Author Logo Design: Best Practices and Examples

At some point during the self-publishing journey, almost every author wonders how they can start building their author brand. 

Here’s your first step: get an author logo design. But…

Nope. No excuses. After all, working on the author brand is a considerable challenge. You don’t need to make it any harder by procrastinating or struggling with the logo design.

We are here to save you time and frustration. In this article, we have put together tips and tricks for your author logo design. 

Keep reading to find out:

• why you need an author logo
• what text, colors, and images work best for the author logo design
• where you can use an author logo
• and so much more

What are you waiting for? Dive into it!

Author logo benefits

Let’s start with a small pep-talk. We have put together some benefits of having an author logo. Make sure you know what you are dealing with before getting started with an author logo design.

• Name recognition

One of the things you want to achieve with your author logo is for your name to become recognized in the writing community. Here’s a simple truth: the more readers hear and stumble across your name, the more likely they are to remember you. As a result, you might get a loyal fanbase that is willing to stay linked to you. A professional author logo creates a great first impression and leaves a memorable aftertaste. Isn’t that exactly what you need?

• Author branding

If you are reading this, you’re probably looking into establishing an author brand. This is where an author logo enters the picture. Remember: a logo is the key visual representation of your brand. It’s doing the hardest work on the front line of your branding mission. If you don’t want to jeopardize your credibility and reliability, take good care of your logo design.

• Marketing tool

As a self-published author, you are coming up with many book marketing activities and ideas. Guess what? You can and should use your attention-grabbing author logo. It helps to create a strong online and offline presence in the marketing world.

• Professional approach

If you want to succeed as a self-publisher, you need to show a professional approach. The author logo improves your reputation. It merely tells potential and current readers that you care about what you are doing.

It all makes sense, right? Now, let the fun begin. Check out these mind-blowing ideas for a fantastic author logo design.

Excellent author logo design ideas

All you need is a relevant text, balanced color palette, and engaging graphic elements.
Let’s take a closer look.

Text for your author logo design

Let us save you the trouble and say this upfront: your name should be the central text element of your author logo. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. If you decide for a wordmark, lettermark, or combination mark as your logo, use your name and surname variations.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Your initials (or author pseudonym) are the go-to for a lettermark logo. This works particularly well if you have a rather lengthy name and are aiming for simplicity. Keep in mind that the font you choose can become a deal-maker or a deal-breaker in this case.

• The wordmark logo leaves a bit more space for imagination and puts much more pressure on typography. Make sure you manage to grasp the essence of your writing style and genre. Custom illustrated fonts are something to look into when it comes to wordmark logos.

• A combination mark is basically a design style of putting your name and a picture together to create a logo. The image would function as an attention-grabbing element. So you just need to make sure that there’s a good balance between graphics and fonts.

• If you are a tagline person, you might also want to take a closer look at the emblem types of logos. Your catchy, witty phrase belongs here.

Let us also give you some hints on how to use colors in the author logo design.

Best colors for author logo

Boy, oh boy, where do we even start?

• First of all, we can’t stop repeating that it’s best to avoid black and white logos in this day and age. Instead, take advantage of the color theory and psychology, get out there, and experiment a bit.

• Having your target audience and genre in mind is a must when choosing a color palette for the logo. Just to give you an idea. Pastel colors are suitable for romance writers, whereas bright, vivid shades are better for fantasy. Dark, moody tints might hint to horror or mystery works, while sparkles and glows whisper YA and paranormal romance. The list goes on and on. How to decide? Research. Test. Research. Full stop.

• Finally, It’s best to select two or three dominant colors for your logo design. There’s a thin line between looking well-balanced and messy in the author logo business. You don’t want to become an eyesore or, worse, a distaste.

The best is next. Ever wondered how to choose and come up with an image, symbol, or graphic element for the author logo design? Let us provide you with some insights.

Tips on the graphic elements for the author logo

There are some common themes and ideas used for author logos.
Why don’t you take a closer look at:

• book (s)
• paper
• memo
• pencil
• fountain pen
• feather pen
• ink bottle
• dagger
• nib
• glasses
• magnifying glass
• eye(s)

It goes without mentioning that these graphic elements’ ideas are just the tip of the iceberg. Use your imagination to dig deeper and come up with other symbols. Once again, you can look at your icon options from the genre’s perspective.

Here are some ideas:

• Fantasy genre: dragons, planets, moon, stars, mystic creatures, trees, roots, fire, water, arrows;

• Science fiction: space, stars, planets, aliens, alien language, starships, futuristic icons, badges;

• Romance: flowers, leaves, heart, lips, hands, swans and doves (birds), fruit, wine glass;

• Thriller: masks, knives and axes (weapon), crows, snakes, eyes, web, demonic icons;

• Mystery and suspense: question marks, magnifying glass, hats, Celtic symbols, fingerprints, clocks;

• YA and Paranormal fantasy: trees, birds, insects, cards, candles, gemstones, paranormal hints;

Hope you managed to find a symbol that will help you represent your author brand.
Finally, let’s talk a bit about where you should include your brand new author logo.

Where you can use your author logo

Last but not least, take a look at the checklist of where your author logo belongs.

• Author website and blog

Place an author logo on your author website and author blog. The readers, potential partners, influencers, or even competitors might google you, searching for more information about your books and self-publishing career. Landing on your website and seeing an eye-catching logo skyrockets your credibility and improves visual perception.
The same goes for the author blog. If your voice matters in the industry and you write relevant and educating content, it wouldn’t harm to include the author logo to seal the deal.

• Social media profiles

As a self-published author, we are pretty sure you are aware of the power and importance of social media marketing campaigns. Guess what? Your profile picture and cover picture are great places for the author logo to strike visitors at first glance. It’s like sending a kind reminder that you are a well-known professional author, who cares about the impression.

• Business cards

Do we really need to say more? The business card is your logo’s first and final destination. Look how pretty!

• Book covers

Many authors place their author logos on the book back cover. Another option is to include an eye-catching logo on the front or back flap if you are dealing with a book dust jacket design.

• Marketing materials

As part of your book marketing campaign, you might (read: should) look into some promotional activities, for example, giveaways. According to Jenna Moreci, they are one of the best marketing techniques that each and every author should try at least once. Place an author logo on the giveaway goodies (T-shirts, mugs, bookmarks, author commentaries, etc.), and you’ll be good to go.

To sum up

Hope you’ve managed to find some inspiration and motivation to start working on your author logo design.

Do you already have an author logo? Drop the image in the comments section. We’d love to check it out!

Happy author branding!