--- title: "How to Get a Logo for Your Startup | Utkarsh Panwar" description: "How to get a logo for your startup: four routes, wordmark vs symbol for B2B, what to brief, the tests it must pass and the files to ask for." url: https://www.utkarshdesign.com/guides/logo-for-startups author: Utkarsh Dhairya Panwar updated: 2026-10-08 --- # How to get a logo for your startup Guide · 6 min read · By [Utkarsh Dhairya Panwar](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/about) · Updated 8 Oct 2026 ![E-Summit '23 logo lockup: a copper circular S mark beside the wordmark IIT Roorkee's E-Summit '23 Reminiscing the Ethos Bharat, on dark brown](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/dWH5ALDzvMvxGdf3PuchhbudLo.webp) **Most B2B startups should start with a wordmark: the company name set well, in light, dark and one-colour versions. Get it from a designer who tests it at favicon size and inside your product, and hands over usage rules and a full file set. A symbol can come later.** ## Four ways to get a startup logo | Route | Good for | Watch out for | | --- | --- | --- | | Make it yourself or use an AI generator | A placeholder while you validate the idea | Generic marks, and no rights clarity on generated output | | Contest or marketplace | Lots of options quickly | Many concepts, little thinking; usually no rules or file set | | Freelance designer | A considered mark with usage rules, often as part of a small identity | Check they show past logos in use, not only on artboards | | Branding agency | Naming, strategy and a large identity programme | Overkill before your positioning settles | A free logo is fine for the first months if you treat it as a placeholder. Keep it simple so it's easy to replace, and don't print a thousand hoodies with it. ## Wordmark, symbol, or both A wordmark is the name set in type. A symbol is a mark that stands without the name. A lockup puts the two together. A new B2B company needs people to remember its name and type it into a search bar, so the wordmark carries most of the load. A symbol only means something after people have seen it next to the name many times. Linear's public brand page is a tidy example: the wordmark is the primary way to reference the company, a logomark is for tight layouts, and an icon is for social and chip-shaped spots. ![Linear Brand Guidelines page on black with a Download Brand Assets button and short Naming and Usage rules](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/web/linear-brand.webp) _Screenshot: Linear's brand page, October 2026. Two short rules: write Linear, not Linear app, and give the assets room._ The E-Summit logo I worked with at IIT Roorkee (the lockup at the top of this page) goes the other way: a combined E and S mark that stays the same each year, with only the colour changing, locked up with the edition's theme. That works for an annual event people already know by name, which a new startup isn't yet. - Pick a wordmark first if your name is short, unusual, or you sell to businesses who'll look you up. - Add a symbol when you need a square: app icons, avatars, favicons, the GitHub app install screen. - Avoid literal symbols, like a shield for security or a bracket for code, because every competitor already has one. ## What to put in the logo brief 1. **Who you sell to**: 'Engineering managers at 50-person software companies' produces a different logo from 'developers who try tools on weekends'. 2. **Where it will live first**: Product UI, website, pitch deck, socials, swag. List them in order of how often people will see them. 3. **Three words, and three you want to avoid**: 'Calm, exact, quick' is useful. So is 'not playful, not corporate, not crypto'. 4. **What you're keeping**: The name, a colour already in the product, a mark people know. Say so up front. 5. **Logos you'll sit next to**: Your competitors and the customer logo strip on your homepage. Your logo has to stand apart in that row. ## Tests a startup logo has to pass - Legible as a 16-pixel favicon in a browser tab full of other tabs. - Works in one colour, white on dark and black on light. - Holds up in a grey row of customer logos on someone else's website. - Sits in your product's top bar without looking louder than the content. - Survives print: on a hoodie, a lanyard, a standee seen from across a room. - Still makes sense if your positioning changes next year. ![E-Summit '23 logo lockup on dark brown overlaid with a construction grid and clear-space measurements](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/AXSX3Ya6Bhip1rkCNx3KBpM50NM.webp) _Clear-space rules drawn onto the lockup, so nobody crowds it._ ![Fanned stack of dark E-Summit '23 event passes with copper accents, dates and a list of inclusions](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/FmdNKiW0K7lM6ThzzmqxT5zOuEE.webp) _The same mark, small, on event passes._ ## The files you should get - SVG master files for the wordmark, the symbol (if any) and the lockup. - Light, dark and one-colour versions of each. - PNGs at a few sizes, plus a favicon and an app or avatar icon. - Clear-space and minimum-size rules, and two or three examples of misuse. - The typeface name and licence, so your team can set matching text. If a logo arrives as a single PNG, you'll pay someone later to rebuild it. Ask for the list above before the work starts. ## A logo is the smallest part of the brand Logo work has mostly taught me how little a logo does alone. For E-Summit, most of the identity's strength came from the palette, the compass motif and the typography around the mark. At CodeAnt AI I built the identity together with the component library and guidelines, because people meet a SaaS brand in the product far more often than in the logo. ![Two black E-Summit hoodies on a beige wall, one with a boxed Reminiscing type print on the front, one with the E-Summit '23 logo on the back](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/images/pnFwUvkt8JraGCiBzr7RxpPthxo.webp) _Type does as much branding work as the logo on these hoodies._ So when you brief a logo, brief a small kit around it too, with colours, a typeface and a few rules. That kit is where my own brand work starts, and my guide to brand identity for startups covers what goes in it. ## Questions people ask ### Can I use an AI logo generator for my startup? As a placeholder, yes. For the long term, generated marks tend to look generic and rarely come with usage rules or a proper file set, so plan to replace it. ### How much does a startup logo cost? Public ranges vary widely by country and provider. My startup branding cost guide lists published ranges with their sources. ### Do I need to trademark my startup logo? Trademark questions are for a lawyer. A designer can help by avoiding marks that look like competitors', but cannot clear a name or logo legally. ## Sources 1. [Brand Guidelines](https://linear.app/brand), Linear 2. [Copyright and Artificial Intelligence](https://www.copyright.gov/ai/), U.S. Copyright Office ## Working on this? Tell me what you're building and where it's stuck: [book a 30-minute call](https://cal.com/utkarsh-design/30min), email [work@utkarshdesign.com](mailto:work@utkarshdesign.com) or [send a brief](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/contact). ## Related - [Brand identity and design systems for startups](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/services/brand-and-design-systems) - [How much does branding cost for a startup?](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/guides/startup-branding-cost) - [Brand identity for startups](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/guides/startup-brand-identity) - [Startup brand identity examples](https://www.utkarshdesign.com/guides/startup-brand-examples) --- Utkarsh Dhairya Panwar, Founding Product Designer and Design Engineer (IIT Roorkee; Founding Designer at CodeAnt AI, YC W24). Email: work@utkarshdesign.com · Book a call: https://cal.com/utkarsh-design/30min · Hire: https://www.utkarshdesign.com/hire · About: https://www.utkarshdesign.com/llms.txt