The Ultimate Guide to Testing Your Logo Design

Everyone wants a logo that sizzles and demands attention. Eye-catching. Something that pops. Although, please don’t tell your designer “make it pop.” They really hate that. 

Logos should make anyone immediately think of your brand and everything it represents. But how do you know you have something your audience resonates with? 

You test your logo. And test again. This guide shows you how.

What the Heck is a Logo Testing?

Logo testing is putting your various logo designs into the wild with your target audience. Then, asking them what they think about it. This lets you figure out what works and doesn’t work for them. 

That’s something you really need to know before settling on your final logo design. You don’t want to be willy nilly about it. Your logo is your first impression and you want it to be a memorable one.

Here’s why your logo is so important: 

• It reveals who you are. In a snapshot, your audience gets a sense of who you are, what you stand for, and what product or service you provide. It’s your entire brand essence boiled down in a logo. 
• It’s an invitation. Like a peacock’s feathers, your logo is a signal to potential customers to come learn more about you, what you do, and what you can do for them. 
• It sets you apart from the crowd. The last thing you want is to be indistinguishable from your rivals. You want to stand out, not blend into the crowd. 
• It looks great on merch. Brand loyalty demands swag. If your logo is ugly, ain’t no body gonna wear it on a t-shirt or a hat.

So you best test to make sure that logo thrills.

Incorporating the Logo Test Into Your Design Process

Any design process includes a phase for testing. You can also fold in logo testing into that phase whatever that process might be. We have some tips for you to do just that.

Planning the Test 

First, let’s plan our testing. We’ll want to figure out a few things before we start.

• What’s your brand all about? You’ve probably already done a lot of leg work in this department, especially if you’ve read our previous branding articles. As a refresher, you’ll want to understand your brand’s attributes and you’ll want to evaluate how aware  people are of your brand. This will be your true north during both the design and the testing phase. 
• Determine your target audience. You don’t want to start randomly testing people on the street that may never use your product or service. You want to hone in directly to those who will find value in what you’re offering. So you can ensure your logo snags their attention. Helio lets you drill into those folks.
• Choose the metrics you want to test. What is your measurement of success for your logo designs? What is it that you want your logo designs to invoke from your audience? This will determine the questions you ask.

Survey Your Target Audience 

Once you’ve made all the upfront decisions on your testing, you’ll want to survey your target audience. We’ve put together some examples and templates here to help you.

Rank Test

If you have a variety of logo designs, you can ask your audience to rank their preference for each logo.

Multiple Choice

You can also use multiple choice to surface which of your designs resonates with an audience. Prioritization isn’t the only thing you can do with this test. You can also check your audience’s emotional reaction to a logo. You can also collect feedback on their thoughts.

MaxDiff

Here you can understand the extremes your audience feels about a logo. This could also help you prioritize the design elements to iterate on.

Selecting the Final Design

So you’ve tested and tested. Now you’ve got to iterate. Then test some more. But how do you know when you’ve selected the right design? What makes a good logo… well, great?

What Every Great Logo Needs 

A logo must do a lot of work for a brand, and must be as distinctive as Superman’s chest emblem or Batman’s. 

• Legibility. It must be easy to spot even at a far distance. You don’t want something that’s muddled and incoherent. 
• Unique and Memorable. You want to stand out from the rest. You want a logo that’s both distinctive and sticks. 
• Simple and Effective. You want to make sure it’s not overly complicated with a balance between color and contrast. Can’t make a memorable or legible logo if it’s got a lot going on! 

One last thought, you want to ensure your logo fits the tone of your brand. And that it’s something that can fit anywhere and everywhere. Because, like we said, it’s all about that merch.

Start Logo Testing Now 

But before you select that design, test out what you got with your targeted audience. Like we said, Helio makes it easy for you to do so. We’ve got a template to get you going.