YES!!!
Even if your logo is simply a word logo it is necessary to have a logo. Consider how different fonts can make you feel. Something BOLD and uppercase feels urgent - possibly yelling depending on the text around it. The font you pick to represent your business will set the tone of how your potential customers will feel about you, the services you provide or the goods you sell.
Brand consistency is a big deal. If you can't decide what you want in a logo it will get a lot harder as you expand across different online platforms and into various types of print media. Let's use a couple quick mockups I edited to illustrate why picking fonts and colors of your logo are sooooo important.
This logo says that the restaurant is the kind you can show up to in work boots or flip-flops. It feels fresh, a little funky but definitely casual - as it claims to be. What I don't like about this logo: it is a little difficult to read and if I made this any smaller the words would start to blur together. Also, this wouldn't work well as a website logo as it is more vertical than horizontal.
On this one I left all the colors the same and only changed the font. This suddenly feels like a different restaurant. A little fancier and now I am wondering, do they really mean casual? Like nice shirt and jeans casual or flip-flops and board-shorts casual? Just wondering makes me think maybe I should dress up more. This is NOT what you want, my friends. You want the potential customer to immediately feel like they know what to expect.
For this one I returned to the original fonts but swapped out the background color. Do you have a favorite? The orange-ish peachy color or this almost Tiffany-Blue? Now imagine what you expect the interior of the restaurant to look like... Are you seeing accents of the one you liked most? The colors we pick in our logo get carried across in the decor, the signage, the website - you name it. So be sure you like the color and that the color carries the right psychological impact you want the business to have.
Let's talk a bit more about why the orientation of the logo needs to be versatile. Here is an example of the logo in horizontal form:
Notice how I dropped the casual dining? I can incorporate that element in the content writing for print or web so I don't need it on here adding unnecessary height. Most websites incorporate a small section at the top for the logo in what we call the header. When the logo gets too high this creates issues with what you might want to put on the opposite side, like a contact button or menu items or social media icons.
Working with an experienced professional designer ensures that all of these details are covered and more. For instance, being sure not to use too many colors (this can increase printing costs), have both vertical and horizontal options, grayscale and color. Your designer will save these in the proper file format as well (not all file types are created equal). All other media professionals will be grateful. I promise.
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