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Defining the Problem
Mini’s Mark is a non-profit organization that aims to prevent childhood obesity through speaking engagements, an interactive website and a series of chidren’s books called Mini and Me. Mini and Me follows the adventures of an overweight dog named Mini and his owner, Madison as they learn about being active and eating right. Mini’s Mark partners with schools, day-care centers, libraries, hospitals and parents to promote a healthly lifestyle and positive body image for children. Since Mini’s Mark is a start-up organization it was important to create a visual identity that would be flexible enough to not only withstand the company’s growth but be flexible enough for future, unseen applications. It was important to the owners that Mini’s image would be represented as a prominent part of the logo design, especially since the Mini and Me books were such a success prior to the launch of the non-profit.
Early in the research process, I realized just how broad of an appeal the logo needed to have. The logo needed to be buttoned down and serious enough for investors and grant committees, while also appealing to parents and children who interact with the brand.
Exploring the Solutions
I began by creating a word mindmap of the key characteristics of Mini’s Mark — health, youth, education and dogs.
Then I explored a visual mindmap by sketching 100 logos, evaluating the rough ideas and honing in on a few concepts to develop into black and white comps.
Ideas to explore further
Creating the Form
After several rounds of refining the sketches, I presented a first look at four concepts in black & white.
Version 1 incorporates the logo mark of Mini into the overall shape of a logo reminiscent of the Caldecotte Medal associated with award winning children’s story books in addition to creating an emblem that is easily recognizable for future publications. The two points of healthy living are represented by the ball and apple.
Version 2 is a much more corporate feel while still incorporating the fun personality of Mini. The custom type mirrors the rounded shape of the dog with the arm of the “k” doubling as the tail.
Version 3 provides a solid corporate feel that appeals to the more conservative nature of grant committees and investors while allowing the monogram to be a bold stamp to everything the brand touches. Mini is much more stylized in this version with his body forming the monogram. The custom type mirror’s the shape of the dog monogram.
Version 4 is another version of the Mini monogram approach with the two m’s creating the shape of a sitting dog while framing the shape of a heart to represent the health of the brand’s core message. The custom type is round and playful like Mini. Overall the logo speaks to corporate sensibility with a separate mark and type treatment while the playfulness of the shapes appeal to the core audience of kids and parents.
Mixing the Color Palette
The client fell in love version 1 that featured Mini large while incorporating the health icons. After a few minor explorations of type, we began exploring color. Early in the development process the client mentioned that Mini needed to be brown to relate back to the book. I presented 3 options that pulled color predominantly from the book while exploring a couple of variations of brown for Mini.
Finalizing the Solution
The pink and chocolate color scheme won in the end, and it provided a great base for the full brand color palette which includes yellow, blue and green.
Applying the Identity
The logo style guide provides a glimpse into how the logo and brand color palette can be used.
To find out more information about Mini’s Mark or purchase a copy of Mini and Me please visit miniandme.com.
For more examples of logo and visual identity design work check out the Creative Squall site.
Successful brands don’t thrive on innovative products or effective marketing alone. It takes a strong dedicated customer base of fanboys hell bent on claiming their brand to be superior to survive in the world of social media. So how do you find your fanatics? You don’t. They find you, and with a little brand charisma pared with consistent marketing you’ll find you have an army of champions helping your brand stay alive in the competitive marketplace.
Freaks of a Feather
The drive to belong to a group starts in middle school and follows us into adulthood as we choose the brands we love. The brands we interact with help identify the tribe we belong to. It’s how we connect to the groups that are similar to us, and for some it’s how we define ourselves. Aside from having a beard, a person who drinks Pabst Blue Ribbon is likely going to have a different lifestyle from a person who enjoys a Samuel Adams. What’s important to realize is that your marketing department, design firm or even your CEO can’t determine your clan. THEY pick you, and the more honest and consistent you are in the way you represent your brand, the more loyal and die-hard your fans will be.
