When it comes to branding, most people immediately think of logo design. It's true that your logo is the most memorable part of your branding. A well-designed and thought-through logo might make or break your business.Not all of us are Illustrator magicians though, and simply the thought of designing your own logo might sound scary.
But, I have some good news for you! If you haven't heard of Canva yet, you should definitely check out their homepage. It is a beginner-friendly graphic design tool and yes, you can use it to design your own logo!I believe that you can totally design your own logo without hiring a professional graphic designer. Especially if you don't have the budget, you should consider designing your logo the Do-It-Yourself way using Canva.
I've compiled a list of Pros and Cons that will help you decide whether or not you should design your own logo using Canva:
Cons of Logo design with Canva
Let's start with the bad news first.
1. Your logo will not be in a vector format
Usually, when you hire a professional designer to create a logo for you, you receive vector files as well. Vector files are files created inside Adobe Illustrator which can be scaled indefinitely without losing quality. If you compare Canva to other software tools out there, it's more like Adobe Photoshop. Canva doesn't (yet) support the vector format, but you can export your files as a print-PDF file.
2. You may have to pay for more premium design elements
If you have 0 experience designing, and I mean you have never used any other software in your life, then designing custom elements from scratch may prove to be a challenge for you! While there are tons of pre-made design elements that you can use in your designs, you may not be able to find something that best suits your business. Canva does offer a huge library of pre-designed elements which can be purchased for as little as $1. However, the pricing can go up to $40 per piece
3. If you use templates, your logo won't be unique
You need to be careful when using Canva's pre-made logo templates, as they are created by Canva designers and are accessible to everyone with a Canva account, which means that literary anyone can use them for their own business. As a consequence, your logo won't be unique!Those are all cons I have on my list, now let's move on to the pros!
Related article: How to create a mood board using Canva
Pros of Logo Design with Canva
1. It's free.
If you are just starting out with your business, or maybe just have a business idea that you would like to test, then Canva should be your tool of choice. Why? Because it's fast, intuitive, Oh, and did I mention it's also FREE? Yep, you can test out as many logo ideas as you want free of charge.
2. You are in total control of your logo files
Usually, if you wish to make some changes to your logo or branding materials, then you need to ask your graphic designer to edit the files for you. If, however, you create design your logo and branding materials by yourself, you can change the colors, fonts and reposition the elements at any point of time, without having to rely on another person.
3. It's fast
You can literally create a logo in 5 minutes! Especially if you use templates. And let's be honest if you need a logo for your blog, who cares if you can't trademark it. What's important is to launch it and that it looks good. You can always come back to this and change it if you have to.
Whether or not you will use Canva to design your logo, jus remember- the tool is not the most important thing- it's just means to an end. In this case, it's your logo design. I personally know businesses that have spend little money and have made their own logos and are making millions. So, who is to say you can't design your own logo?