Your logo carries a lot of weight for your business and should be treated that way. It’s not just a visual symbol you slap on your stationery. It’s much more than that and may say more than what you think.
It’s the starting point
Your logo is the starting point for any interaction you have with potential customers. This can be on your website, stationery or even on your social media pages. It’s typically in the upper left of a document or page and is naturally where most look first. The first impression is more important than ever with attention spans decreasing by the second.
It’s who you are
Your logo is a visual representation of what your business provides and how it provides it. The different aspects of your logo such as color, font, size, boldness, etc. says who you are very quickly. People are used to seeing logos and subconsciously make a decision immediately whether a company might be dependable or worth calling by looking at the quality of their logo. If the business hasn’t taken the time to create a great logo, why would they care to do a good job for me? This carries throughout the rest of your marketing materials as well such as your website, printed materials, and social media. Your logo is your brand and says a lot about your business. Be sure to give it the attention it deserves and you’ll see the benefits.
The message of color and type
You may be sending a different message with your logo that you think. What colors are being used in your logo? Are you using a strong color pallet with reds and blacks or more subtle colors? Does your color pallet mirror the type of services or products you’re offering? The answers to these questions don’t come easy to everyone, but are aspects that need to be taken seriously when designing your logo. Typically stronger colors represent power and boldness while softer muted colors tend to be more approachable and friendly. What’s right for your business depends on what personality you would like to portray, your target audience and the industry you’re in. The same goes with your font selection. The subtle differences in typefaces can represent different feelings and personalities. Headline fonts tend to be more forward and in your face while a thinner font may be more elegant and sophisticated. Most typefaces have different weights and styles. When picking a font, look at the available styles and weights for that font. Consider what applications you’ll need it for. How large or small will the fonts need to be? Experiment with shrinking your type way down and making it large. Does it hold up a different sizes? Put as much importance on your font selection as you do your icon. For some logos, these are one in the same which adds even importance. And last, don’t forget about your tagline. If you have one, it’s typically much smaller and will need to be legible at smaller sizes.
Your logo investment
If you’re considering redesigning your logo, don’t take the decision lightly. How much do you have invested in your current logo? Consider how your customers might take your rebranding. Do you have an older customer base who may be confused by the change? Do you have customers who may think you’ve been bought out? Consider putting together a process for educating your customers on the reasoning behind your rebrand. It’s also an opportunity to create a press release announcing new and fresh material. Think through whether it’s the right time for a rebrand and how you plan on communicating that to your customers. As you’ve probably seen with some bigger brands, a rebrand can be a disaster if the logo is not well accepted. You’ll find that everyone will have an opinion about design whether you want to hear it or not. In fact, these opinions good and bad are a must to make sure you’re on the right path. Take the time during the logo design process to get some feedback from larger groups to cut out some of the headache that follows.
Let the designers do their work
Give your designers the permission to explore with your new logo. They’ve taken the time to research your industry and have asked you a hundred questions about your business for a reason. There is a lot to say with your logo and a good designer takes all of these things into consideration. Don’t try to micro-manage your designer by giving too much direction. Let them explore the possibilities first before injecting too much criticism. There is a time a place for comments, suggestions and criticism, but the beginning exploration stages is not the time. Expect your designer to give you a few options, not twenty. Designers keep options limited with an effort to stay focused conceptually. In the logo design process, before you see any concepts, the designer has already been through an exploratory phase which involves trying various marks and treatments which allow them too separate good ideas from bad. The first visuals you see are not their first ideas, but likely a few among forty or fifty.