The Skinniest Kid at Fat Camp
Your product or service doesn’t necessarily determine how popular you’re brand will be. In many overly saturated markets you just need to be perceived as not as crappy as the other guys. The wireless carrier market has been tuned into this for years. No one likes their carrier, but few of us ever make the switch because the other guys are just as bad if not worse. It used to be that AT&T was the only company that carried the wildly popular iPhone. Since the iPhone has become available for Verizon and Sprint customers AT&T has seen little churn despite iPhone users constantly complaining about AT&T. The truth is that no wireless carrier is really that great, so we stick with the poor service that we’re familiar with and complain happily.
Why Don’t You Marry It?
Contrary to what advertising has taught us over the decades, customers rarely leave their brand of choice for a better product, more targeted messaging or fresher visual identity. Just like any relationship, we give the brands we love a lot of leeway to make mistakes. As consumers, we strive to find brands that represent us, and we stop shopping in that category. In a sense, we marry the brands we love. The Gap seemingly enraged it’s core customer base with a redesign and later a repeal of their logo in 2011. While there was much outrage over the new design from the community, sales both online and in-stores remained relatively unaffected. In fact, the public outcry revealed just how many people are dedicated fans of the brand. Generally, people who don’t care about your brand are not going to take the time to tweet or blog about how much they hate the new logo. It’s not to say that your customers won’t leave you, but it does take a lot more serious mistakes to create churn with your fanboys.
So, in the big picture, you have no control over your brand. Your customers pick you, and they even define the culture associated with your brand. To keep your brand healthy, and satisfying your fans you need to be in touch with who your core audience is and what they think your brand represents. Listen to them, and deliver beyond what they expect. After all, it’s not a brand for your dedicated customers, it’s a lifestyle.
Shortening or abbreviating your brand name has become a growing trend over the last few years. While it may seem like an excellent way to add a fresh take on your branding, it may not necessarily make sense from a strategic perspective.
What’s in a name?
While it’s not unheard of for a company to change its name, it is rare that its for the right reason. Your target market is much more tolerant of visual identity, messaging and even product focus changes. A name change however is often a game changer, and not the kind you’re anticipating.
Initial Reactions
The biggest trend over the last couple of years has been the need to abbreviate or use initials for brand names. This can be attributed to the rise of social media platforms like twitter with character length caps, and the continued popularity of texting and messaging shorthand. O.co, JCP, and even KFC are all recent examples of companies making the switch. KFC tapped into a nickname the market was already using while allowing them to de-emphasize the “Fried” aspect of their name. On the other hand, Overstock.com learned that you can’t nickname yourself without backlash when they tried to adopt the O.co moniker last year. In fact, months after pushing out the name with new marketing materials, including the naming of O.co Coliseum, the company backed off of the name stating that the market just wasn’t ready for the change. Without careful research into your audience’s attitude about the name, you may end up losing them all together. Just like parents adopting the same vernacular as their teens, you’ll sound like a poseur.
Short Shelf Life
Times and markets change. It’s inevitable, and you may very well find yourself in a position that makes your name seem obsolete. The truth is, if your brand has had success over the years, your name no longer has a literal meaning, so why change it. It represents a feeling, or ideally a lifestyle. Founded in 1921, Radio Shack originally sold equipment for ham radio, and the name is the term for a small, wooden structure that housed a ship’s radio equipment. Realizing that they sell electronics, and not so much radio equipment, in 2009 they began marketing themselves as The Shack. The market reacted negatively, and The Shack quickly became Radio Shack once again.
Similarly in 2009, Pizza Hut briefly changed its name to The Hut to reflect the new focus on pasta offerings. While the marketing of the new name came and went, there is still a store front with “The Hut” sign near my office that demonstrates the confidence they had in making that move. Have confidence in your original name, even if it is representative of what you do or sell, and remember that your name is just a label for the feelings your market associates with your brand.
The hard truth about your name is that your audience controls it. They will pronounce it as they see fit, and more importantly, they will create nicknames for your company. Forcing a new name on your customers won’t bring you any more success than cramming bad products down their throats.
