A logo is your brand identity. You need to take absolute care in designing your logo. It should reflect your brand’s message.
Certain brands prefer to use only text for their logos. Some use custom designs using professional logo maker. While some else will use a combination of design and text.
What you use will depend on your preference.
No matter what you use, the logo should be memorable with soothing colors, or it should have a bold design that stays in people’s mind.
Well, I am not here to tell you how to design a logo.
Honestly, I can’t! I am not a designer.
But what I can say from years of experience with blogs and websites is that the way you place your logo can make a lot of difference.
You see, some people will like to keep the logo in focus with a lot of white space around it. Some others will like to reduce the focus on the logo and bring the services in focus.
How you deal with it will depend on what you want to achieve.
Whatever you decide, if you have your logo, you need to upload to your WordPress site, or whichever platform you are using.
Since this article focuses on WordPress, I will show you the different methods you can use for uploading or adding a custom logo to your WordPress site.
To end this article, I will also provide a quick list of logo making services that you can use to create some unique logos in case you are not a designer, or you cannot afford to hire a designer or a designing firm.
Let’s begin.
Method 1: Add a Custom Logo to Your WP Site
This method is pretty straightforward and the most widely used method. You can use your theme’s customization panel to upload your custom logo.
It doesn’t matter whether you are using a premium WordPress theme or a free version. Every theme you select will allow you to upload your logo.
Since modern themes have more or less switched to the live customizer, you can use that route. There are some themes that still use the traditional theme customization panel that you can access from your WordPress dashboard.
Since different themes use different methods, and since they have different customization options, your theme may have slightly different settings from what I am going to show here.
In this example, I will use the famous GeneratePress theme that is available in both free and premium flavors.
You may be using just about any theme.
If your theme uses the live customizer for customization, the method will be more or less similar.
Here are the steps you need to follow if you are using GeneratePress (example here will be for the premium version of the theme):
Step 1: Go to Live Customizer
You can access the live customizer from the admin bar you see on the top after you log in into your WordPress site.
On the top you can see the admin bar where you can find the option called Customize.
See the highlighted option (using orange color).
You need to click on that to access the live customizer.
You can go for a slightly more complex method of accessing the live customizer by following this path:
WordPress Dashboard >> Appearance >> Customize
No matter which method you select, you will reach the live customizer from where you can upload the custom logo for your website.
Step 2: Inside Live Customizer
Once you reach the live customizer, this is what you will see:
You will see this on the left side of the screen. The options you see will differ from theme to theme. So, the options you see in the screenshot above might not be present for your theme. You may see a completely different set of options, or just fewer options if you are using the free GeneratePress theme.
No matter which theme you are using, you will find an option (or something similar) to Site Identity.
Some themes may use the word ‘Logo.’
Here is the live customizer for another premium WordPress theme called Soledad:
Notice how Soledad explicitly uses the word Logo.
So, the option you see will depend on the theme you are using. Usually, no matter which theme you are using, the logo option will be set separately, or it can be tucked inside the Header settings options, because your logo will be in the site header.
It is just common sense that you need to apply.
Don’t panic!
Step 3: Set the Logo
Once you select the appropriate option from the live customizer menu, you will get the options for uploading your custom logo. This is what you see in the case of GeneratePress theme:
You will have the options of adding Site Title, Site Tagline, etc. You can also add a retina logo if your theme supports that.
Make sure that you hide the Site Title and Tagline options if you don’t want to show text beside your logo.
Usually, this is the segment from where you can set the favicon (favorite icon) and even the mobile specific logo.
GeneratePress in particular, doesn’t support uploading a mobile logo from here. You have to dig deeper into the setting to find it.
Other themes may allow that from that single menu.
It all depends on the logic that the theme developers use for building their themes.
Once you have set the logo, just save your settings. If you find other options like setting logo width and height, you can toy around with those options.
You may also find the options for selecting the logo location, but that option usually comes up when you are playing with the header settings.
The allowed logo locations will depend on the available header designs.
The classic style is to have the logo above the navigation menu. This is what it looks like:
Depending on the theme you are using, you may have the following options available:
- Logo above menu
- Logo below menu
- Logo on the left of menu
- Logo on the right of menu
- Logo in the menu (when menu is used as header)
- Logo on left and menu on right
- Logo on right and menu on left
Just play around and settle for the option you want.
Here is what you will see in the case you are using menu as the header:
When you use the menu as a header, you will notice that both the menu and the logo are placed in the header. There is no separate header.
