How to Make an Ice Cream Shop Logo

Everybody loves ice cream, but it’s not exactly a year-round staple in most parts of the world. As such, it’s difficult to make a consistent living running an ice cream shop. The average ice cream shop turns a profit of $100,000 - $600,000 per year. That’s not a bad living if you’re a sole owner, and is likely a bit better than the 3% profit margin that most restaurants operate with.

That said, the global ice cream market was $79 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow throughout the decade. If you’ve opened an ice cream shop, you want to carve out a scoop of that growth. In a competitive field where money is tight, overall growth isn’t a guarantee that you’ll be profitable. It’s still important to invest in marketing, and an ice cream shop logo is a great place to being your branding journey.

In this article, you will learn how to make an ice cream shop logo that stands out from the competition, appeals to new customers, and gets existing customers excited about your brand.

Why is an ice cream shop logo important?

An ice cream shop logo is important for several reasons. First, there’s always going to be competition nearby, both from other local shops and from national chains. National chains like Ben & Jerry’s and Dairy Queen have logos that are an important part of their brand identities. There’s no reason you shouldn’t have one, too.

Perhaps even more important than a logo on your shop, however, is how your logo will play into distribution. You want to stamp your logo on pints and other pre-packed ice cream so that people know where it came from. A great logo could attract new customers to grab your ice cream out of a freezer and take it home. That’s a valuable step to turning them into lifelong customers.

What to consider when making an ice cream shop logo

When it comes to making an ice cream shop logo, there are a few important things to keep in mind.

Budget

Opening an ice cream shop is less expensive than other food ventures, costing an estimated $20,000 - $50,000 to start. However, operating expenses will be significant as you pay for ingredients, labor, and fixed costs like rent and equipment leases. Your budget will likely be tight, and there may not be much flexibility for marketing.

A logo is a more affordable foray into a brand strategy, but that doesn’t mean it’s cheap. Logo design could cost anywhere from $2 or more than $2,500, depending on how you go about it. Human designers will cost more than an online ice cream shop logo maker, but they’ll provide a much better service.

Timeline

Many factors will go into the timeline of your logo design project. Did you just open your shop? Are you gearing up to start distributing? You might not need a logo right away; you might need it as soon as possible. Whatever your timeline, you have options.

Hiring a designer or graphic design agency to produce a logo will take between 4-6 weeks to complete the project. An online logo maker, however, can make a logo in just a few minutes. Your timeline and budget will be intertwined as the longer a designer works, the more you’ll have to pay them.

Customer base

Any branding project should be curated for your target customers. These are the people who are going to spend the most money on your brand, and they’re the ones who you want to feel seen by an ice cream shop logo.

It’s important to understand what your customers like about your shop and the experience of getting ice cream there. People may relate to your ice cream shop’s name, feel strongly about an aspect of your mission, or just get excited about your creative menu ideas. Talk to your customers to get an idea of what they love about your ice cream shop and incorporate that into your planning.

How to make an ice cream shop logo

A logo design project may follow many variations of workflow, but this is a good guide to follow for your ice cream shop logo design.

Start with your brand

As we just touched on, any branding project should appeal to your best customers. When you’re planning your ice cream shop logo design, start by casting a wide net to explore the core elements of your brand. 

Look at your business plan and consider what’s different about how your company operates and its core values. What do you care about? What makes your ice cream special? How does your ice cream connect with the community? You’ve probably been thinking about this ice cream shop for a long time, so what comes to mind when you think of those earliest days of planning?

All of these questions will help you refine your brand identity and give you an idea of how to proceed.

Build your vision

When you have a practical idea of what you’d like a logo to look like, it’s time to sketch or jot down some ideas. You might not have much artistic expertise, but you can write down buzzwords that feel important to the logo, or ask someone to sketch what you’re thinking.

Also, spend some time looking at other logos — both ice cream shops and other local stores — to find inspiration in color, font, or other design elements. With an online logo maker, you can see how a number of your ideas look in practice.

Choose a logo design avenue

When you’re ready to execute, you have to decide how you want to make the logo. Your chosen avenue will likely depend on your budget and timeline.

Hire a professional graphic designer

Depending on where you’re located, a professional designer will charge an hourly rate of $24 or more. If you go with an agency, you’ll pay more.