To learn more about common mistakes in naming, be sure to check out “That’s My Name. Don’t Wear It Out.”
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When it comes to business, return on investment is the driving force behind almost any expenditure whether that be hiring a marketing assistant, purchasing new laptops for your sales team or hiring a design firm to create your next direct marketing campaign. While it’s easy to create metrics that measure the effectiveness of your latest email campaign, how do you measure the value of logo design?
For starters, logo and visual identity design rarely provide immediate results that are quantifiable. As an integral part of your brand a logo should last at least 5-10 years, and as such it helps to measure the success of your logo according to the four common traits of every successful logo — differentiation, flexibility, simplicity and memorability.
Fly Your Freak Flag
First and foremost, your logo must be differentiated. I don’t recommend being different just to be shocking, but in order to be a leader you do need to lead. Having a logo that looks similar to another company, or worse, your competitor will leave your target audience confused about who you are. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to either OfficeMax of OfficeDepot, and not known which one I’m in. Aside from the names being too close, both logos cram the words together in a similar font, and the store interiors are nearly identical. I was happy when Staples opened in my area, because I don’t get them confused with the other two. It’s risky to be different, but not nearly as risky as being the same.
Stretch Your Brand Muscle
Every logo should work in black and white, at the size of a spitwad as well as the size of a billboard. By building this flexibility into your logo from the beginning you’ll be ensuring a healthier life span, and ease of use. It’s not uncommon to realize a couple of years after your slick, gloss logo premieres on your new website that you may want to embroider the logo on hats or employee shirts. How do you run a gradient or recreate that nice glossy highlight on your logo in thread? Keep your design limber, and you’ll have less injuries in future application.
Trim the Visual Fat
Just to clarify simple doesn’t mean it was just thrown together in a few minutes. It means stripping out the unnecessary shapes. The simpler your logo design the more flexible it is, and you’ll see an increase in memorability as well. Start by removing details of your logo mark. Determine what isn’t needed to support the silhouette, or help legibility. Keep subtracting shapes until your logo becomes unrecognizable, and then take a step back from there. Save the intricate illustrative work for your marketing materials where it’s more appropriate.
Leave an Impression
Brand adoption is dependent upon how memorable your whole brand experience is. At the center of your brand is your visual identity and logo design. Your customers should easily recall the look of your identity just by mentioning the company name or even the product category. Our brain doesn’t store data in large chunks, so simplicity and differentiation should help drive recall. After years of successful implementation brands like Target and more recently Starbucks are able to rely solely on their logo mark as a identifier. The less memorable your logo design the harder your marketing materials will have to work to constantly remind consumers of who you are. You don’t want that, and you’re customers don’t want that.
Judge your logo against these four criteria, and you’re on the right track to having a successful brand life cycle. Aesthetics, and whether you like or dislike your logo design are irrelevant to your ROI. When designed to incorporate differentiation, flexibility, simplicity and memorability an aesthetically pleasing design should be a natural byproduct.
To learn more about some common mistakes in logo design check out our article “Eight Reasons Why Your Logo Hates You.”
Defining the Problem
The print division of Premier Election Solutions was planning to spin off as an independent printer with a focus on variable data and mail automation. At the start of the project, the department handled ballot printing for the election systems sold by Premier, and had a strong presence in handling variable data within the small niche. The stakeholders named the new company Spectrum Printing, and I was approached to develop a logo, stationery system and basic logo usage guide. Spectrum is one of the most common names for a printing company which I discovered during the research phase. Changing the name wasn’t an option. Developing a logo and visual identity system that differentiated them from the spectrum of Spectrums became my focus.
Exploring the Solutions
I began by sketching 100 logos, evaluating the rough ideas and honing in on a few concepts to develop tighter sketches and type studies.
Ideas to explore further
Tight pencil concepts to be cleaned up
Creating the Form
After several rounds of refining the sketches, I presented a first look at three concepts in black & white.
