I Hate My Logo! What You Should Get For Your Money and
Why
by Kay Stoner
Published on this site: August 26th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
This is not a how-to design a logo. This is a guide to educate
you on how an experienced designer can help you through a
project whose outcome you will need to live with for years.
Learn how greatly the symbolic significance of your corporate
identity can impact your business. To say anyone can design
a logo is to say anyone can design a 53 story high rise. Here
are some key lessons that will tell you if you're choosing
the right architect for your corporate identity!
Simple Definition- On The Surface
A logo design is composed of one or more elements of shape,
type, and thematically chosen colors. In a glance, it conveys
a substantial amount of information to the viewer, much in
the form of short gut feelings that aren't vocalized -good,
hesitant, authoritative, dignified, classy, upscale, expertise,
cheap.the list is endless.
Your logo is a symbol that will stand on every piece of printed
or electronic collateral for at least the next 10 years. Remember
that thought. Changing your logo in a year because you don't
like it breeds confusion and mistrust that spreads like weeds
within your audience. Many people over look that fact when
they have a logo designed from the Internet for $25.
Your identity is an extension of your business that communicates
visually, through appearance, and emotionally, through symbolism.
Curtailing or ignoring thought, revision, and growth in the
design process will hurt your finished product and corporate
image. A good graphic artist will lead you through the design
process. He or she will help visualize your company as the
world sees you.
"I'm not creative," "I can't draw," "Make
it green cause green is my favorite color and I'm the boss
and it's my logo!" If you find yourself thinking along
these lines, you're pretty normal so don't worry! If your passion and talent
lie in matching the perfect violin to a young blossoming talent
that walks into your music store, you're probably not going
to do your own corporate tax returns.
Tax returns are done every year. Your logo, the heart and
soul of your business is created once. It's part of you, and
is the face of your business the world will see. Let a graphic
artist, whose own passion is design, help you with what they
do best. It's well worth the investment. Let's look at why.
In the following we'll discuss some obvious and not so obvious
things a logo communicates and illustrate by examples you'll
recognize. You will have a greater understanding of how much
power your little icon can potentially have.
Logos: The Obvious Characteristics
From a usability and visibility standpoint there a several
key factors that must be built into the design. Your logo
must be clear and simple enough that it does not lose meaning
when reproduced at different sizes, specifically smaller.
If it is too cluttered and muddy on your business card your
first impression will be a disappointment to a potential client.
It must not lose meaning when reproduced in one color. The
Internet and online marketing let you produce things in blazing
colorful glory without extra cost. However, don't forget those
equally important other places your logo will be seen like
packaging, shopping bags, faxes, Xeroxes, newspapers, business
cards, brochures and letterhead. Those are important items
in building brand loyalty and recognition to your product. If they don't look sharp, neither
will your image, and neither will your sales.
Logos: The Quiet, Harmonic Subtle Qualities Often Overlooked
Your logo is a symbol of your company's ideals, practices
and missions. A well-developed, carefully sculpted logo can
inspire vision, stability and comfort. Your image can make
a viewer feel he or she is in the best, most experienced hands.
With this visual interaction you are building a trust with
your audience.
Instill trust and a solid foundation
A logo can build trust and credibility. When you see a company's
logo, even briefly, you feel something. That something can
make you uneasy and worried about what you'll get for your
money, or it can make you feel safe. How about McDonald's?
(Fat grams and calories aside for a moment), when you see
the Golden Arches, most people think good, fun, always-know-what-to-expect-even-in-a-strange-land
hamburger. If you are lost in a foreign country, sighting
the McDonald's Logo creates a sense of familiarity and relief.
How about a black circle with two little circles on either
side, toward the top. Mickey. (Yes, that might make some mom
and dad's feel faint at the ticket prices), but beyond that,
there's an unparalleled, magical feeling of childhood, laughter
and joy. What powerful emotion from three, joined, black circles
that transcends language and culture.
