If you know my history, you know that I've started and ended a few brands in the last 5 years. Two of them were personal brands, and two were corporate. In all of those experiences, I've learned to really think about what it means to brand yourself or your new company.
Where I started:
3 Circular Saw
Color: Believe it or not, color has underlying meaning. Red is symbolic of power, of being "sassy." Green these days has a very environmental, or nature-centric feel. And so on. (There's a great color series on Jennifer Bourn's blog, Bourn Creative)
Think about your personality, and the personality of your brand. What colors would best represent that? If there's no clear answer, then think about what colors are your favorite instead. Sometimes, those colors are the best choice, both because they best represent YOU and because you're going to have to look at them every day, on every piece of marketing material you see.
Font: All fonts have personalities, not just the fancy ones. Overused fonts, or system fonts, often look amateur to a consumer's eye. Times New Roman, for example, should never be a part of your brand, anywhere. (Sorry, but it's true!) There are so many professional fonts out there, nice ones, both serif (with tags like Times) and sans-serif (like Arial) that can properly represent your brand. Those fonts can look chic, western, spooky, round and happy, artistic, and so on and so on. If you and your brand are super corporate, find a nice font that hasn't been used on everything under the sun. Try Garamond! Try anything else! Regardless of what you choose, it should be authentically YOU. My favorite place to search for new fonts is myfonts.com - and yes, I believe you SHOULD pay for fonts, but that's for another post.
And never, ever, choose Comic Sans, unless you specifically own a business that caters to kids. (and even if you do, it's the parents that pay for it) :)
Image: You don't HAVE to have an image as part of your logo, but if you do, it should say something and mean something. Just because it means something to YOU doesn't mean it has anything to do with your business. A shiny red ball really says nothing about you or your brand unless you manufacture shiny red balls.
Example: I once had a client who was a landscaper. His logo was an odd looking pyramid with a flag on either side - a Mexican flag and a US flag. When I asked him why, he said he had spent time in a place where they had pyramid-looking mountains, and that place was in Mexico. But his logo had nothing to do with landscaping! Most people probably wondered what the heck it was when they saw it on his business card. I certainly did. I get that the imagery was meaningful to him, but not only was it irrelevant, it was way too complicated for a logo.
Choose something simple, something recognizable, something that, when people see it, they will immediately think of you. Logo imagery can be clever, even when it's simple. And it can also look professional, even when it's simple.
Does your brand accurately represent you? What do you think people think of when they look at your logo? (If you're curious, I bet I could tell you. Or ask your local neighborhood friendly designer.)