Version 1 references a printed halftone pattern with a sleek, digital mark that doubles as a monogram for Spectrum. The connectivity of the individual dots and the hexagonal shape imply precision and science. The logo mark could become an icon used as a design element, pattern or even a photographic mask across the brand portfolio.
Version 2 is a nod to the old world craftsmanship associated with offset and even letterpress printing. The crest shape mimics shop signs of years past while the custom type adds a modern, digital edge to the overall feel. A printer’s loop placed on a halftone pattern within the crest references the attention to detail of Spectrum Printing.
Version 3 plays directly off the name Spectrum in that the shapes at the bottom merge to create the whole shape of the monogram. In addition, the monogram pays tribute to the rollers of traditional printing.
Mixing the Color Palette
The client zeroed in on the craftsmanship approach of version 2, and we took an opportunity to modify the crest shape to take on the appearance of an open envelope, allowing the logo to touch on both print and mail automation. The color studies focus on playing up the name Spectrum while grounding the color palette in the printing space. I presented a few options to push the palette outside of the expected cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
Finalizing the Solution
Ultimately, it was determined that keeping the CMYK reference outweighed the chance to own a unique palette in the space, though I was able to shift the colors slightly from the expected use, particularly with the yellow.
Applying the Identity
The stationery application brings the whole brand to life with the mark creating a nice patterned element, and business cards in four separate color schemes to keep the stationery fresh.
For more examples of logo and visual identity design work check out the Creative Squall site.
If you’ve ever worked closely with color, then you’ve undoubtedly experienced the backlash associated with the color pink. American’s across the board despise the color, or do they?
Looking manly in pink
I’ve heard from numerous clients when developing visual identities that they absolutely do not want their brand associated with pink. Over my 16 year career this has been a constant. A cause that every business owner could stand against, and I originally wrote it off as a mild form of homophobia. Male business owners and CEO’s don’t want customers to think they are feminine. Is the default gender of all businesses masculine?
The color of the weak
Strangely, I’ve received much of the same feedback from the female business owners and CEO’s. One marketing director even went so far as to take a poll of the females in the office confirming with her less than scientific survey that grown women do not like the color pink. Pink has come to symbolize femininity, and some how that has become a negative trait. So why is pink even a color if it’s feared by men and women alike?
Don’t get the business blues
It’s easy to argue that babies are often dressed in blue or pink to indicate gender at a very young age. The odd thing is that blue doesn’t live on in adulthood as a masculine color. In fact it becomes gender neutral. Unlike pink, blue is one of the most loved colors in America. Notice how many corporate color schemes use blue and grey to represent their brands. When everyone’s wearing the same uniform it’s hard to be an individual. Break down the color walls and differentiate your brand even if that means flying your pink flag.
Operate in the pink
The reality is that American’s must like pink, but maybe it’s a guilty pleasure just like the fact that you’ll never admit to secretly singing The Wiggles when you’re kids aren’t around. Brands like Susan G. Komen, Mary Kay and Victoria’s Secret have built their empires on the color pink, and it’s no surprise that these industries speak to a femininity in America. 
However, have you ever considered the power of pink in brands like Pepto Bismal, Sweet Tarts, and Dunkin’ Donuts. None of these examples speak exclusively to females, and I’d even go so far as to say that there is nothing feminine about them. The common thread is that all of these brands own the colorspace they are in, and stand out from the crowded space of their vertical markets.
Pink comes in more shades than Barbie
Just because your default association with the word pink is Barbie’s dream house, doesn’t mean that’s the only option out there. Pink can be electric and tart when it’s pared with electric blue and radiant orange. It can be classical or vintage if you mute it and use it with brown. And it can even be warm and savory with the addition of yellow. It helps to think in terms of the feeling your brand is trying to evoke rather than the label “pink” and all of the baggage that comes with it.
