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Change of Face Is your
logo losing its luster? Then maybe it's time to transform it with a new look. |
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Your logo
is a visual representation of everything your company stands for. Has it become
dated or taken a back seat to other images that represent your company's
identity? When you survey customers and examine the competition, is there
confusion about what you do? A good logo should communicate something about the
nature of your business, product or service. So if this vital component is out
of step with your message and customers, it's time to bring it up-to-date.
There are three kinds of
logos. Font-based logos consist primarily of a type treatment. The logos of
IBM, Microsoft and Sony, for instance, use type treatments with a twist that
makes them distinctive. There are logos that literally illustrate what a
company does, such as when a house-painting company uses an illustration of a
brush in its logo. And then there are abstract graphic symbols--such as Nike's
"swoosh"-that become linked to a company's brand.
"Such a symbol is
meaningless until your company can communicate to consumers what its underlying
associations are," says Americus Reed II, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, who has conducted
research on the triggers that lead consumers to identify with and become loyal
to a brand. Building that mental bridge takes time and money. The Nike swoosh
has no inherent meaning outside of what's been created over the years through
savvy marketing efforts that have transformed the logo into an "identity
cue" for an athletic lifestyle.
Growing businesses can
rarely afford the millions of dollars and years of effort required to create
these associations, so a logo that clearly illustrates what your company stands
for or does may be a better choice. Even a type treatment of your company's
name may be too generic, says
Time for a Makeover
Here are three tips to help you create a logo that forges a link between your
customers and your company identity:
1. Focus on
your message.
Chances are, your core message has evolved over time.
Decide what you want to communicate about your company today. Does it have a
distinct personality-serious or lighthearted? What makes it unique in relation
to your competition? What's the nature of your current target audience? These
elements should play an important role in the overall redesign.
2. Make it
clean and functional.
Must your revised logo work as well on a business card as on the side of a
truck? A good logo should be scalable, easy to reproduce, memorable and
distinctive. When updating a black-and-white logo, select colors that match
your image and audience. And choose cautiously if you decide to change your
logo colors. "Red is aggressive; blue and green are more passive,"
says Priester, who takes cues from the product or
service and the target audience when deciding what the colors should be.
3. Avoid
trendy looks. If
you radically redesign a well-known logo, you run the risk of confusing
customers-or worse, alienating them. One option is to make gradual logo
changes. According to Priester, Quaker Oats modified
the Quaker on its package over a 10-year period to avoid undermining customer
confidence. But don't expect to make multiple logo changes. Instead, choose a
logo that will stay current for 10 to 20 years, perhaps longer. That's the mark
of a good design. In fact, when Priester designs a
logo, he expects never to see the client again.
Contact
marketing expert Kim T. Gordon, the author of Bringing Home the Business, at www.smallbusinessnow.com.
FROM ENTREPRENEUR.COM