We all know how important logos are for our businesses. They are our representatives in the harsh and competitive digital world. They are our ambassadors. They accomplish for us, what we cannot do ourselves. They keep our brands, products, and services front and center in the minds of our audiences. They keep our brands evergreen and memorable. That is not all. There are a million different functions that our logos perform for us, whether we know about them or not.
That is why businesses put so much effort into building their logo. They either hire an in-house team of logo designers that can do the work for them or they contact some agency that offers exceptional logo design services. But when these businesses are in the process of having their logos designed, they all go for trendy logos, look good and tell people what the brand or the business is all about. In this way, they take the focus away from one of the most important things that a logo needs to do: identify. According to Paul Rand, a business’s logo is the flag or the signature that identifies the business. Every one of us has a unique signature. People can look at our signatures and identify us. The same goes for flags. You can easily identify a country by looking at its flag. The same is true for a logo. Paul Rand also said that your logo is much more important than your product. Now, you may not agree with this but remember that Paul is a pioneer in logo designing and has designed logos for companies like IBM, UPS, Enron, Morningstar, Inc., Westinghouse, ABC, and NeXT, among others.
That is why we say that your logo brings people closer to your brand and helps them identify it in a sea of competitors. It has to be meaningful enough and creative enough to separate your brand or business from all the others in the market.
Here we are going to tell you about the goals that a logo should achieve for a business.
1. Enhance Brand Identity
We lightly discussed this point earlier, but here is the complete detail. Your logo is not supposed to describe what you do to your customers. It has one purpose and one purpose alone and that is to help your customer identify your business. It could describe what you do, but that comes much later. If the logo describes what you do but doesn’t identify you then it has failed.
It is supposed to bring new customers closer to you while keeping your existing customers. It is a reminder of where the product or service that they have chosen comes from. Hence, you should aim for a logo that conveys the image of the company to the customers instead of describing what the company does.
Take the Apple logo as an example. Apple is all about computers and mobile technologies. The logo does not reflect on it at all. If you didn’t know Apple and you saw the logo for the first time, you would be hard-pressed to find out what it is the company does. The same can be said for Starbucks. A brand that sells coffee doesn’t have anything in their logo that represents coffee. You have to do the same. Make sure that your logo is unique and different rather than a hundred other logos that all communicate the same message.
2. Make the Brand Memorable
According to a study, it is crucial for any small business that its target audience remembers its name. hence, a great logo will carry a wordmark that features the company or brand’s name and a symbol that makes it memorable. The choice is up to you, you can just go with a wordmark but this is a strategy that only works for businesses that have a unique name. Once the audience associates the logo with the name, they will recall the name anytime they see the logo. For small businesses, logo design experts recommend using both the wordmark and a symbol for the best possible results.
Once your company becomes famous and easily recognizable, you can change the logo and lose the wordmark. Take, for example, Nike. Its logo is just a swoosh, but it wasn’t like that earlier. Nike has done a lot of advertising to make the symbol recognizable beyond any doubt. For now, just go with a combination of watermarks and symbols.
3. Stand the Test of Time
A logo is not something that you can change any time you want to. This is why a lot of companies pay heft amounts to logo designers and developers so they can create the best possible iteration of their logo. Professional logo designers know all the best practices to create a logo that can stand the test of time. You could go online and use a DIY logo designer, but it can only do so much for you. Although this is a good enough choice for small businesses working under a budget, you will still need to change the logo later on. So, it is best to design it once and keep it forever. A great logo will endure every trend and still resonate with the audience no matter how long it has been since its inception.
One of the ways that you can increase the life of your logo is to create a logo that speaks to the brand instead of just following the latest trends and fashions. That is where a lot of businesses fall short. They try to chase the latest trend and in doing so, create a logo that goes out of style after a little while.
Final Thoughts
Remember that your logo is your number one representative. It gives your brand a face. If you don’t take care of it, you might end up losing your customers and spending a huge amount of money on getting another logo. Keep it as simple and unique as you can and you will benefit from it for years to come.