It’s time to let pink out of the closet, and embrace it as a powerful color that extends beyond the shallow connotations of gender and femininity. We need move away from the perception that business is masculine and embrace the reality that a successful business is both masculine and feminine. Build your brand color around your audience and differentiate your approach from the competitors. While they are playing it safe and blending in to the other blues and greys, you’ll let your true color shine and connect to your target market in a memorable and meaningful way.
For more information on developing a color palette, be sure to check out my article “1980 Called, and It Wants Its Color Back.”
The practice of crowdsourcing has become a heated topic in the business and graphic design world in the last few years, and the continued flood of new sites launched to capitalize on the buzz shows that it isn’t going away anytime soon. Businesses seemingly love it, because they get more options for less money increasing their ROI in theory. Graphic designers hate it, because it makes it hard to compete while targeting the small business owner. While it is true that crowdsourcing can potentially save a company money in the short-term, it’s important to understand that it comes at a cost which often effects the long-term success of your brand.
What is Crowdsourcing?
For those not familiar with the term, dictionary.com defines crowdsourcing as utilizing (labor, information, etc.) contributed by the general public to (a project), often via the Internet and without compensation. A lot of times this is done under the guise of a contest to raise awareness for a product, service or even a brand. Companies post the parameters of the contest, and get to chose from hundreds of entries from around the world. It’s true that some contests have prizes for the winning solution, but it’s extremely below the revenue that the solution will generate for the company and negates the fact that 99% of the contestants receive no compensation for their efforts. While this seem like a winning solution from a marketing budget perspective, the fact is that your long-term ROI will suffer.
Has Your Brand Been Drinking Gravy?
Crowdsourcing work is the cheap Chinese food buffet of the design world. Anyone that goes to a buffet isn’t looking for a quality dining experience, and crowdsourcing design follows the same model. They don’t want the expertise that comes from having a chef prepare a signature dish, or a wait staff that can recommend the best beer paring for their meal. They’re looking for a lot of food for the smallest price, as well as, the bloating that often comes after. Practice this enough, and your brand will need a by-pass just to reconnect with your target audience and realign with your goals.
Would you like another slice of milk-toast?
Successful design solutions will never be created in a crowdsourcing format. Successful design only comes from the partnership formed with the design team and the client. The constant push and pull between all of the stakeholders is what drives creative solutions that speak to a focused audience. Out of great strategy comes great solutions, and crowdsourcing doesn’t allow an opportunity to develop strategy first. Without strategy you’re spending your budget on creating a good looking piece of art that is flimsy, that appeals to no one.
Don’t Eat Off Someone Else’s Plate.
Plagiarism is a major problem with crowdsourcing, and always will be. Without working with your design team, or even meeting them, you might just be buying a nice knock-off leaving you with a logo that can’t be trademarked, and a lawsuit from from the one that was. When you work with a design team, you’re actually paying for their process, expertise and insight to alleviate your fears in implementing a differentiated brand element. You’re not buying what gets produced, and you certainly shouldn’t be buying someone’s leftovers.
Heartburn in Every Flavor Imaginable
Most companies that resort to crowdsourcing are probably not clients that a professional designer would want to work with. Lots of work for little money is never a model that works for long-term success, and that’s at the heart of the crowdsourcing industry. If you think the buffet is great then there is no amount of explanation that can convince you to explore a healthier approach to building your brand. However, if you’ve only experienced graphic design through crowdsourcing, then engaging a professional designer may be the Pepto Bismal that your brand needs.
I’m not advocating that crowdsourcing shouldn’t be a source for businesses owners needing to cut costs, however it’s important to understand the difference in working with a designer and working with a crowd. Unbeknownst to me, I had a client try a crowdsourcing site for logo design. When they had a horrible experience, they brought the project to me and told me that they were shocked at how bad the designs were. In the long run, they learned the value of working with a dedicated professional, and I have since made it a part of my practice to discuss crowdsourcing with a client before we begin an engagement. Crowdsourcing sites do have a place in design. It’s just on the outer edge of the design community, and it’s important that you understand what you’re not getting for that price.
