When starting a new venture, designing a logo should be on the top of your branding to-do list. Opening a yoga studio or promoting yourself as a yoga instructor is no different.
The perfect yoga logo will help communicate your approach to the practice and draw in the right audience. It’ll make your brand memorable and differentiate it from competitors.
Like any other industry, yoga logo design has some best practices to follow. The most powerful yoga logos are simple in their approach, with minimalistic design elements to show clarity and focus.
Before you go ahead and design a logo for your yoga brand, here are some great design tips to make sure you get yours just right.
There are consistent elements found in yoga logos that help connect your brand to the style of mindful workout and meditation. Here are tips for how you can incorporate certain elements that will express the underlying brand you are going for. These pieces will help create the right look to define your brand.
There are consistent shapes in yoga logos, often representing peace, mindfulness, and meditation. Here are 3 of the most popular shapes you can incorporate:
Circles in logos represent unity and eternity. The circle is a focused shape that’s balanced and stable. Curves are flowy and show unity with nature. We think about water and fluid motion when we see curves. You’ll see these gentle shapes in yoga logos because they represent complete connectivity and the flow of the practice.
Mandala is the word for “circle” or “discoid object” in Sanskrit. Most mandalas are incredibly complex and symmetrical, its geometry representing a spiritual journey. They also convey focus and offer an aid for meditation.
Some logos will use an allusion to the mandala rather than its full form. You can notice below the first logo in this group includes a simplified version of a mandala that incorporates an icon of a lotus flower. The third logo is much closer to a traditional mandala.
The lotus flower holds a lot of meaning in Buddhism and Eastern thought. The flower represents spiritual awakening and maturity. The stem of the lotus flower must grow from the mud and through deep waters to bloom in the sun, which illustrates a yogi’s life’s journey of growth and enlightenment. This iconic flower symbolizes purity, self-regeneration, and rising above circumstances.
You can get more literal with illustrations of yoga poses incorporated into your logo design. Here are examples of what these yogi illustrations could look like. The poses can be active or mindful and focused. The people can be fully illustrated into characters, or silhouettes can be used for a minimalistic design element.
Illustrated yoga poses can help people instantly recognize that the brand is a yoga studio or yoga instructor, so this approach can offer design clarity. Make sure you consider the placement of your illustration with your text and choose a font that will compliment your icon. The colors here become very important in helping set the tone of the brand.
Colors hold a lot of meaning in design. We automatically experience subconscious feelings when we see color. In yoga, all colors are permissible, since the chakras are aligned to each color. It’s really a matter of choosing what colors best represent your brand.
Before choosing a color, you should understand what each color means in relation to yoga. Warmer colors (yellow, orange, and red) represent the lower chakras responsible for action (solar plexus, sacral, and root chakras).
Cooler colors (blue, indigo, and violet) represent the upper chakras responsible for focus and mindfulness (throat, third eye, and crown chakras). Green symbolizes the heart chakra and openness to growth.
So, while a power yoga studio may use red and orange, a yoga Nidra (deep meditation) guide may use violet or indigo. It all comes down to what you want to express.
Here are some popular logo colors for a yoga brand:
Blue is calming and reliable. Representing water and sky, blue is the color of consistency. This color can represent the throat chakra as a lighter hue and the third eye chakra as a dark blue.
Representing regality and loyalty, purple is the luxury color of nature. This color shows uniqueness and can symbolize the crown chakra where inspiration flows in.
When purple is paired with other colors, it may slightly change its meaning. For example, purple and orange represent creativity, while purple and blue represent deep enlightenment.
Yoga is considered a practice that helps the individual become one with the Earth and all energies. Using subdued colors can help express that grounded connection. Illustrations from nature (like a tree or waves crashing) can further illustrate this concept of groundedness and focus.
Typography is an extremely important part of logo design. Even if you have an icon that largely represents your brand (like Gaiam), your brand name will still appear often and should remain consistent.
The right font will help your composition look professional and unify your logo design. The wrong font can look awkward and may make it hard to read. For yoga logos, try using a curvy font, maybe even take a handwritten approach to express the fluid motion of the practice.
The weight of a font is the thickness of the letters. You can use thick or thin lines to help create focal points and design hierarchy in your logos. Adding a thicker or thinner line within part of your logotype will help create visual interest. Always consider how the weight of your lines works with any included illustrative elements or other fonts.
When you include more than one word in your design, you might want to use 2 fonts. When using more than one font, you should pay attention to your font pairing. Not all fonts work well together, and there are some font pairing best practices to follow when choosing the fonts. As a rule of thumb, it’s best not to use more than 3 fonts or the design will get too busy.
These tips should help you design a logo that is perfect for your yoga brand. It’s also a good idea to check out your competition and get inspired by other fitness logos to better understand your industry.
Make sure your logo design is appealing to your audience and matches your studio or personal instructor style. It should help create a cohesive experience that all stems from the small visual representation of your brand.
The information provided on this page is for information, educational, and/or editorial purposes only. It is not intended to indicate any affiliation between Tailor Brands and any other brand or logo identified on this page.
Carly Miller is a freelance content writer specializing in all things branding related. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her traveling, playing with her dog, or reading a good book.
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