Design your way

Designing a restaurant logo? How hard can it be do design one? Just throw a theme icon, use a fancy font and you’re done. Or, are you?

Nowadays, we are overwhelmed by fancy restaurants, fast food joints, diners, bistros, coffee points, and bars to luxurious 5-star restaurants.

In fact, if you are a food aficionado, you may find it difficult to choose from all their dreamy, leery, and drooling offerings.

There is no doubt that restaurants are undergoing their oversaturation era, but at the same time, it is only few of them that become viable brands and genuinely offer something to remember.

At the end of the day, gastronomy is a very competitive business, and unless you make a dramatically good impression you may end up neglected until you transform your brand entirely.

It is because people, regardless of being taught not to judge books by their cover, still opt for what is visually attractive, and in the case of restaurants, that’s nothing other than successful branding.

Restaurant logos are the shortcut to sales turnover, as it is exactly the logo that causes customers to draw conclusions and form opinions before they’ve visited the place and tried the specialties it offers. This is why gastronomy venues are competing harshly into coming up with the best restaurant logo designs, and choose inspiring symbols customers would be able to identify with.

It is also logos that set up the ground for a loyal customer base, becoming easily an effective and recognizable marketing tool nationally, or in the best case, internationally. It is not rare to find an outstanding performer in the industry that made millions thanks to a captivating logo, and luckily – designers are more inspired than ever to outdo this success.

Are you looking for restaurant logo ideas? To help you find those, we’ve assembled the best and most inspiring examples, and we are sure you can find something that suits your taste.

How is an elegant logo supposed to look like?

Had we had to select the most widely used restaurant logo in the world, we’d opt the Italian flag restaurant logo, as it is exactly national cuisine what most caterers choose as their theme. Therefore, logos are designed around French, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, Arabic, and other national flags and symbols, to give customers an idea of what they’d be offered when going there.

Another common practice is to choose a logo that displays the specialties themselves, including rolls, sushi, seafood, and – of course – pizza!

Informing prospective clients on what they’re about to get has always been a smart marketing strategy, which is also why certain caterers choose logos that resemble their style and specifics. This is a complicated process, as a restaurant logo with a crown will hardly be enough to convey a truly personalized message.

Based on the results you want to achieve, you will be supposed to choose suitable fonts, colours, and icons, and test the logo multiple times before you release the official version.

Time to create your own restaurant logo

Restaurant logos and names are an inspiring task for creative designers, and it often takes as little as a sudden idea to intrigue customers and create a profitable business.

Look around, and you will soon be inspired to create something no one else did, but be ready to invest both time and money to get there.

With the right budget in place, you can hire a professional designer, or organize a tender to select the best candidates. In an even better scenario, you can sketch your own draft, and hand it in to a professional editor who will turn it into a usable product.

Creating the perfect restaurant logo for your business – Tips & Tricks

The first place to look at will obviously be the Internet, but you may soon end up wrapped within thousands of good logos, and not being able to decide. Most of the ideas you’ll be suggested are typographical restaurant logo and names structures, with or without an icon that reveals the main specialty.

At this point, restaurant logo design will look much simpler than it actually is, because you haven’t reached the stage of injecting some character into it.

Restaurant logos with stylish icons

When used and positioned properly, stylish icons can make any logo memorable. The more specific you intend to go; the harder it will become to plot the shapes you need.

As much as you try, you can’t make a logo ‘say’ everything you wish your customers knew, but what you can do is make them conclude that without an overdone image.

The icon checklist goes as follows:

A simple icon (3 lines instead of an actual hamburger restaurant logo)
A monochromatic icon (a single colour, or 2 the most)
A unique icon (it won’t be enough to download a restaurant logo and claim that you have the best Chinese restaurant logo, the same way it won’t be enough to use a restaurant logo with a sun, and call it a Japanese restaurant logo)

Restaurant logos – Monogram style

The beauty and class of monograms can’t be surpassed, but in order to use one on your restaurant logo you must work with a skilled artist.

Not that many people know how to handle elegant typography, especially with more than 3 letters to include in a small logo. Choosing a cool font and calling it a day won’t be enough.

The monogram logo checklist goes as follows

No novice designers – this is a bite for experienced professionals!
Unless absolutely necessary, don’t use more than 3 letters. No one will remember to stop by at KJUILMK Bistro.
The monogram is there to stay, so make sure it appears on other promotional materials as well.

Restaurant logos for fast food venues

It is easy to get inspired here – Subway, McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut – you name it! On one thing we can all certainly agree – these logos are ‘easy’, happy, and inviting. There is nothing retro, alternative, or luxurious about them and, well, that’s what makes them stand out.

Observing carefully, you will see that all of their colours are cheerful and energetic, namely yellow, orange, and red.

The checklist for fast food logos goes as follows

Make it funny. You won’t get the chance to launch a restaurant logo with chicken in a luxurious hotel diner.
Kids are your best advisors
Give competitors’ alternatives a look, but work with your own ideas

Restaurant logos colors

Colors are another decisive factor in logo design, namely the one that influences the most how customers will feel about your brand.

In this aspect, you have to think of ideas that contribute to the style and purpose of your restaurant, and give each chosen color a specific connotation that resembles your location and the specifications of the audience you’re targeting.

While it is absolutely desirable to use vivid and energetic colors, you should avoid shades that are too bright, and stick to those viewers can relate to natural and healthy dishes (green, in particular). Refreshing colors will also give your restaurant a more approachable and inviting vibe.

If you want your restaurant logo to breathe our style and elegance, your first choice should be muted reds, warm browns, or the always fashionable black and white combination.