It’s estimated that the human eye can distinguish roughly 10 million colors. With all of these options, how can you know if you’ve picked the right colors for your brand? Here are some general rules to keep in mind when selecting a color palette—and to expand your personal repertoire of “colorful” language and thoughts.
Black will always be the new black.
No matter what the fashionistas tell you, green will never be the new black. Black is a constant, classic color—and no other color will ever replace its power and emotion. It partners perfectly with nearly every other color in the spectrum, while providing an elegant backdrop or making a distinctive statement all its own. Yes, it’s important to know the latest trends, but you don’t have to follow them blindly. Your brand needs to live beyond the next season or even next year. While deep plum might be the hottest lipstick color today, tomorrow dusty rose could be all the rage. Build your palette on feelings not fads—and you’ll have a much longer shelf life.
Colors, much like Barbie’s Ken, don’t have a gender.
Consumers are complex, and your color palette should reflect this knowledge. While your target might be female, there’s a big difference in color preferences between 20-somethings and 40-somethings. And when you bring factors like gender, ethnicity, education, social status, and other demographics into play—the rules become much less clear-cut. A basic rule is to keep an open mind and remember that most men and women over the age of five probably don’t need their world color-coded in blue and pink. Although, Ken may need a little more help than most of us.
Red isn’t always “red.”
Every color has an array of varying tints, shades, and mixes. Allowing yourself to see colors in a more multifaceted light can keep you from making the assumption, “I can’t use red, because our biggest competitor uses red.” A great thing about colors is that they change appearance based on the colors around them. Case in point: Coke and Pepsi both use a warm, orangey red in their brand palettes. However, the addition of white or blue completely changes the perception of this red.
Black and white are colors too.
You don’t have to choose every color of the rainbow, so don’t be afraid to use blacks and whites as your predominant colors. Black plays well with almost every other color—and it can be sophisticated, luxurious, or even powerful. White, like black, blends well with other colors—and can create a clean, friendly, or optimistic feeling. Test yourself—open one of those big boxes of crayons, and you’ll see there’s also black and white inside.
Colors also have feelings.
When developing your color palette, try to think of colors in terms of the emotions you want them to convey. Don’t get too wrapped up in stereotypes—and remember that everyone sees color differently. What some people see as a yellow school bus, others see as orange. Often, an individual’s perception of what a color is called or means has been developed and reinforced over their entire life. In the end, it’s best to target an emotional response based on color combinations and your target’s profile. After all, I’ve been told that yellow is the color of optimism by many color theory books, yet I still find it to be very irritating. However, my copywriter loves it.
Orange doesn’t like you either.
Once again, we find ourselves back at the old mantra, “Who’s your target?” Always keep your audience in mind when developing a color palette for your brand. The fact that you really like green because it was one of your college colors doesn’t hold any weight with the first-time mothers you’re trying to reach. Just as you feel strongly about some colors, your target will too. When you choose a color palette that means something to both you and your target—your customers will feel like you’re talking directly to them. And, in fact, you actually will be. Just ask a certain shipping company with an affinity for brown.
The bottom line is that the best color palette is one that speaks directly to your target market on a meaningful and compelling level—without relying on the latest gimmicks or trends. Remember, your brand needs to outlive the fads and that colors come in more than just the primary and secondary colors we all know so well. Label your colors with emotional tags that meet your target’s needs, and you’ll develop a palette as memorable as the products and services you sell.
Like what you see feel free to email me at tad@creativesquall.com and don’t forget to become a fan on Facebook.
Milton Glaser, the creator of the “I love New York logo” once said, “The logo is the point of entry for the brand.” With that in mind, every element of your logo needs to be treated with respect and understanding, in order for it to work in harmony with every piece of branded communication you produce and create a memorable connection with your audience. Here are a few common mistakes that can lead to discord—or worse cause your logo to resent you:
1. Your logotype and logomark have creative differences
A well-designed logo will exude a warm fuzzy feeling that the logomark (the graphic or symbolic element) and logotype (type treatment) were, in fact, created at the same time by the same designer. However, it’s not uncommon for logos to undergo a “Frankencomp” effect. That is, “I really like the type from version three, but I’d like to combine it with the mark from version one.” If this is the case, it’s important to take the time to bring the two ideas to mutual ground without losing the integrity of either element. Otherwise, the fallout can be pretty ugly.
