How to Design an Online Store Logo

At Shopify, we find that online stores that have gone the extra mile on branding and awesome online store logos bring in a significant amount more in revenue compared to those that haven’t. 

The fundamentals to creating and running a successful online business are taken care of by Shopify, offering up a fast and reliable service worldwide, with quality themes to make the shopping experience really enjoyable. What Shopify can’t do, is give your shop a personality, deliver a message, or make your brand really stick out from the competition. That's where branding and a great online store logo come into play.

How to Create an Online Store Logo

Of course, everyone isn’t a designer, and even some designers have difficulty with branding. So how are online businesses going to get a timeless, quality logo? Here are 3 resources to help you design a logo for your ecommerce store:

1. Hire a Designer

The best quality will always come from a one-on-one contract with an experienced designer. We’re not talking about your uncle’s twice removed step-father who has a ‘good eye for this kind of thing,’ we’re talking about a real designer with an actual branding portfolio. You can find plenty of great designers in Shopify Experts.

2. Crowd-Sourcing

Although somewhat frowned upon by many designers, crowd-design sites like 99Designs, and LogoTournament are a resource that can't be ignored. The concept is simple, all you have to do is describe your target audience, style preference, slogan or mission statement, and provide a budget. Several designers will create their vision of the logo, and you pick the winner. Many designers get their start working in the crowd-design scene to get lots of relevant work experience at a relatively fast pace (LogoTournament helped my logo skills immensely when I first started), so this is a solid choice for those with a smaller budget.

3. DIY Online Store Logo

Plenty of Shopify folks are natural DIY’ers, and if you follow some simple guidelines and put the time in to learn something new, there is no question that you can make a decent logo for free. Most logos are made in vector, so you’ll need some software to work in this format. In perfect DIY form, you’ll want to pick up InkScape, which is an open-source project and quite feature-rich for a program that is entirely free. The key to creating a great logo is choosing a great typeface, so head over to sites like Lost Type Co-Op or The League of Moveable Type for some amazing, hand-selected fonts that are pay-what-you-like. The rest relies on your creative juices, so get them flowing.

Here are a few examples of effective logos from Shopify stores:

LuhseTea

LuhseTea’s logo is only the very beginning of the amazing things they are doing to create a strong brand, but this simple circle logo starts them off on the right foot. An art deco font, a grainy texture to give some tactility, and a simple tea cup silhouette. It screams artsy, classy, and most importantly conveys that they sell tea. It pairs perfectly with their “Tea Bag Prohibition” slogan, resembling a glowing moon in the night sky.

Twelve Saturdays

Twelve Saturdays’ logo is as exemplary as they come. This clothing brand is attempting to fuse college football with great fashion for women — and this logo nails it. It’s a playful choice of type with sporty influences like a swooshed ‘y’ similar to those found on baseball jerseys, and a football shape for the twelve.

CXXVI

The CXXVI site creates a tactile feel like no other. This hand-drawn logo by Brooklyn artist Jon Contino, known for his 1930’s chalkboard style typography, gives the brand that perfect hand-made feel. The anvil isn’t as literal as the previous two examples, but it works well with the tailored goods ideology.