Here I'll show you how to create a new or rebranded logo for your record label or artists, AND show you the best apps to use, as well as a hot tip for creating single artwork.

When thinking about the design of your logo, remember that you’re usually looking for just a name and symbol for your logo.

Sometimes it's the same thing, but having a symbol can be useful for avatars and profile pics for social media and looks good on merchandise.

While it is tempting to get logo in colour, which for most businesses would be a requirement, it's best to get your logo designed as a simple black on white background. 

This is because as a record label, your logo needs to be flexible as you’ll be using it across so many formats, on artwork, in merchandise, and websites.

If you have a set of colours it might clash from a design point of view when using it elsewhere.

If it looks good as simple black on white, you know it will look good when you do want to add colour later. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but recommended.

Make sure that whoever does the logo for you provides you with the final artwork in a EPS, PNG, and PDF format. A professional designer should send them all in a zip file when signed off.

Creating Your Logo Design

There are three options when considering where to get your logo designed.

1. Hire a Professional Designer

They will ask for an idea of what you want, and you can send sketches, but it's worth investing in a good designer who has a portfolio of work that you like.

A typical professional freelancer designer that has done logos for professional artists and labels will cost upwards of £700/$1000

If you get a younger, less established designer you can spend around £350/$500. However it’s important that you still make sure you like their portfolio, and that you have a proper discussion with them about what you want.

It’s easier and less time-consuming to create something when you have been provided with a clear brief.

If you are vague with what you want then there is a higher chance the artist might produce something that you don't like and then it will take longer to refine it.

When using a designer the typical procedure is:

1. They will ask you for a range of logos of other brands you already like (your brief) 
2. They will create a range of ideas for you to choose from.
3. You pick one and they refine it.
4. You usually get about 2-3 revisions as part of the process.
5. They send final design in common-used formats
   

2. Post Your Design Request on a Freelance Website.

Using a freelancing website allows you to get a range of proposals and mockups.

Some of the popular websites are:

• fiverr.com
• freelancer.com
• designcrowd.com
• 99designs.com
  

These websites allow you to post a proposal of what you want. E.g. ‘To get a logo designed’ or you can run a logo design competition and you will get a whole host of artists providing you with examples, which they think will fit the brief.

These sites also allow you to create a voting poll link, which you can send to friends/public to decide.

In fact ‘The Label Machine’ logo was designed using DesignCrowd and voted for by my colleagues, and cost around £120/$170

3. Use an Online Logo Maker

This option is probably the cheapest but you have to have a really good eye for design.

These websites are pretty sophisticated these days and I've used them for early artist development logos before.

The two most popular ones are:

• logojoy.com (Looka Logo Maker)
• freelogodesign.org

Canva now has one built into its platform, and the Adobe Express App has a "Logo" function in there too.

You simply put in your label name and it asks you to pick existing logos you like and then gives you options.

You can tweak them before saving and they cost around £35/$50 to then download hi-resolution PNG and .EPS versions.

PRO TIP #1 - Animate Your Logo

You might also want to get an animation of your logo, or a video visualisation of your logo to use in promo videos, for example at the start of each of your YouTube videos that you upload.

A decent animation will cost around £175/$250 and you can find a video animator on Freelancer and Fiverr to do this.

PRO TIP #2 - Use Logo Makers to Create Cover Artwork

Simply use the name of the single in place of the brand name brand name, create your single name logo, and then put it over an awesome photo or graphic. Job done!