2. Your logomark has some serious burnout
A common misconception is that the symbol you choose for your logo should show exactly what you do. While it’s great if a creative solution arrives that does just this, most companies will not have a simple, all-in-one solution that sums up their products and services. An effective logo won’t have to work itself to death to be simple, bold, and iconic—instead, it should easily allow you and your customers to apply meaning, while creating flexibility in your brand. It helps to think of a logo as a stamp or seal that provides a look and feel for your brand and nothing more. Give your logomark a break, and save the complicated imagery and messaging for your Web site or brochure. Think about it: Nike doesn’t sell swooshes, nor does Starbucks sell mermaids.
3. Your logo can see The Matrix
Not every logo needs to appear in 3-D. As a matter of fact, most of them shouldn’t. Your logo should function at a very basic level—black-and-white and the size of a spitwad. While it’s okay to add some flair to your logo for the Web, it’s important to realize that you’ll need to be able to reproduce it in a wide range of sizes and applications from billboards to key chains. After all, the embroidered logo on your company shirt can’t reflect the cool transparency or lighting effects that your Web site can. Unfortunately, the number of logos lost in the space-time continuum has been an increasing trend for the last few years. (See also number 6.)
4. Your logotype feels like everyone & everything is copying it
While it’s acceptable to put your company name in a standard format and font, your logotype should have its own distinct identity. Thus, materials like letterhead, memos, or a print campaign should not be set in the exact same font as the logotype. Pick a typeface that complements the logo, but doesn’t steal the spotlight. After all, your logo is the hero of your visual branding—but it won’t work so well if you keep shining the bat-light beacon in its eye.
5. Your logo feels like someone might have slipped it something
Unless you’re selling flashbacks to the ‘60s or Technicolor dreamcoats, you should limit the colors of your logo. A good rule of thumb is to only use one or two colors. Not only will this help create a uniform color palette, it also saves on printing costs while improving the color consistency of your final pieces. Finally, you shouldn’t feel like your logo has to have color. Many successful logos are used only in black-and-white. For instance, Jack Daniel’s and Calvin Klein require no prismatic embellishments.
6. Your logo is tired of keeping up with the in-crowd
First it was grunge with lots of texture and now it’s Web 2.0 with high-gloss and reflections. Logos shouldn’t follow trends, especially since your logo should last 10 years or more—and most fads move from hip to tragic in the blink of an eye. When designing and selecting a logo, skip the hype—follow the laws of form and function to develop a true icon. Why be a follower when you can be a leader? (Side note: Web 2.0 refers to the functionality of your site, not a look. Asking for a Web 2.0 look is the equivalent of asking to make something taste “more purple.”)
7. Your logo doesn’t need you to play matchmaker
This may come as a shock, but a logo doesn’t always need a mark. Logotype alone can represent your brand, and it’s not that uncommon—think FedEx or IBM. If your logotype is strong enough to stand on its own, don’t force it into an arranged marriage. Seriously, it’s ok to be a little unconventional sometimes.
8. Your logo doesn’t need your approval
A common mistake is designing a logo that you “like.” That’s great if you’re the target market. However, nine times out of 10 you aren’t. Always put yourself in your customers’ shoes and be aware of what they’re looking for in your brand. A logo that speaks to your consumers will perform much better than the detailed illustration of your childhood pet immortalized in a logomark. Your logo is like a teenager—it wants the approval of it’s peers and friends—not its un-cool parents.
Pay attention to the needs of your logo—and it will return the favor by getting your brand the attention that you want.
Like what you see feel free to email me at tad@creativesquall.com and don’t forget to become a fan on Facebook.
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