Todd Nesnick
The world today is ruled by brands and advertising. And the first thing we see in an unfamiliar brand is, of course, the logo. Without a recognizable logo today it is almost impossible to sell goods or services, because it is through the logo that recognition is achieved and the trust of customers is built up.
Today, logos play an important role in how audiences will perceive your brand and business. A proper company logo can have a bigger impact on your business than you think. On the other hand, the wrong logo can show your business an unprofessional side.
A logo is the visual embodiment of a brand. From a logo, you can understand what a company does, its history, mission, and values. With a simple graphic symbol, you can build a strong connection with your target audience and set up the right communication.
Numerous studies in marketing and advertising claim that the average modern person is exposed to 3,000 advertising messages every day. Brand logos literally follow us everywhere. Social media feeds, mailboxes, and messengers are flooded with messages from brands that are mostly ignored. In this regard, the role of the logo is hard to overestimate. A clear, memorable image that fits the company’s business can highlight your message and capture the audience’s attention.
Why is it that some logos we remember and recognize among a thousand others, while others we forget in a couple of minutes, or don’t notice at all? If you want your logo to have the work properly on the image of your business, you should pay attention to several not very obvious nuances when designing it.
Well-designed and thoroughly-thought company logos are multitasking and multifunctional. The key purposes of a good logo are:
- Brand recognition. Familiar brands inspire more trust in consumers, which is why marketers love massive media pressure, trying to make sure the logo is always in plain sight.
- Achieving marketing goals. The logo design is developed by a whole team of multidisciplinary professionals. The result of the professionals’ work is an emblem that can translate the essence of the business as accurately as possible.
- Standing out from the competition. One of the key tasks of a company is to stand out and be remembered. Nothing works better for the uniqueness of a brand than its logo. a properly designed logo acts as a kind of business card for the company. For example, consumers need only 10 seconds to scan a logo and make a first impression of the brand.
- The ability to manipulate people’s minds. If you think about it, everyone will remember seeing a cup of coffee on a poster or billboard and catching himself at the thought of wanting to drink a hot beverage. The timely mention of a hamburger increases the feeling of hunger. Millions are spent every day to make sure company logos are associated with the products or services they offer.
A good logo should cover all these aspects at the same time. And of great importance in its development should be given not only to the color scheme but also to the visual form. You can check whether the world’s most famous brands adhere to these principles by playing the logo quiz.
There are several basic and most common types of logos:
- Text
- Symbol
- Abbreviation
- Abstraction
- Mascot
- Emblem
- Combination
You can not say that there are right and wrong logos. Each of them carries its meaning and influences the image of the company in its way.
One of the main criteria for choosing the right form of the logo is the company name. If the name is too complicated or long, it may make sense to use a graphic design. If the name is short and unique – you can play with the letters, making them the center of the composition.
The first thing you should decide on to create the rules of your logo is the spirit of your brand, its essence, and its mood. This is what affects how the consumer will perceive your company, and, accordingly, almost everything will depend on it. Once you define the spirit of your company, creating a logo becomes a slightly easier task, because this is already half the success.
Be concise and persistent in what you want to convey – minimalist logos with geometric shapes have always worked well for global companies. The simpler the shape, the more attention should be paid to color and blank space. Every millimeter of the logo should work for you.
There is no universal recipe for creating the best logo in the world. Everything is important here: the focus of the company, the characteristics of the product, the consumer, and the global course towards personalization. Any design can become effective with the right individual approach, and the identification of the main features of the company. There are only general rules for creating a logo, which should be adhered to. Among them: are simplicity, informativeness, scalability, and memorability.