You only have one chance to make a first impression. Upon meeting a
new or prospective client and exchanging business cards, the client will
get an impression of your firm based on the law firm logo alone.
So, what does your logo say about your firm?
Your
law firm logo represents your law firm to the outside world. Every
seemingly insignificant aspect of it makes an impression on the client.
Font. Color scheme. Name arrangement. Text size. Spacing. Inclusion of a
scale or gavel image.
Looking at your business card and firm
logo, your client gets an impression. Your client forms an idea in his
or her head of what your firm stands for. Is your logo modern or
traditional? Does it make you look frugal and indifferent, like you made
the logo yourself in Microsoft Word or does it look like you value your
reputation and appearance, and had a professional designer create the
logo?
Before approaching a logo designer or creating the logo
yourself, there are some very important steps you can take to get a
clear picture of what the logo should entail and how it should represent
your law firm.
Tip 1: Look at your competitors
You
don't want your law firm to look like the other law firms in your
practice area and location, lest your firm be unmemorable to the client.
The last thing you want to do is confuse the client with what sets your
firm apart from everyone else. See what you like about their logos.
Make notes. Try and gauge how their logos make you perceive their law
firms. Do their logos make the firms appear professional or do they seem
like the firms are unremarkable? Think about what you like and don't
like about these firm logos when deciding on how your own logo is going
to look.
Tip 2: Modern or traditional? Decide on a theme
Do you want your logo to be modern or traditional?
These
are the two main theme options for law firm logos. This usually means
the difference between serif and sans-serif font. What does that mean?
Open Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Type your law firm name in Times New
Roman, Georgia, or Garamond font. Then, type your firm name again in
either Arial or Helvetica. The first three fonts are considered serif
fonts because you can see they have little lines on the bottom and sides
of letters like A, B, and C. The sans-serif fonts do not have these
lines. Serif fonts are associated with newspapers, considered more
traditional fonts. Sans-serif fonts are associated with Internet content
and are considered modern. Do you want your law firm to have the
appearance of a traditional, storied practice or do you want it to
appear sleek, adaptive, and modern? The choice is yours.
Tip 3: Choose a Font
Now
that we've decided whether to go serif or sans-serif, we need to choose
which font is going to represent the firm. First thing's first, it
should be noted that you should NOT use a commonly used font. Arial,
Helvetica, Times New Roman. People see these fonts every day. Whether
they recognize them immediately as Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman,
people know these fonts. They see Times New Roman while reading the
newspaper. They see Helvetica when getting on the subway. They see Arial
while reading websites. These fonts do not make an impression anymore.
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