You might be wondering what the difference is between "creating" your business logo and "designing" your company logo. Think of the actual logo design work as a subset of an overall creative process. The really significant work of logo creation is most often done before any design begins. This involves defining the company and its goals and values.
Start with the Mission Statement
Mission statements were all the rage several years back and many companies wrote their own and some went out and hired consultants to write one for them. If your company has one written ten years ago and no longer reflects your company's or your market's current condition, fix it. If you don't have a Mission Statement, write one. At its core a Mission Statement tells both the company's employees and its customers why the company exists. Logos aim to graphically depict what a company is trying to do so you need to define the purpose of your company before you start playing around with graphics and fonts and colors and all those other design elements. If you need help with your Mission Statement check out the websites of companies you know and respect. Don't limit yourself to companies within your industry. You'll find that the better ones include statements of corporate values as well.
Match Your Business With its Mission
Creating a business logo sometimes leads companies to realize they need Mission Statements and they create them. But for an identity to do what it is intended to do, the way the company actually operates must match its stated purpose. Great logos are immediately recognized by viewers as representing a given business in a positive way. But if the company is not a good company, the image can have the opposite effect. No logo can make up for the fact that while a business states that their mission is "to deliver high quality, high value products", what they do in actuality is to deliver inferior quality products at high prices.
Finding a Designer
If you are very creative or have access to very creative people within your business, graphics software can get the job done for you. Before starting off, make sure you understand some of the basic elements of logo design regarding color, font size and style, and graphic imagery and effects. Think clean and simple, with no more than two or three colors and fonts and graphics that reflect the nature of your business. Flashy stuff doesn't fit a financial consulting firm very well. Study as many different logos as you can, especially those within your industry.
If you decide to hire a designer and cost is a major factor you're probably going to end up using an online design service. There are reputable companies out there and creating your new company identity doesn't have to break the bank.
