How to Design with Massage and Spa Logo Design Elements

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We’re living in challenging times, so it may come as no surprise that the health and wellness industry, including various types of spas, continues to grow. There are well over 22,000 businesses within the United States alone who fall under the massage and “spa” industry. And, of course, there are several different subtypes, as well.

That’s not even counting the health and wellness companies that feature spa treatments as an optional service, let alone companies that produce at-home spa treatments such as facials!

With such a wide range, it can be a challenge to find your niche. And even once you do find it, there’s still the issue of designing branding that accurately reflects what you have to offer to your audience, as well as which draws your target audience in.

Your massage and spa logo has a big job to do, because it’s usually the first connection that your potential audience has with your company. Additionally, it’s the most immediately memorable piece of branding you will produce — at least, it will be if it’s done right.

Massage and Spa Logo Ideas

Accuracy In Spa Logo Designs

It’s important that you have a clear understanding of what you will offer through your spa business. That needs to come through in the marketing, or you risk alienating customers because of inaccurate messaging or faulty representation.

As an extreme example, spas aren’t just for humans — there are pet spas, as well. So if you design a dog logo for pet groomi spas when you’ve intended to create a wellness space for humans, you’re going to run into some misunderstandings. And the reverse is true, as well!

Knowing your business and your intended audience is an important first step to creating an accurate, effective spa logo design.

What's Covered Under the "Spa Logo" Umbrella

Spas are all about providing therapeutic remedies to their clients.

With that in mind, you may find wellness, beauty, health logos, as well as medical and pharmacy logos, hair logos, skin care logos, essential oil and perfume logos, and massage therapy logos all have a great deal in common with spa logos. That’s because many of these companies offer a range of services that include therapies addressing these matters.

Other spas may feature services from an acupuncturist, or chiropractic services. Generally, spas are designed to heighten whole body wellness.

Spa Center Logo

And it doesn't stop there. Because of the mind-body connection, yoga retreats often feature spas. If your spa includes yoga as a feature, a meditation logo or a yoga logo may be ideal for the brand.

In fact, if it’s wellness related, chances are there’s a spa for it!

It’s much easier to rule out services that would be featured in a spa than it is to be entirely inclusive of what you can find. This should illustrate how important it is to know your brand and the services you will offer before you start to design your logo.

Where To Find Spa Logo Inspiration

With the features that your spa will offer clearly in mind, it’s time to take the second step: going in search of inspiration.

A good place to start finding spa logo ideas is by looking at the logos of spas that are already in operation. Likely, you have a favorite spa in mind, whether it’s one you’ve visited on vacation or one that operates in your local area.

Alternatively, you could check out some of the most famous spa logos in the world, such as listed here in Town and Country Magazine’s top destination spas. These include some of the best spa logos in existence.

Best Spa Logos

Famous Spa Logos

The point, ultimately, is to get a good idea of what individual elements say about the spas they represent. Because logo elements are so evocative and spas are so closely tied to whole-body health and wellness, it’s important to analyze what colors, fonts, and graphics say to the viewer. What works — and what doesn’t?

A great example of a famous spa logo is the logo for Australia’s Botanica Day Spa and Wellness Clinic. It uses a botanical print — ideal to match the name of the spa — in a warm, joyful color. It’s simple, pleasing to the eye, and effective for brand recognition.

The Lodge at Woodloch, a destination spa resort in Pennsylvania uses a more toned-down color palette, but a stylized lotus spa logo that is classic imagery for a resort and spa logo centered on whole-body and whole-mind pampering.

If you’re looking for medical spa logo ideas, take a look at the simple, refined logo for VIVAMAYR Altausee Spa in Altausee, Austria. It uses a simple lettermark V logo, stylistically designed to look like an encircled check mark, and rendered in a soft, warm red. It’s a great way to illustrate the potential difference between a health spa logo and, for example, a hair spa and salon logo, or a beauty and spa logo. This isn’t to say that classic spa logos images won’t work for a med spa logo, but there will likely be a difference in how it is designed.

When it comes to unique luxury spa logos, the logo for Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur, California, is a standout example. It’s an almost abstract design that is a nod both to traditional botanical imagery and the native heritage of the area, with an encircling line that gives a sense of completeness, which fits perfectly for a whole-body, whole-mind spa.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Massage Envy logo is a simple, functional lettermark, designed to put the emphasis on “ME.” While not the most attractive or appealing logo out there, for a spa franchise that is one of the biggest in the United States, it certainly gets the message across!

