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Gift & Souvenir Shop logos

By Staff Writer

Gift and Souvenir Shop Logo Tips

We all love buying gifts and souvenirs. When you have money to spend and are in the mood to give rather than take, it is hard to resist the urge to stack up memorable and sentimental gifts for your loved ones.

If you are a gift and souvenir shop owner or planning to start out, know that one of the first aspects which helps pool in customers, is a distinct visual identity. Because it all starts with a design concept, you will need to ask yourself some crucial questions. Are you going to be a traditional gift shop selling candles, perfumes, designer goods or display figurines? Is your business going to be more theme-based?

Think about your area of specialization. How do you want your shop to be remembered? If you're more focused on vintage items and accessories, then your visual identity must revolve around that. Similarly, if its novelty items and souvenirs you're selling, it must be reflected in the brand identity.

The use of logos is a clever way of letting your audience know what to expect from your business. In addition, it also acts as a mechanism of identification; a catchy gift & souvenir brand image with the right font and color scheme evokes certain emotions, which entice people to buy from you.

So the question is, how exactly do you design a logo like a pro that convinces people to buy items from your shop?

Experiment to Find the Right Balance

A good way to kick things off is to work on preliminary sketches. It doesn't have to be overly complicated because you can simply start with pen and paper sketches or create drafts with a vector program. Usually, about twenty to thirty sketches is a good start. But you might need to branch out in order to have variations of the original concept.

Finding balance is a key component of any logo design. You want something that's perceived as appealing and pleasing yet professional. What this means is you need to keep the "weight" of your colors, graphics and font size equal on each side. You can of course, break away from this approach but remember that your graphic representation is going to be viewed by everyone, not only people with a keen eye for art. For this reason, you must use the safest route and try to find balance.

Size It Appropriately

A well balanced gift and souvenir brand design must look legible no matter how big or small the display is. Logos have to be scaled down when it comes to printing on multiple branding materials like letterheads, business cards, envelopes and other compact promotional items.

Similarly, it should look equally good when "blown up" designs to fit billboards, posters and digital advertising mediums like the internet and TV. How do you get this done reliably?

The smallest size or scale is what can get complicated at times. So always start by testing out your design on an envelope or letterhead, to test its legibility. Next, do a large-scale test by printing it on a poster. This can be done at a print shop, if you don't have the means to do it on your own.

Know the Color Aesthetics

Because colors are one of the most crucial elements of a logo, here are some general guidelines you should follow:

Colors that are closer to their neighboring tones on the color palette scale or wheel should be used together, for example, make use of red, orange and yellow tones for a warm-looking palette. Remember, although they do tend to stand out at times, sharp contrasting colors are best avoided.
Avoid using very bright colors that might make your customers squint just to make out the logo. Instead, opt for colors that are soft on the eyes.
The design must look good in colors as well as black and white and gray scale. This is an important requirement because it's going to appear on a variety of branding and advertising materials.

It pays to know how colors have an impact on the mood or emotions of your customers. Here are a few of the most commonly used colors in logo design and their meaning.

Red can evoke feelings of passion, love and strength.
Blue conveys calmness, security and reliability
Yellow relays joy, youthfulness and exuberance.
Green is for peace and relates to an element of naturalness.
White is known for cleanliness and purity.
Lack is tied to sophistication.

Match the color with the feel of your items. For instance, if you're selling kids' gifts and souvenirs, colors like pink, yellow, and orange work well. Even primary colors work nicely if you wish to keep the tone of your business casual and accessible. If you're into selling rare or luxury items, purple, gray or simply black and white is ideal. Earthy browns are good for conveying a sense of seriousness and solid foundation.

Decide on Your Typography

Choosing the right typeface can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be. All it takes is careful consideration as to what type of font style best represents your gift and souvenir brand.

Try out both sans-serif and serif fonts to see if they fit the overall theme of your business. While the sans-serif is bold with no flourishes at the end, the serif fonts have little decorative flourishes at the end of keystrokes, to form symbols and letters.

Script, bold, custom and italics can all fit well as long as they complement the nature of your business. If you're targeting the mature customer who's into collecting classic watches or souvenirs from the 60s and 70s, serif will works well because it has an italic twist to it. Similarly, if you're targeting an audience with no particular age bracket in mind or dealing in a variety of items, sans serif is a good choice because it's bold and stands out well.

Variety is recommended when it comes to font selection. Observe some of your competitor's logos, but be careful not to directly copy/paste any design traits. Get inspired then throw in your own unique ideas to get that distinct look.

Hire a logo designer who knows how to deal with these intricate nuisances so you can save a lot of time and energy down the line.