Your business logo is the illustration of your business. Your business logo makes an immediate impression, increases recognition, and communicates the essentials about your business. Design a business logo that is professional and unique to the competition and your marketing campaigns may see an increase in effectiveness.

There are two ways to come up with a business logo, depending on your expertise and your resources:

How to Design a Business Logo:

1. Design a logo yourself If your idea for a business logo is fairly simple, you could use Microsoft Office Publisher 2007 to design a business logo yourself. You can also use Microsoft Publisher 2007 to develop marketing and communications materials with the business logo. Publisher 2007 helps you create and distribute publications for print, web, and e-mail, making it easy to develop a variety of business marketing materials yourself. Additionally, Publisher 2007 offers tools to manage customer lists and track your marketing campaigns to ensure effectiveness.

If you're looking for more robust design tools, and you have an artistic eye, Microsoft has a suite of design applications called Microsoft Expression. Microsoft Expression Design can help you to business logo that is a unique, representation of your business. Microsoft Expression provides you with the tools for next-generation designs, allowing your creative ideas to unfold and produce a stylish business logo. Download a free trial of Microsoft Expression Design

2. Hire a professional to design a logo

If you're not especially artistic and want to work with a professional designer, make sure that you hire someone whose style fits that image you want to project. Try one of these approaches:

• Online Search – searching for a logo designer online lets you browse sample portfolios.
  
• Graphic Design Organizations – professional associations for graphic designers, like the
  Graphic Artists Guild and The American Institute of Graphic Arts, often list their members and provide links to member websites.
  
• Ask a colleague or a customer – people that you know often provide the best references.
• Check local design schools – you may find a talented student who will design for much less money than a design shop, just to get experience.
• Find examples – look through magazines, websites, TV ads and product packaging to find examples of business logos that you like. Find out who created them.