One of the most essential pillars of Corporate Design – herewith Corporate Identity, too – is the logo. Have you ever thought about the meaning and ramifications of your logo design? What makes a logo good?
As soon as you found a new business, considerations will be made about the themes of marketing, presentation and logo design. Often in this early phase, the awareness of professional design is lacking or »economised«. According to the motto: »I will do the logo – cannot be so difficult.« Many business owners experience indeed later, as soon as they collaborate with creative professionals, that self-created logo demonstrates shortcomings resp. graphic weaknesses. Best case, you must revise the logo later, worst case you must completely design a new one (e. g. if font licensing compliance for the chosen font is too expensive, or the logo in small display is not legible – here there can be many reasons).
Quite often online tools are used as free or low-cost assistance for users to construct logos. Here, too, caution is advised: You are sourcing templates that also are available for everybody else – unique selling point goodbye.
In order to create a well-designed logo suitable for you, some requirements are necessary – but one point at a time …
1. What is a Logo?
»Logo« stems from Greek »lógos (λόγος)«, which among others means »word«. In a business context »Logo« defines a graphic symbol representing an enterprise, organisation, product or service. It is an essential component of the visual graphical style, Corporate Design, makes important aspects of Corporate Identity visible and should appeal to target group(s).
A logo is comprised of script and can also include an image logo (signet). Well-established brands often leave out the word branding (e. g. Apple)
2. What defines a good logo?
According to the definition (see 1.), the following points are derived:
- Uniqueness: Das Logo expresses the brand essence. This must thus be clearly defined prior to design of the logo – and must be unique (differentiate to competition).
- Good legibility: At the beginning, it is particularly important to create a good – above all easily readable – word brand, because potential clients must first get acquainted with (and remember) your brand. When they search the brand in internet, the name must be firmly fixed upon memory.
- Addresses the target audience(s): In order to work accurately, it is important to know your target group(s) and their needs. Ideally, the entire Corporate Identity speaks to them and will be visualised by Corporate Design.
Furthermore:
- Color scheme: An extensive study* of established American brand logos concluded that 80% of all those questioned were able to correctly associate the logo colors. In this color combination is a high value of recognition potential.
- Form reduction: The same study showed the result that the more simple and minimalist the forms, the greater the success of remembering the logo. However, here lies also a threat: Logos that are rendered too simply can be easily confused with other logos. Quite classic: the circle is one of the most popular logo basic forms.
- Timely: The spirit of the time is reflected in the visual design. A »modern« logo is after a certain time not so modern. It is therefore customary to periodically revise logos – timespan and the scope of reworking differ greatly. In the ideal case only gentle re-design is necessary to not endanger the trust, which has already been built up in the brand.
3. What is Branding?
The word »Branding« comes from the domestic animal practice to brandmark a sign in the skin. Often Branding is understood to be the complete image of a brand – and thus mistaken for Corporate Identity. In most cases we actually mean only a part of CI – namely the emotional brand development. Here you define which emotions should be elicited or connected to your brand. Subsequent applications are branding strategies and measures for the brand development. Creating the connection to the brand is critical. This takes place through Corporate Design – particularly over the logo.
So here you see: Your logo is important! Leave it to a graphic profi with experience!
You are at the start and want to convince from the beginning with a professional logo?
You would like to have your old logo revised by a profi?
I am glad to support you and look forward to your inquiry!
*) Study: The logos of global corporations like Apple, Starbucks, and Foot Locker are designed to create instant brand associations in the minds of billions who see them every day. But how accurately can we remember the features and colors of these famous symbols? To find out, we asked over 150 Americans to draw 10 famous logos from memory as accurately as they could.
https://www.signs.com/branded-in-memory/
