diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 7fa946b..b77f412 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -14,3 +14,4 @@ I welcome contributions of any kind with open arms. That said, please do stick t
 
 - For issues:
   - Please provide as much information as you can - share your config, any logs, steps to reproduce...
+  - If reporting an error, please ensure you use `IRONBAR_LOG` or `IRONBAR_FILE_LOG` set to `debug`.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fcf72bd..e85068a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Ironbar
 
-Ironbar is a customisable and feature-rich bar targeting wlroots compositors, written in Rust.
+Ironbar is a customisable and feature-rich bar for wlroots compositors, written in Rust.
 It uses GTK3 and gtk-layer-shell.
 
 The bar can be styled to your liking using CSS and hot-loads style changes.
@@ -8,9 +8,8 @@ For information and examples on styling please see the [wiki](https://github.com
 
 ![Screenshot of fully configured bar with MPD widget open](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/5057870/184539623-92d56a44-a659-49a9-91f9-5cdc453e5dfb.png)
 
-## Installation
 
-Run using `ironbar`.
+## Installation
 
 ### Cargo
 
@@ -42,6 +41,15 @@ install target/release/ironbar ~/.local/bin/ironbar
 
 [repo](https://github.com/jakestanger/ironbar)
 
+## Running
+
+All of the above installation methods provide a binary called `ironbar`.
+
+You can set the `IRONBAR_LOG` or `IRONBAR_FILE_LOG` environment variables to 
+`error`, `warn`, `info`, `debug` or `trace` to configure the log output level.
+These default to `IRONBAR_LOG=info` and `IRONBAR_FILE_LOG=error`.
+File output can be found at `~/.local/share/ironbar/error.log`.
+
 ## Configuration
 
 Ironbar gives a lot of flexibility when configuring, including multiple file formats
diff --git a/src/logging.rs b/src/logging.rs
index bdbf5ee..87f18da 100644
--- a/src/logging.rs
+++ b/src/logging.rs
@@ -32,9 +32,10 @@ impl<'a> MakeWriter<'a> for MakeFileWriter {
 /// for the lifetime of the application for logging to file to work.
 pub fn install_tracing() -> Result<WorkerGuard> {
     let fmt_layer = fmt::layer().with_target(true);
-    let filter_layer = EnvFilter::try_from_default_env().or_else(|_| EnvFilter::try_new("info"))?;
+    let filter_layer = EnvFilter::try_from_env("IRONBAR_LOG").or_else(|_| EnvFilter::try_new("info"))?;
+
     let file_filter_layer =
-        EnvFilter::try_from_default_env().or_else(|_| EnvFilter::try_new("warn"))?;
+        EnvFilter::try_from_env("IRONBAR_FILE_LOG").or_else(|_| EnvFilter::try_new("warn"))?;
 
     let log_path = data_dir().unwrap_or(env::current_dir()?).join("ironbar");