How To Start A Spa Logo Design

The first important step in beginning your logo design is to have in mind the services you’ll offer, the audience you’ll market to, and the personality behind your brand.

All of these will play into the design decisions you make as you progress. It’s a good idea to keep your outline of target audience, services, and brand personality close to hand as you consider your design step by step.

Spa Logo Inspirations

Professional designers often start by brainstorming different logo ideas. You can do this by hand, with a pen or pencil and paper.

As you brainstorm, keep the following graphic ideas in mind. They may give you the best spa logos for inspiration you need.

Best Graphics For A Spa Logo

Again, because spas cover such a wide range, the best graphic for your spa logo will depend on the services you offer.

Let’s break them down into a few different categories.

General wellness logo: General spa logo images often use mandalas, botanicals, and florals as a theme. Consider lotus blossoms, a rose logo or another type of flower logo, stylized bamboo, and peaceful water scenes. Stylized water logo graphics are excellent for spas, as they promote a sense of peace and well-being. Additionally, you may be designing a spa with a swimming pool logo, and a water scene such as a pond or fountain would be perfect for this.

Spa & massage logo: Massage therapy logos can borrow easily from the more general category of spa logo design ideas , as the same feeling of peace should be imbued in the massage therapist logo. However, when it comes to day spa logos vs. massage logo ideas, there may be more specific graphics for a massage and spa logo, such as a massaging hand logo. Additionally, the specific type of massage services which are offered should be considered. You may need to create a massaging foot logo, body logo, Thai massage logo, sports massage logo — again, this should really illustrate the importance of knowing the services that the spa will offer!

Beauty logo: Beauty spas usually offer services such as haircuts and styles, barber services, nail services, skincare and facials, and products that go along with these, such as haircare products and perfumes. Beauty spa logo ideas include silhouette logos, such as a woman or girl, often stylized; stylized hands with painted nails as nail spa logos.

Spa Logo Symbols

Keep in mind that it isn’t just the graphic itself that needs to be decided, but also the style of graphic. For most spas, a simple, stylized design will work the best.

Best Color Palettes For Spa Logos

Once you have an idea of what graphic you want to work with, the next step is deciding on color palettes.

As we saw from the examples earlier on, there aren’t really any rules regarding what colors you can choose for your logo design. However, that doesn’t mean that you should just pick whatever colors you personally happen to like.

Here are the elements that should be considered when choosing colors for your spa logo

Trends
Competition
The psychology of color

Let’s start with the first one. Trends vary in design from market to market, and even from area to area. They also tend to be somewhat transient, so if you make a design decision based on a popular trend, that same decision could mark your logo as being dated and out of touch later on, after the trend has moved on. (Massage Envy, we’re looking at you and your purple spa logotype.) Ultimately, the point is to be judicious in choosing to follow a trend. Make sure that it really fits your brand personality

Secondly, competition plays a hearty role in design decisions, for the simple reason that the last thing you want is to be mistaken for your competitors, or have them be mistaken for you. No one likes a copycat! Avoid colors and other design elements that are too close to your competition.

Thirdly, consider the psychology of logo colors. This is an intriguing area of research that discusses how we tend to react to certain colors, based on demographics, culture, and other factors. To some degree, your choice of color for your logo can impact the mood, feeling, and even the behavior of your viewers — ie., you can make it either more or less likely that they will give your spa a chance, by choosing colors that are either more or less appealing to them personally.

Spa Logo Color Palettes

Spas and wellness brands tend to rely heavily on soft, soothing colors, such as blues and greens. Because they are frequently nature-based in their products and services, greens are a particular favorite. This isn’t surprising, given what the psychology of color says about these particular hues. Blues are seen as trustworthy, calm, and soothing; greens are usually viewed as natural, healthy, and vibrant. Either of these are excellent choices for a spa logo.

Best Font Choice For Spa Logos

What about font choice?

First of all, this is especially important if you have decided to go with a spa logotype — in other words, if you have decided to simply use the name of your spa as the logo itself.

This is a current trend in many areas, and can be seen in some of the more well-known destination spas.

It isn’t as common among the wellness market as a combination mark (a logo which uses both a graphic and the name of the company in tandem), possibly because spas and the attendant services are viewed as soft, creative endeavors — usually well represented by a soft, creative graphic. Health spas and other medical-affiliated therapeutic businesses also frequently use combination mark logos.