If we say your logo is a symbol, by definition it represents
the heart and root system of your company. The ultimate goal
is for your audience to feel and understand your business
on an emotional level and remember it. Sometimes logos can
have an abstract relationship, sometimes right in your face.
Either way, they must make sense and uniquely tie into your
business. If you buy a pair of sneakers with a swoosh on them,
do you have any doubt that they will wear out too soon, be
uncomfortable, or a waste of money?
Show you are proactive and visionary
Say you're in the market for a luxury car. You are probably
less worried about the obnoxious sales people and more attune
to advertising you've seen. Which companies immediately come
to mind when you think of precision, perfection and technological
achievement?
Logos like Jaguar, Mercedes, or BMW convey enough inherent
sense of forward thinking that they can appear as the only
element on a billboard. There is a confidence you're in a
class of superior engineering, advanced technology, and
luxurious style compared to low and mid range automobiles.
And even more intriguing, if you're an owner or in the market
for one, doesn't seeing that particular logo reinforce those
ideals to you? How can a little silver kitty on the front
of a hood evoke such deep emotional reactions?
Portray confidence and expertise
Calvin Klein, Ralph Loren, and Coca-Cola are recognizable
from across a room. With each, you know purchased products
are consistent in quality. I'd suggest the most obviously
confident is Calvin Klein. But it works, doesn't it? The smell
of CK cologne might trigger a good (maybe bad!) memory for
you. Who in real life is more confident than the perfect underwear
models that seem to be in endless production? If they don't
radiate self-confidence to that corporation, I'm at a loss
for what does!
People will argue Coke is better than Pepsi or vice versa.
It really doesn't matter because both are regarded as the
best cola drinks made. Either one far surpasses any of the
knock off brands. They are experts in their field. So how
does a designer create an image like these for your company?
How does a designer begin? Every creative professional has
his or her own methods, but the initial premise and ultimate
journey is the same.
Design Is A Process
Research
It is impossible to find parallels of symbolism and create
a logo identity without learning about the company, interacting
with its employees, understanding the products and services,
and examining the competition.
Here a designer starts to understand what ideals the corporate
image must convey and what makes the company unique. Now,
how to communicate those thoughts, feelings, and ideals onto
paper.
Brainstorming/Draft
I usually carry a small tablet around with me when I'm working
on a logo design. I sit at lunch, at red lights, and through
the day sketching, scribbling, jotting down
thoughts that pop into my head. These aren't anything for
show, but quick ideas that usually springboard to new ones.
Eventually one common thread stands out and I'll extrapolate
some tighter focused ideas around that theme.
Revision
This is the most important process of design. This is where
shapes and words combine into life. Here is where ideas evolve
into concrete concepts. These concepts are further reworked,
poked and prodded, transformed into more detailed, individual
entities. A new idea may still enter into the mix, but results
become much more refined and defined.
At a point when gut instinct and some outside opinions say,
"That's a keeper!" I'll present the top three concepts
to the client. I may offer some thoughts about color or other
added aesthetic enhancements, but I'm more interested in conveying
the underlying meaning of the symbol, and how I think it would
speak to an audience and drive the company forward.
Conclusion
I strongly suggest you let an experienced designer help you
with your logo development. It's not unreasonable to pay several
thousand dollars for a design. That design should, however,
take more than two days to develop and a lot of interaction
and explanation! But you have to live with the results and
they should be nothing less than great.
When interviewing several graphic artists, ask them how they
develop a logo. What steps do they take? Their way might be
a bit different than this article, but the general thought
should be the same. You're business is probably your most
valued investment. Help the world believe that too by having
a logo that conveys it.
Name recognition, building trust, and brand loyalty take
time. All of the companies talked about were new once too.
And, all are innovators with their own unique, wonderfully
expressive faces to the world.
John Krycek is the owner and creative director of theMouseworks.ca.
Read additional articles on logo design and graphic and web design in
easy, non-technical, up front English!
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