Picture this…
You’re touring the English countryside, and come across a small village, lost in time; cobblestone streets, buildings of rough-hewn timbers. You’ve been on the road for hours, the sky is darkening, and you could use a pint and a bed for the night. In the center of town you find two inns side by side. One is called The Prancing Unicorn, the words spelled out in ornate gold letters surrounding the image of, you guessed it, a colorful prancing unicorn. The other is called The Bloody Boar, crude carved letters framing a rough painting of a severed boars head. Those two signs, logos if you think about it, each have a story to tell you based on how they look, and it’s up to you to decide which story you want to read. The point is…
Your logo is your company’s first impression
Think of your logo as the welcome mat at the front door of your business. Does it welcome your visitors? Does it inspire confidence? Does it tell the world who you are and what you do? Does the look of your logo mirror the design aesthetic of your brand? A successful logo can answer yes to all those questions.
Stand out in the crowd
The science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon gifted to the world an adage commonly called Sturgeon’s Law: Ninety percent of everything is crap. This certainly applies to logos. The vast majority of logos are either aggressively bad or just okay. The bad ones are obvious—they look as if they were designed by the CEO’s nephew, who thought, “I have 37 fonts and several thousand colors, I think I’ll use them all!” The ones that are just okay are a different story. They’re not offensive to the eyes, or embarrassing to the companies they represent. They do the bare minimum that is required of a logo, which is to let customers know your name. A well-made logo, on the other hand, one of that top 10 percent, helps you stand out in the crowd. A memorable logo makes your company and your brand memorable. That’s job one for a logo. Job two for a well-made logo is subtler, but just as important…
A great logo says something positive about your brand
Through font choice, through color choice, through the decision to use or not to use an image as part of the design, a great logo says something positive and important specific to your brand. If you are a lawyer, your logo should instill a sense of trust, honesty and strength in the viewer. If, however, you make extreme sports gear, that lawyer’s logo would not work for you. The important thing here is that your logo should be a pure, unadulterated distillation of your brand.
Setting the tone
When we at Rosenberg Advertising help a client with brand development, our first step is to sit down with the client and discover everything we can about them. We want to know what makes them unique and special. Our second step is to create a memorable logo for them, because we believe that your logo sets the tone for everything that follows in your branding. From your signage, to your website and social media, to your print advertising, down to your company stationery and invoices, the look and feel of your logo should influence the look and feel of everything else. Yes, your logo is that important.
So, about that nephew…
Have him design the invitation to this year’s family reunion/cornhole tournament. Your logo? Not so much.
