I’ve written about band logos before but as they are one of the most important marketing assets of any band, DIY or otherwise it’s worth looking at them again.

A band or artist logo it meant to represent yourself, your music and your ‘brand’.  It’s a signifier for everything you stand for. The whole of your music and career is condensed into one piece of iconography and its important that you get yours right.

A good band logo is worth its weight in gold. You need a good one.

Here are some important things to think about.

Don’t Skimp On The Design

A great band logo doesn’t have to age.  You can still be using it in twenty years time so don’t skimp on initial design costs.  Try and get a great design from the off even if that means spending a little money up front.  Don’t forget you can make any costs back long terms in merch sales.

Make Sure It Fits Who You Are

Your logo needs to conform with the design ‘codes’ of the genre you are in.  Most genres (rap, metal, folk) have a predetermined array of fonts, colours, and other design traits that you’ll need to comply with to ‘click’ with that audience.  Make sure you ‘tick’ your genre’s boxes.

Folk/Americana bands will use these sorts of fonts, images and colours. Make sure you fit your genre.

Make Sure It Can Be Simplified

No matter how complex the design, make sure it can be simplified and reproduced using two colours (say black on white or red on black etc).  The classic use of a band logo is a one screen band tee which is cheap as chips to produce and you can make a good amount of profit from it.

A one colour logo can still have as much impact as a full colour logo and it’s much cheaper to produce.

Put It On Everything

Your band logo can be stuck on everything and then monetised.  Stickers, tees, mugs, frisbees, key rings, hats, badges…the works.  You can keep the same design and just change the product line meaning you have to do no extra design work and the merch money will keep coming in.

Further reading
https://www.creativebloq.com/logo-design/band-logo-12121502

Got any questions about this post or how you can better market yourself?

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