Is your brand logo working the way it should? No, it’s not a trick question. This is a serious topic that every business needs to consider. If you haven’t started your business yet, this question should still be on your radar—after all, it’s better to know your logo will work than to just create one and hope it works.

According to Company Folders, every successful brand icon works for its parent company because it has 7 necessary components for a good logo. But what are these components, and how you can you implement them in your next design?

Successful logos are little bundles of contradictions. They’re innovative yet timeless, consistent yet adaptable, simple yet unique. But all of those seemingly paradoxical traits enable them to do one thing really well: appeal to a brand’s target audience.

Take Red Bull, for instance. Its target audience is young, adventurous people (probably men) who are on the go. So the Red Bull logo uses bright, urgent colors to create a sense of energy and dueling bulls to imply strength and action. The best part is, this design achieves all of that while also visually representing the brand’s name. Pretty cool, huh?

Creating a logo that’s on par with the likes of Red Bull may take you a little while. You can speed up the process with the resource below—or you can rely on design services by Company Folders to help you create a custom logo for your brand.