The logo is the most important element of a brand’s visual appearance, there’s no question. A logo is a strategic tool, essential for your target audience to identify and recognize the brand and for brand loyalty to develop.
Designing your logo (together with your visual identity) is one of the first key investments in your brand.
Let’s look at some general misconceptions about logos:
1. Your logo should show what you do
Your logo should show who you are: its job is identification. It neither has to tell a story, nor show what kind of service your company provides. A good logo is simple, recognizable in the blink of an eye, and is easy to decode. A complicated graphic is not. (Just think of the Apple logo.)
2. A well-designed logo can make you successful
It is not the job of the logo alone to make your business a success. An expertly designed identity can make you stand out from your competition and get people’s attention.
However, you shouldn’t bestow the experiences and emotions associated with your brand on your logo: to engage your audience at every step they meet your brand, you need to design the user journey and think about all the positive impressions that can be gained by prospects and existing customers during the steps. (A human-centered brand strategy will be a great help in creating this.)
3. My assistant can design it, it’s not a big deal
Do they know the requirements of good logo design? Do they know how to transfer your brand personality into it? (Anyway, have you created your brand personality?) Do they know what kerning and tracking are?
A logo that is not designed by an expert will not be in line with your brand, not to mention that they are most likely unaware of the process and necessities of designing a good logo.
For example, if you don’t create it with the right software (such as Adobe Illustrator), you may encounter numerous obstacles later. The logo cannot be made from a photo, it must be vectorized to resize without loss of quality.
4. Fonts are all the same
I can use any font that’s on my computer. I’ve chosen one I like, that will do.
Fonts have a soul. They have an emotional impact. A serif font is elegant, suggesting formality, trust, respect. Sans-serifs are sophisticated, modern, simple. Script letters can be elegant, even creative, feminine, but they can also reflect tradition. Decorative fonts are unique, rebellious, eye-catching.
In order to choose the right font for your logo, you need to know your brand personality and the DNA of your brand. We may also design unique letters for your logo that no one else has.
5. I can use my favourite colours
Like fonts, colors also have a psychological effect. Your brand identity colors should also match your brand personality and should not be based on personal preferences.
You also need to consider what market you are going to enter with them and who your competitors are. The colors you select must also match each other.
+1. A stock logo will do
Unless you want to start with a disadvantage right away, don’t choose a stock logo. Why? Because it is not unique and you undermine the credibility of your brand with it. A stock logo is simply inelegant.
A stock logo is designed without taking into account what the brand wants to convey. It’s designed along clichés, it has no personality, and even your competitor can use the same. You can’t even trademark it because you don’t get the rights to do so.
„A logo isn’t communication, it’s identification. It’s the period at the end of your sentence and not the sentence.”
Sagi Haviv
Your logo should always be created along strategic principles. Never create a logo based on mood, trends or personal emotions. Don’t forget that your logo is just the cherry on the top: an important but tiny element of your visual brand. What the whole dessert tastes like can’t be determined by it.
