Quick answer
A security company logo is worn at night on uniforms and high-vis, checked by procurement teams on tender documents and seen on patrol vehicles in car parks. Our £129 logo comes with horizontal, stacked and icon-only layouts: the icon becomes the shoulder patch, the stacked version the jacket back and the horizontal one the tender cover.
This page is for manned guarding businesses: static guarding, door supervision, event security, mobile patrols and key holding, retail loss prevention and close protection. If you install alarms, CCTV or access control, your customers buy equipment and the brief is different. Here the product is people, and the logo has to make a stranger in a uniform look trustworthy and accountable at a glance.
One new contract, every file it needs
Picture a firm that wins a retail park contract with four weeks to mobilise. This is how the one logo order splits across the jobs that follow:
- The mobilisation plan and assignment instructions take the horizontal logo in black, because the client’s site manager will print and photocopy them.
- The uniform supplier gets the icon as a one-colour vector for shoulder patches and the stacked version for jacket backs, with the licence position on the sleeve or chest marked on the order.
- The patrol car gets the horizontal file for reflective vinyl, and the site boards get the same panel layout used on every other site.
- The reporting app gets a horizontal logo on white and a square icon, so the store manager’s morning report matches the tender.
Nothing on that list needs a new design. It needs the right version of one design, sent to each supplier in the format they ask for.
Who buys guarding and what they check
| Buyer | What they check | What the logo should signal |
|---|---|---|
| Facilities and property managers | Approval, insurance, staff vetting, reporting | Corporate, organised, safe to put on a supplier list |
| Retail and shopping centres | Visible deterrence, customer manner | Authority without aggression |
| Construction and empty sites | Patrols, response times, key holding | Tough and dependable, readable on site boards |
| Pubs, clubs and venues | Licensed door staff, incident handling | Calm presence; readable in low light |
| Event organisers | Numbers at short notice, crowd experience | Clear and visible from a distance on high-vis |
| Private clients | Discretion and professionalism | Understated, premium, often a monogram |
If your work spans several of these, lead with the contracts that make most of your revenue and let the website explain the rest.
Licensed people, approved companies
Two parts of the SIA system shape how a guarding brand presents itself. Individuals hold SIA licences. Companies can choose to join the SIA’s Approved Contractor Scheme, which GOV.UK describes as a voluntary quality assurance scheme that approves private security companies, separate from licensing people, with a public register anyone can search. The SIA’s own guidance on choosing an SIA approved contractor tells buyers to check that register, so assume the people reading your tender will.
That has a direct branding consequence. Buyers can check, so never put a regulator’s name, a scheme mark or wording that implies approval into your logo, and never use a mark you do not hold: the Approved Contractor Scheme page warns that claiming to be an approved contractor when you are not is a criminal offence, including indirectly by displaying the scheme’s accreditation mark. If you are approved, put it in a credentials row next to the logo, using the artwork only as the SIA allows, alongside any trade association membership such as the BSIA, which publishes a member directory. Kept in a separate row, these can be removed or updated without redrawing your brand.
Uniforms, high-vis and the licence on show
A guard’s uniform does more branding work than anything else you own, and it has a rule attached. GOV.UK’s page on SIA licence conditions says front line licence holders must wear their licence where it can be seen at all times when carrying out licensable activity, apart from listed exceptions such as covert work. Plan the uniform so the licence holder has its own clear spot, usually on the upper arm or chest, and the company branding never covers or crowds it.
- Shoulder patches and chest embroidery need the icon-only version in one or two thread colours, solid and simple enough to stitch at patch size.
- Jacket and high-vis backs usually carry a role word such as SECURITY in large reflective letters. Put your stacked logo above or below that word, not inside it, and make sure it works in one colour on fluorescent yellow and on black.
- Caps, beanies and fleeces for outdoor and event work take the icon on the front.
- Ties, lanyards and ID cards for corporate reception teams can carry a quieter, premium version.
Our guide to logos that embroider and sign well explains what to send your uniform supplier.
