it as much as possible until you make the unique logo for your academy. How you design it has a great impact on how your message is conveyed. Work on every little detail and let your logo speak to the audience. Your brand identity is affected by the font, color, and type of shape you select for the identity and thus will have an impact on your customers in making their decision to enroll in the academic institute. If you still feel the need of professional assistance, you can also launch a logo contest for an academic institution through a reputable website.