Human designers are expensive, but they’ll take a lot of the work off your plate and make the project out of sight and out of mind for a while. Before they begin working, they can help you flesh out ideas or throw out ones that aren’t working as well. They’ll be a great sounding board for ideas and you can be as involved or at arm’s length from the process as you’d like.

This is also the most time-consuming method, but they’ll be able to fine-tune the design to your exact specifications and give you all the files you need to start incorporating your logo to your branding.

Do it yourself

You can always save a little money by doing your ice cream logo shop design project yourself, but you might stress yourself out. If you have some experience, it might be the best option to just make what you really want. If you don’t, you may spend a lot of time thinking and tinkering and not being able to get it quite right. And that’s before you have to go through digitizing and producing the finished logo.

Use a template or generator

The internet is rife with online logo makers like Canva, Looka, and Themeisle Logo Maker. With these tools, you can share just a little bit of inspiration and the power of artificial intelligence creates a range of original logo options. You can also work off of a template.

These online tools are much faster and less expensive than professional designers, but they won’t give you the same flexibility to make specific changes and try out new ideas.

Edit and iterate (and get other people’s opinions!) 

People are not a “one-size-fits-all” situation, but you only get one logo. As such, it’s crucial to spend time gathering feedback and editing your logo to get it just right. The best restaurant logos are the result of process and iteration to turn a good initial idea into a great finished product.

When you have a draft, present it to staff, friends, family, and customers to give feedback. Some of it won’t be helpful, but some of it will be invaluable. Certain design elements might not come through how you hoped, or the colors might be unappealing. Whatever it is, having feedback rounds will help you hone your ice cream shop logo to get it just right.

Copyright and trademark

Once you have a finished product, you should protect it from scammers and copycats. Trademarking your logo is as simple as Application, Examination, Publication, and Registration with the United States Patent Office (USPO).

Your lawyer can help with this, otherwise, you can hire a company like LegalZoom for a one-off handling of copyrighting and trademarking.

What makes a great logo?

Logos are a personal preference, but the best ones have a number of things in common. Sure, you may not be over the moon about every logo, but great logos are true to their brand and resonate with the business’s target customers. Basically, a great logo is one that loyal customers love and that new customers will remember.

A few cool examples:

• The Parlour: The Parlour is one of the most popular ice cream spots in Durham, NC. It got that way because of its ice cream, but the classic logo doesn’t hurt. It hearkens back to 1920s ice cream parlours, which elegantly mirrors the shop’s design.

• Jeni’s: Now a national brand, Jeni’s has been serving up homemade ice cream for two decades. The cursive logo and bright packaging has become a staple on shelves all over the country, reminding us that ice cream is supposed to be fun.

• New City Micocreamery: Based in Hudson, MA, New City is growing fast in New England, thanks in part to a beautiful, modern logo that’s artfully adorned with an ice cream scoop and spoon so you know exactly what it is.

Tips for making a great logo

Need some help designing your ice cream shop logo? Here’s what to think about.

Make it clear and easy to read

A logo should be snappy and easy to understand. If it’s text, make sure you choose a legible font and don’t make it too big to fit on the packaging.

Keep it true to your brand

You may have noticed in our examples in the previous section that many ice cream shops include some kind of ice cream homage in their logo. It makes sense, right? There are so many restaurants and brands out there, but a scoop of ice cream or an ice cream scoop are easy symbols to convey exactly what the brand name relates to.

Make it memorable

Easier said than done, right? People won’t remember or notice slight touches like the “37” in the Baskin-Robbins logo, but they will remember interesting fonts and compelling colors.

Avoid being too trendy

Everybody loves ice cream, but even ice cream shops have gotten carried away with the trendiness from time to time. Stick to the basics with your logo and create something that is honest to who you and your company are. While you can update your logo as often as you’d like, many longstanding logos are timeless and able to endure, regardless of trends.

Simple is better — keep it about the ice cream.

Get Scoopin'

A great ice cream shop logo is one that resonates with your customers and makes them excited to go to your shop and eat your ice cream. Just like ice cream itself, everybody has different favorite flavors. Your logo isn’t going to appeal to everyone. Your goal is to create a logo that resonates with your target customers and stands as a good ambassador for your brand. So, start with your brand identity and customers, and work from there.

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