Your brand’s logo sets the tone for your entire company. Creating image recognition is one of the most powerful things you can do to keep customers coming back and attract new ones. However, you also don’t want your logo to stick out like a sore thumb. Ideally, it will permeate everything you do from product packaging to your web design without overwhelming the user.

 

According to the Small Business Administration, there are approximately 32.5 million companies in the United States. One way you can stand out from the competition is making your logo as recognizable as possible. The more people see it, the more familiar it becomes.

 

There are many ways to incorporate your brand’s logo into your web design. Here are our favorites along with a few examples to show you how creative you can get.

 

1. Repeat Typography

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If your logo uses a unique type, you can repeat elements of it throughout your design. Use the same font family as your logo for headers and subheaders, for example. You could also choose a single letter or two and repeat the look of it throughout your site.

 

 

Nikki Kay Photography uses a beautiful serif typeface with elements of script for the logo. Notice how the lowercase “G” has a pretty little swirl for the tail. The letter G throughout the site repeats this same style, referring the user back to the logo and setting a tone for the design.

 

Other letters use this technique in H2 headings, such as repeating the look of the “T.” The text gets paired with a simple, non-bold, sans-serif font that doesn’t detract from the uniqueness of the overall look.

 

2. Place the Logo Where Expected

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Although not as subtle, put the logo where people expect to see it on your website, in the upper left corner or upper center. They will use your logo as a home base and likely click on it when on secondary pages to return to your landing page.

 

Just because you place the logo where people expect to find it doesn’t mean it has to take over your design, though. You can keep it small, so it doesn’t overwhelm the rest of the design. Just make sure it is legible.

 

3. Pick Up Image Elements

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Another way you can reinforce your logo in your web design is by picking up some of the visual elements of your emblem and incorporating them into accents on your page. Grab a color and use it for the background. If you have a symbol for a logo or as part of your logo, use it as a divider or arrow to point the way to other elements on the page.

 

 

Pareto Health adds a subtle look that ties into their logo perfectly. Their logo is both a word mark and a symbol. The designer grabs the blue and green design, blows it up, makes it slightly transparent and adds it to the corner of the hero image. As you scroll down the page, you see the image repeated for the live chat icon and in other areas of the background.

 

4. Select the Right Color Palette

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The site’s color palette selection can also add emphasis to the logo. You can either choose something contrasting, such as a light background for a dark logo or select the colors within the logo and use them for the background and accents.

 

If you aren’t sure what hues to choose, pull up a color wheel and look for complementary colors with high contrast. You want users to be able to read your text, so a dark background requires light text and vice versa.

 

5. Incorporate Into the Background

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Another thing you can consider is blowing the logo or elements of it up and turning it into a background. You can make it slightly transparent, grab only one part of the design or waterstamp it onto an image.

 

Get creative with your logo as your background. You want the finished product to be subtle but recognizable. People shouldn’t see the logo as background at first, but after they’ve spent a little time on your page, they’ll realize what you’ve done to reinforce your branding.

 

 

UK design agency Ninety uses a logo with their name and the number “90” just under. They then take the nine and the zero and make it into just a very subtle gray outline and blow it up to a larger size. They then place it on a solid black backdrop for an elegant and subtle logo impact.

 

6. Remember the Favicon

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When people pull up your site on their web browsers, it may be one of many tabs they have open. Look across the top of your browser window. Do you see tiny logos representing each site? You might see letters, symbols or boxes filled with color.

 

Think about how you can incorporate your logo into your site’s favicon so it stands out and people can find the tab with your page quickly when bouncing back and forth between competitor sites. A single letter, basic images or colors works best.

 

Brainstorm Until You Get It Right

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You don’t have to fully brand your site from day one. Over time, you’ll come to better understand your brand’s personality and how to fix your business in your target audience’s minds. Add subtle hints of who you are and symbols standing for your company over time until your site is the perfect mix of branding and helpful content. You can always reverse things or add things as you go along. There’s no wrong way to incorporate your brand logo, because nothing online is permanent.

 

Eleanor Hecks is the editor of Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.