Scenario
After selling your product out of your home for the past few years, you have a growing clientele who appreciates your quality products and excellent customer service. You know it is time to take your business to the next level. The first thing you think you need to really make your company official is to find a graphic designer to make you cool new logo design. You have considered trying an online logo service or having your creative nephew throw something together – after all, the expenses of starting a business pile up, and it’s always nice to save money wherever possible.
The problem with this approach is that a good brand is so much more than merely a logo. You often get what you pay for with these economical services because they fail to represent who you are as a company. Following the story a little further, the small company’s foundation of quality products and outstanding customer service was built entirely on you. If the company is going to grow, then the ethos needs to be built out into a communication system that can go beyond.
Brands are like humans, they are complex and have unique quirks and personalities. They are systems of messages, images, colors, fonts, and shapes that represent who you are as a business. Even the most superficial of us would argue that there is much more that makes up a person than their face – the clothes they wear, their accent, their personality, where they come from, their story – to name a few. And yet when we think of brands, we tend to solely see their logo.
I know what you are thinking “but brands aren’t humans.” Yes, you have a point, but hear me out. Take a look at a successful company like Starbucks. At the end of the day, they are just a coffee shop. So, why have they become so successful? They are extremely consistent and have come to represent quality and even a certain social status – you can’t help but feel like a celebrity when holding a white cup with a big green dot on it. No matter where you are at when you see their green banner and strange sea creature logo, you rest assured knowing exactly what you’re going to get.
How does custom logo design work?
Working on branding projects is so much fun because it is all about getting to know the client and helping unravel the best ways to communicate who they are and what they offer. Most of the time, businesses just need a few lessons on communication. They know their company is great but they are not communicating that in a consistent way thereby diluting their message.
At LMG, we always start with a simple client questionnaire tailored to help us understand who we are representing. From here, we can establish the media and online strategies to represent who your business is – including, yes a logo. We run through a few rounds of iteration allowing you to offer feedback at checkpoints along the way to make sure we are hitting the mark. We aim to set you apart from the competition across all design collateral. From here we design your website and/or other deliverables that give clear examples of how your brand is intended to be used.
A good logo design can be broken down into three crucial aspects – simple, recognizable, and scalable. We do not often have the luxury of people interacting with your brand for a long period of time. It may be driving by a billboard or scrolling through your social profile, but you need to capture their attention fast. An overly ornate logo may be beautiful, but if it can’t be resized down to half an inch, then the logo won’t stand up on something as small as a phone screen.
Conclusion
While it is important for your brand to represent who you are, your logo doesn’t have to say it all. Think of your logo as more of a symbol that you are creating to represent you rather than spelling it all out. In the same way that a dove has come to symbolize peace or a hand indicates helpfulness, let your logo be a representation of who your company is at its core. It can be helpful to think of the logo as the first point of contact with your brand. Don’t overwhelm your user with information just yet.
You may need a new logo design if…
- Your brand is just a logo
- You want to reach a wider audience
- Your logo cannot be read when viewed on smaller screens or print materials
- Your logo no longer represents your company’s values
If you are considering rebranding, make sure your logo is part of a larger, cohesive design system that will flow across any platform from billboards to your website. Make sure it represent who you are as a brand. Don’t just pick a color because it happens to be your personal favorite, but have thoughtful reasons for how each element represents your unique and amazing company.