Are you using animal images for your company trademark? Let's look at a few dos and don'ts for using animal designs to make sure that your business mark portrays the exact message to your customers that you want it to. Dos and don'ts for using cool animal logos: Don'ts • Do not use clipart or photographs – use illustrations only: Use of clipart and photographs in your logo design will never succeed in making it look high quality. Clipart is very generic and easily available to all due to which chances are high that someone else might be using the same mammal images that you are using. Instead of clip art and photographs, use illustrations that will give you a freer hand over creativity and make your design distinct from others. • Do not use animals that might hold ulterior symbolism for your target audience: Study the ulterior symbolism of your animal in different cultures and regions before launching it as your brand mark. For example, cats are known as a symbol of respect and fear in some regions but are also known as common street pests in other regions. Similarly, owls are known as a symbol of wisdom in some regions while are also represented as a symbol of foolishness in other regions. Make sure that your animal is well respected and portrays the right image in the target region. Dos: • Use animals that complement the unique feature of your company: The animal that you choose to make your business representation should have attributes that complement your company's personality. For example, if you want to depict loyalty, why not choose a dog or if you want to portray speed, why not use a cheetah? Many brands with animal logos have taken guidance from the animal clichés as a brand mark idea. For example, hungry as a bear, quick as a cat, blind as a bat, eager as a beaver etc. Will your customer become cleverer if he uses your product? Then why not use a fox image? • Use fonts and effects according to the animals personality: Keep the central theme of your logo design focused on the animal that you're using. Use fonts, colors and effects accordingly. If you are using an image of a big and heavy bear in your trademark design then use big and heavy fonts. Using delicate and curvy font style will distort the entire theme of your design. Similarly, if you are using a small and delicate bird in your design, then use fonts and effects that are delicate and subtle to complement your trademark design. • Use animals that are easy to identify all over the world: Can you differentiate a llama from a sheep? If you use a llama in the design, a lot of people might not be able to see the difference between the two. For your business trademark design, use animals that are easily recognizable all over the world to give your design global flexibility. So by following the above mentioned dos and don'ts, you might be able to avoid many common mistakes that a lot of other companies have made when using animals for their company trade mark images.