E-Content

This lesson provides a brief overview of:

• Logo best practice for e-marketing.
• Colour, shape and type theory.

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to identify colours, shapes and type appropriate to your tourism brand's essence & tone.

Colour

What colours to pick for your tourism brand's logo? Your favourite? The brightest? Does it make a difference?


Yes, turns out that it does. There are some traditional theories about the associations many of us have with colour. Of course, these can differ region to region and culture to culture - for example, some cultures wear black when mourning the death of a loved one, and others wear white. Likewise in much of the world today, brides wear white, but in some countries they wear red.

Here's an overview of conventional thinking on the psychology of colour in logo design.

Shape

Whether your logo includes your name, such as Coca-Cola, or is just a shape, such as Nike's swoosh, the shapes of the elements within your logo also have some subconscious psychological associations that should be considered.


And then there's the practical consideration:

The overall shape needs to fit its use. These days a big consideration is social media: does your logo work within the small circle or square of Facebook or Instagram? Would it be legible when viewed really small, such as on somebody's mobile phone?

Note the problem with text-based logos particularly:

Type and fonts

The typeface or fonts you use should reflect your brand personality - here's where we apply all that work you did in defining your brand essence, voice and tone.

You should ideally now have three words in your mind that describe the kind of feel that you want your branding to emanate. Remember them? Now it's simply a matter of finding the fonts that match that personality.

Ideally, you want to decide on a few fonts that you will use with everything:

• Logo
• Emails
• Word documents
• Invoices
• Signboards
• Advertising

Ready to begin choosing?

Font geeks will tell you that there are six personalities of font. So begin by selecting which one most closely matches yours, and then start drilling down from there.

Credit: Venngage

Here's a really great summary that will give you plenty of ideas. It's definitely worth taking the time to work through this lesson by branding experts Venngage. (And note that, as a student, you can sign up with them for a free account that enables downloading of templates to get you started.)

Summary

• Colour and shape can carry subconscious meanings - ideally you want to match that meaning with the essence or personality you have defined for your brand.
• The perfect brand fonts should:
• Be unique & memorable
• Work on every platform
• Communicate your brand personality