Some people like this option, too, because it helps to take the focus away from the logo and put it on the actual content.
It is totally your choice!
That’s it!
You have added a custom logo to your WordPress Site.
Method 2: Add Custom Logo to Your WP Site
NOTE: This method involves code modification.
Do not attempt this if you are not comfortable.
Do not attempt this without taking the backup of the file you will be modifying.
Do not attempt this directly from inside your WordPress dashboard.
Take these warnings very seriously. If you mess up somewhere, your website will be bricked. If you mess up, your website may become inaccessible.
So, be very careful!
Here are the steps that you must follow:
Step 1: Upload the Logo Through Your Media Uploader
You need to upload your custom logo through the media uploader. To do so, follow the path below:
WordPress Dashboard >> Media >> Add New
Once you have uploaded the logo, click on the media file (logo image) and get its URL. Copy the URL and save it on a notepad or any text editor.
Step 2: Get the header.php File
Any WordPress theme will have a file called header.php. You need to find that file and download it. You will have the option for editing the file directly inside WordPress, but I will never recommend doing that.
Rather, download the file and save it locally on your computer.
To download the file, you can use your hosting provider’s file manager or you can use an FTP client like FileZilla.
Choose whatever is comfortable for you. I usually prefer using FileZilla, because that allows secure connection using SSH Keys.
Step 3: Edit the header.php File and Upload It Back
This is the most vital step. This is where you can mess things up.
So, you should edit it locally.
Before you edit it, make sure that you are making a backup copy of the file and keeping it safe. After you have made a backup copy (simply copy and paste the file in a different folder in the same directory or in a different directory), open the file using any text editor you are using. It can be notepad or notepad++ or any other text editor.
Once you open the file, hit the CTRL+F buttons to pull up the search function.
Search <h1>.
You will see something like this:
Delete anything you see between <h1> and </h1> or anything between <h1 class=”site-title”> and </h1>, and replace it with this:
<img src=”https://mysite.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image_name.jpg” border=0 alt=”My Site” />
So, the end result will be:
<h1><img src=”https://mysite.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image_name.jpg” border=0 alt=”My Site” /></h1>
Or,
<h1 class=”site-title”><img src=”https://mysite.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image_name.jpg” border=0 alt=”My Site” /><h1>
Note that the URL should be replaced by the actual image URL that you copied and saved earlier.
In alt=”My Site,” replace My Site with anything you want. Ideally, put the name of your website.
Once you have made the changes, save the file and upload the header.php file to the place where you downloaded the file from. Since header.php will already be present there, simply replace it when prompted.
That’s it!
Now you will have your logo in place!
Of course, the second method is more suitable for people who are comfortable with coding. It is not for rookies.
If you are a rookie, you may try out this second method if your website is brand new with no content, and you are only experimenting with things.
Okay, now that you know how to add a custom logo to your WordPress site, the next logical question that follows is, “How to get a custom logo?”
How to Get a Custom Logo?
There are several ways of getting a custom logo. Let’s look into those options.
Option 1: Design it
You can design it yourself or you can ask a designer or a designing agency to design the logo for you. However, to design your logo, you need to have knowledge of professional designing tools like Adobe illustrator or similar software programs.
If you want to hire a designer or a designing agency, you will have to pay a lot of money.
Option 2: Online Logo Design Tools
There are various online graphic design tools that will allow you to create your custom logo.
However, you need to understand that they offer premade templates. You need to select from those templates. The maximum flexibility you can get is that of using different shapes to create a unique logo.
Unfortunately, you cannot create your own shapes and design your logo. You need to select from the existing shapes and icons.
You can always play with fonts, colors, size, etc.
There is another problem. The free options will not allow you to get high resolution logos. If you need high resolution options, you have to pay a monthly subscription fee.
Online graphic tools are simple to use, and they mostly offer a drag-and-drop feature, making them perfectly suitable for those who do not know anything about designing.
There are many such online tools like Canva, Designapp, MarkMaker, Logomakr, Hatchful, Svglogomaker and Tailor Brands.
If you search more, you can always get more such services, but these are the major players in the market.
Conclusion
Adding a custom logo to your WordPress site is not difficult. In fact, the popular method is very straightforward, suitable for just about anyone!
The real challenge comes in creating a custom logo. That can be a costly affair. If you are okay with limited customization, online graphic tools are always a great choice.