If using more than one tone, make sure the amounts are balanced, and try the combination in advance to get an overview on how it is about to look in different printed mediums. At the same time, there are specific colors recommended for each sector and industry, and you should look at those before you make a decision.

Millions-worth brands and their logos

In the next section, we will share key takeaways from the 100 leading and most expensive brands worldwide to see how they’ve become the masters of successful logo design.

More often than rare, these companies spend millions (billions) on enhancing their branding strategy, and their manoeuvre of colors is always a good place to draw conclusions. In most cases, they use restricted palettes compelled from primary and secondary colors, and choose only such shades that have a positive impact on human cognition.

Logo fonts

When designing a logo for your restaurant, you should also be careful with the fonts and slogans you’re using.

The best way to go is to skip text altogether, but if you believe that incorporating it will make a crucial difference, you should try out different combinations, and make a decision based on simplicity, legibility, and style compliance. With a font that is hard to read, for instance, the entire professional image of the logo (and the reputation of your business) will be put in danger.

Simplicity is also very important, as the same logo will be replicated on other promotional material, including the napkins and the table cloths. This means that you will have to compromise on details despite of thinking that your logo may not be attractive enough.

Here’s a collection of fonts for logos that might help you.

Logo shapes

In restaurant branding, it is of critical importance to use the appropriate symbols, and make sure customers will recognize your venue wherever they see it. This is where simplicity plays an even more important role.

The general approach of successful marketers is to use basic geometric shapes, and to combine them with suitable fonts and colors to strike a memorable balance.

This is because straightforward logos are more intriguing for the eye, and they support the concept of easy brand recognition.

Even when thinking of associating your logo with a location symbol (think of a restaurant logo with palm tree), the concept of maximized simplicity remains valid.

Proper restaurant logo sizing

An interesting way to experiment with your restaurant logo without bundling several elements in is to use different sizes. To decide on this matter, you need to have a clear idea on which features are most important, and should therefore be made bigger.

Depending on owners’ preferences, these can be the icons, the names, the symbols, or any other element supposed to draw attention towards the logo. Basically, it is your sizing and tweaking approach that will be decisive on what customers will look at, and eventually remember.

Proper sizing is even more important from the applicability aspect – the only acceptable restaurant logo is the one you can resize easily, and without having to change anything about its original design layout. In fact, this is how popular restaurants get to appear in all promotional sites without additional efforts.

If not really sure how to size a logo properly, consult a designer, or learn more on how to use vector graphics, and to scale icons while preserving their resolution.

Ensuring reliability

The reason why we’re encouraging you to use memorable logo elements is that those will become your symbols of recognition in future. Therefore, they mustn’t be overly complicated and difficult to spot.

Take Nike or Coca Cola as examples – what they and thousands of other extremely popular logos have in common is consistency, and it is consistency that makes them timeless regardless of all emerging marketing trends.

Taking restaurant logos from paper to screen

The best way to go is to draft your future restaurant logo on paper, and use the same sketch to gradually perfect it. It will take more time, but you won’t be in a rush to polish it to foresee the final result, and you can easily add/remove elements upon need.

Of course, you can always turn to graphic programs and solutions and craft your design there, then scan the sample on your device, and use it as a rough sketch you can modify upon need.

Dynamic logos – Yes or no?

An overview of today’s most popular logo design trends will reveal that it is dynamic designs that are the most favoured and effective ones, compared to their traditional, static counterparts.

The reasons are quite self-explanatory: with a dynamic logo, you’re offering the viewer an engaging flow and more visual interest, and you are more likely to preserve his attention.

With a business to run, you will also strive towards a modern, dynamic solution, so that you can change it and adjust it upon need. Before you do that, however, there are few implications you have to consider.

Are you ready to engage in interactive communication?

Do you have enough experience with such applications?

Do you offer a variety of services that need to be distinguished between?

If so, a dynamic logo design is an idea you should definitely consider.

Optimize the value of your logo, and define your expectations, but don’t forget that a static logo also has a lot to offer.

You must keep both in the loop if you want your design process to succeed.

Investing in a good logo

Unless you have a fortune and don’t mind spending it on a logo, work around a balanced and reasonable budget, and adjust your expectations to it.

The most affordable scenario is to craft a logo of your own using a free maker service, as long as that service provides all the features you need and intend to include.

The vast database of sources and solutions is of course the Internet, where you can choose downloadable and ready-to-use design templates, and make quick changes of the colors, fonts, and textures to make the logo unique.

If you don’t have enough experience to create your own restaurant logo, your best bet is to entrust it to a talented and experienced professional.

Ownership issues

Unique or not, the logo becomes the restaurant’s main branding tool, and is to be applied and involved in a variety of business operations.

This is why we advice all creative designers (including experienced ones), to research and consult other professionals on trademark and copyright limitations.

It is imperative to understand how far you can go with your restaurant logo design, so that you will stay on the safe side and avoid legal issues that could affect your reputation.

Ending thoughts on restaurant logos

Let’s face it – you can’t become a great logo designer without hours of trial and correcting errors, and you have to go the long mile until you produce that one restaurant logo that can symbolize your brand. The effort, however, pays off.

Luckily for aspiring designers, there are many online tutorials and guides that can prepare them for this process, including our list of tricks that assembles the best practices in restaurant logo design.

Launch your awesome logo design process today, and don’t be afraid to experiment. If necessarily, hire professional help and editors that will ensure that your work is perfect.

Before you decide, make few different drafts of each element, and check whether they are suitable to your style and message. Consider all factors involved in the logo design process, and most of all – enjoy yourself!

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