Brand Vs Logo – Do You Understand the Difference?
Most people erroneously believe that their brand is their logo. That the two are interchangeable.
Your logo plays a part in your brand, but your logo is not your brand!
Brand
Renowned branding author, Marty Neumeier sums it up by stating that “a brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or organization.”
Think of it as the impression a person has of the ‘total’ of the experiences, ideas and knowledge a person has about your business – their gut feeling if they want to do business with you. Not the actual benefits or attributes of your product or services.
Your brand is crucial to the survival of your business as it is the basis of your position in the market and your competitive advantage.
Logo
Your logo is the visual device used to identify your brand. A logo (also known as a mark, brand mark, trademark, wordmark, logotype, symbol, or brand icon) serves as a visual shorthand of your business brand.
What’s crucial to remember is that it is the first impression a potential client will have of your business.
Whether your logo contains only words or incorporates a visual symbol or icon – you want that first introduction memorable. To create an identity that will strongly resonate with customers, and one they want to interact with over and over and over again.
You want a logo that provides a strong visual cue. A logo that can be distinguished easily and visually from your competition, and one that creates instant recognition.
Today, we’ll take you through the Top 5 critical areas to consider in order to choose the right logo for your brand.
1. Who Is Your Audience?
The first step – give thought to ‘who’ you want to engage – who is your ideal customer? Your style of logo will naturally evolve from this point. If you are a lawyer, your logo will vary greatly to that of a child-care centre.
So, ask yourself – what is my business or service, and what is my focus? Who are my potential clients?
2. Keep it Simple.
You want your logo to ‘stand out’ from the crowd.
So, just like so many facets of modern marketing…
Don’t Over-Complicate It.
Think ‘clean and simple’ and try to maintain an ‘uncluttered’ presence. Try not to include too many elements, colours or fonts (typefaces) because you’ll only bamboozle your potential customers!
Or worse, turn them off you completely.
You want a simple design that will create a lasting impression, which is easily recalled.
3. Make your logo easy to read!
If your logo takes too long to decipher, your potential customer may just give up and walk away!
Logos that are word-based and are made up of letters only need to give this point special consideration.
Make sure you run your logo past friends and other connections to get their feedback.
4. Is your Logo ‘scalable’?
Another crucial element of creating a solid and durable logo design is to ensure that it can be easily reproduced over a number of sizes and formats without losing impact.
There’s nothing worse than a logo blurry or distorted when it appears in a larger format.
The best way to tackle this is to begin by making a list of where your logo will appear.
- How will your logo be used, printed and viewed? And make sure you think ahead here to potential future uses.
- Will your logo be only used on the web or business cards?
- Will it be printed on business cards, pens, coffee cups, t-shirts?
Will it be included on any large format signage?
If you’re working with a Graphic Design professional, they’ll also ensure that the elements of your logo are in a vector format, so they don’t.
5. Use the right colour!
Colour has the ability to communicate your message instantly! And your choice of colour will give potential customers a ‘feeling’ about your business.
Is your business a serious, professional service (e.g. lawyer, accountant) or would you describe it as being playful and fun (e.g. florist or play-centre)?
Colour choices will be used throughout your brand identity so choose colours which communicate your message as well as something you feel comfortable with – you will be seeing a lot of them!
Wrap It Up
We hope this gives you some inspiration and direction about what areas you need to consider in order to create a Logo that is loved and remembered.
Of course, if you’re not keen on taking the DIY route and are in need of a professional to create your logo & visual branding elements – we’d love to help! Contact Us and let us know you read our blog.
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