The shield problem
Shields, padlocks, eagles and lions appear on so many security logos that a procurement panel reading six bids will struggle to remember which shield was yours. They also tend to be detailed, which makes them hard to embroider.
| Cliché | Why it struggles | A stronger route |
|---|---|---|
| Crest or heraldic shield | Looks like everyone else, and fussy in thread | A simple geometric mark built from your initials |
| Padlock or keyhole | Says locksmith or alarms, not guarding | A symbol of watchfulness or presence, drawn simply |
| Eagle, lion or wolf | Can read as aggressive to retail and corporate clients | A strong wordmark with one confident letterform |
| Police-style chequers or crowns | Can be mistaken for an official body and erodes trust | A distinctive colour of your own, such as a deep teal or a burnt orange |
A modern mark still needs authority. Heavy, upright letters, a restrained palette and plenty of contrast give you that without a single shield.
Patrol vehicles and key holding
Mobile patrol and response cars are seen at night, often parked outside client premises. Keep the graphics simple: the horizontal logo, a phone number and a short service line, with reflective vinyl where it is allowed. Avoid anything that mimics emergency service livery, which confuses the public and undermines your credibility. Vehicle graphics are a separate job from the logo; our Vehicle Wrap and Signage design (from £99) works from the same files.
Key holding calls for discretion. Tags should carry your icon and a code that only your control room can match to a site, with no client name or postcode, so a dropped bunch of keys identifies nothing but your company.
Tenders, assignment instructions and incident reports
Guarding contracts are usually won and kept on paper. Your logo appears on the tender response, the method statement, the mobilisation plan, assignment instructions for each site, daily occurrence books, incident reports and monthly performance reports. Many of these are printed, scanned or photocopied, so the black-only logo does as much work as the colour one. One consistent header across every document tells a buyer you run a system. Our guides to winning commercial contracts and to building a credentials deck cover what to include beyond the branding.
If you send clients reports through a guard-tour or incident app, the company logo usually sits at the top of every report and in the client portal, so it is seen by the people who renew the contract. Upload a horizontal version on a white background and a square icon for the app avatar, so the reports a facilities manager reads each morning look as professional as your tender did.
Site boards and patrol signs
Many clients want a board that tells the public a site is patrolled or guarded. A horizontal logo on a high-contrast panel, with the message in large type and a 24-hour number underneath (our guide to signage design covers materials), works as both a deterrent and an advert. Use the same panel layout on every site so your boards become recognisable across a town. Our Poster and Banner Design (from £89) can set up that board template from your logo files.
Door supervisors and event teams
Door and event staff work in crowds, in the dark and often in the rain. Their branding has to identify them instantly for customers and for colleagues on the radio. A one-colour icon on armbands, a large back print and a consistent colour for team leaders make a team easy to spot. Keep it simple enough that a last-minute order of extra tabards for a festival can be made quickly by any supplier.
What £129 covers for a security company
Our Logo Design is £129 with all layouts included, so the shoulder-patch icon, the jacket-back version and the tender-header lockup are one order, with the single-colour file for embroidery and reflective vinyl. First concepts arrive within 48 hours, with unlimited concepts and revisions within your brief, a 3D mockup and every file format a uniform printer or sign maker asks for. The copyright transfers to you on delivery, so uniform suppliers can reproduce it on every reorder. For a firm bidding against national providers, our brand identity design (£299) adds a fixed palette, typefaces and templates for assignment instructions and client reports. Signage, vehicle and website prices sit together on our pricing page.
Re-kitting on the uniform issue cycle
Guarding firms already reissue uniforms on a cycle, and the cheapest rebrand rides on it. Before the first garment is ordered, settle one detail with your supplier: the licence position. Keep it in the same place on every new item as on the old, so supervisors can keep checking it at a glance.
| Group or kit | When it changes | Why then |
|---|---|---|
| New starters | The first uniform order after sign-off | They need a full issue anyway, so no more old stock is bought |
| Each site team | One agreed date per site, starting with the team next due for reissue | The client never sees two brands at the same gate |
| Jackets and fleeces | The seasonal issue, where one falls inside the changeover | Outerwear carries the largest print and costs most to replace early |
| Spare kit in site cupboards | Collected on that site’s changeover day | No officer reaches for an old tabard on a wet night |
Give each site manager the changeover date in writing, so a new patch on a familiar officer is expected rather than questioned. Send your issue cycle and any tender deadline when you order your security company logo, and ask support@luxbranding.co.uk if a uniform or sign supplier needs a file you cannot find.
