What to Consider When Designing a Logo for Your Hospitality Brand

By Hâfi Martinsdóttir

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes | 560 words

When designing your hotel brand’s logo, it’s essential that you consider the variety of ways that it will be used. From advertising online (including your website) to social media and brand packaging to menu graphics, your logo needs to be used throughout your brand awareness campaigns without compromising on your visual identity. This is where your primary, secondary and sub-mark logos come in. These enable you to form a recognisable and memorable visual presence without having to resize, stretch or crop to make your logo fit.

It is unlikely that you will have one logo that translates well across all platforms and size requirements, so having a variety of logos enables your branding to remain consistent and flexible.

Primary logo

This is the main logo that will be used to represent your brand. The goal of this logo is to convey who you are, what you offer and where your business is located (if applicable). This logo might include your brand’s tagline and geographic location.

• Used most of the time
• Includes your full brand name
• May include extra information such as a tagline or location

Below you’ll find a few examples of a variety of primary logos featuring graphics, icons, brand names, taglines and geographic locations.

Below you’ll find Aerlume’s primary logo, we’ll dive a little deeper in this article and take a look at Aerlume’s secondary and sub-mark logos too and observe how they change to suit their individual needs.

Secondary logo

A secondary logo is a paired down version of your main logo. This is to be used when a smaller version of your main logo is required, such as profile pictures or within your website header. This design will likely have less text, a simplified style and be rearranged so that it is still readable at a smaller size.

• Simplified design and text layout
• Includes your full brand name
• Used when smaller sizing is required, such as online

Sub-mark logo

A sub-mark logo is a stripped down version of your primary logo. This is used for things like favicons and in situations where your branding needs to be seen in much smaller formats. This logo will often be made up of a singular and simple graphic or icon. Or if your primary logo is a wordmark logo then your sub-mark might be the main initial(s) of your brand. This logo typically will not include text or your business name.

• Helps people recognise your brand quickly
• Used for very small formats
• Simplified version of your primary logo
• Could be made up of a letter(s), symbol(s) or a simple graphic

Other things to consider

It’s always worth creating a few alternate versions of your logos, for example, a darker version of your logo so that it can be clearly seen on a light background and a light logo so that it can clearly be seen on a dark background.

Remember, simplicity is key when it comes to logo design, try to keep the colour range minimal (1 – 3 colours) and on-brand. It’s also crucial that your font is legible as people need to be able to quickly read and understand who you are and what you offer. If in doubt, keep it simple.

If you need any help with developing your brand’s logo, we would be delighted to help. You can tell us more about your design project by using our branding project application form.

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About Magpie Creative Co.

Magpie Creative Co. is a digital marketing and design consultancy with a worldwide client base. We provide branding, web design and online marketing for businesses that offer luxury guest experiences and require an efficient online booking system.