However, regardless of what type of logo you decide to go for, the font that you choose is important. It must be legible and readable at different sizes. It must show up well against background imagery or colors. And it must be distinct from your competition.

By far the most common type of font for the spa industry, as far as we can tell from our research, is script font. This marks the spa industry as different from most other industries, which tend to rely on serifs or sans serifs in more plain and standard presentations. Cursive or script fonts are seen as creative, unique, and elegant, so it’s understandable why they so frequently pop up in the therapeutic industry.

Script font is an excellent choice; however, remember not to choose a font that is too similar to that of your competitors. Fortunately, there are thousands and thousands of script fonts to choose from. Tools like Google Fonts are excellent resources for helping you to narrow down your choice of spa logo fonts

Other Graphic Design Elements for Spa Logos

Symbol — A simple home improvement graphic, either pictorial or symbolic, isn’t hard to find. Many home improvement companies use stylized graphics, often with only one or two colors, though we’ll get into colors in greater depth soon.

The symbol you choose will depend on the type of business you’re designing for. Here are some popular options.

Along with these “big choice” design elements, there are other aspects which need consideration

White or negative space logo. Spas themselves are meant to promote peace and relaxation, so it’s best if the logo does as well. Don’t include too many elements, and make sure that the graphic and fonts have plenty of room to breathe.
Simplicity. Along the same lines, simple is always better. It makes your logo more memorable, more understandable, and more likely to be paid attention to. It’s also a key to a pleasant, peaceful aesthetic design.
Type of image. Your logo needs to be versatile, and show well at different sizes. Make sure to save it as a spa logo vector image.

How To Design A Spa Logo Using A Spa Logo Maker

Can you still put all of this spa logo design inspiration to use even if you’re not a professional graphic designer?

Of course you can! It’s really never been easier to design a logo for any market, with tools like LogoDesign.net. It provides free spa logo templates in it’s huge database, and more to get your creative juices flowing.

Step 1 Select your logo template from the spa logo maker.

Step 2 Tweak your design with fonts, colors, texts or add more elements.

Step 3 Download the vector file such as PNG, PDF, or JPG.

Best of all, if your budget is limited, creating the logo yourself is the best way to get your spa logo free of charge.

How To Use Your Spa And Wellness Logo In Branding

Branding is an important factor for the growth and success of any business. It’s an interesting challenge for a spa, however. Most spas are adjacent to other businesses, such as hosts like resorts, or services such as massage therapy.

Wellness Logos

How can you use your logo effectively in coordinating branding?

Here are a few ideas.

Spa related travel & hotel logo. If the spa is hosted by a resort, retreat, or hotel destination, consider designing the logo to reflect the hotel logo of the host. It may include some of the same elements, such as colors or fonts; many resort-hosted spas also include a notation underneath their wordmark, noting “by…” and the name of the resort. Cohesive branding works both ways and benefits both sides.
Spa center logo. Some spas are really “spa centers,” with a variety of different brands working together under an umbrella. In this case, branding should include the “umbrella” logo, though it can also use individual logos for each service, such as reiki logo designs, hair salon logos, and so on.
Massage spa logo. If your spa is hosting a massage therapist, the same may apply for the therapist. They can use their own therapist logo, but should include the spa’s logo in their branding.
Gym spa logo. Some gyms also host a day spa. Again, cohesive and harmonious branding works best for everyone involved.

Promote Wellness With Your Logo

You did it! You created your own spa logo for your wellness-based company, and it’s time to sit back, relax, and let it work for you!

Well, not exactly. Your logo will start to work for you, but you have to position it in appropriate locations in order to let it do its job.

Remember, that logo is the ambassador for the brand. It’s usually the first contact that your customers have with you, and it’s the one piece of branding that will be most closely associated with your company as a whole. Ideally, you want the logo to be synonymous with the values promoted by the brand; that’s why staying on-message is so important in logo design.

As such, the key to getting a logo to work for you is using it. It should be included in your official website, on all marketing materials, in signage, and on product design and product packaging, if applicable. Make it visible, and it will build bridges between your company and your audience.

Spas are excellent business opportunities, and often foster loyalty with the client base, who feels nurtured and cared for. With a solid, effective, memorable logo, any new brand will have the stepping stone it needs to reach new clients, fulfill its goals, and construct a lasting legacy.

Reviewed by Zaheer Dodhia, CEO and Founder LogoDesign.net.