But from past experience (a euphemism for “learning from my own mistakes”), I can tell you those aren’t the only criteria you should consider when choosing a new logo.

I recently had a new logo designed for our career advice website. I wanted what you’d probably want if you were choosing a logo for your own website – namely, a logo that would be appealing to site visitors, and would be appropriate for the site.

To help you choose the best logo for your products or services, I’ve put together this list of questions you should answer before you choose a designer. The first group of questions is to gather information you can present to the designer before they start creating your design. The second group of questions are about the service and rights the designer will provide you.

Information to provide to the designer:

• How will the logo be used?
• What do you want your logo to “say” about your business? What kind of impression should it leave about your product or service?
• Will your finished logo need to be scalable so it will work on a website, business cards, advertisements, fliers, or billboards?
• Will you want it painted on a van or embroidered on a shirt?
• Will you ever need to squeeze the logo into a small square (such as a 125 x 125 pixel banner on the web)?
• Will the logo ever need to be long and narrow (ie: for use on pens or pencils or other promotional giveaways)
• Will you need to fit your logo next to a leaderboard-sized banner on your website?
• Will the logo ever appear in print? If so, do you want to have the logo designed in a single color to keep your printing costs down?
• What colors or color combinations do you like?
• What kind of look do you want for your logo (ie, modern, old-fashioned, artsy, country, professional etc.)
• Will the logo look good if it’s printed in black and white?

Questions to ask the designer:

• Will the designer give you the finished logo in formats that are suitable for the web and for print?
• Will you own the copyright on the logo your designer creates for you?
• Will the designer give you the original art in a graphic format that can be easily scaled for size or changed in other ways if you need to make changes in the future?

Once your logo designer presents logo concepts for you to choose, be sure to show them to a number of other people before making your final choice. Ask them which one they like best and why. If none of them choose the design concept you like best, you may want to reconsider your choice.

More: 10 Tips for Choosing a Logo

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