Logos Leave Their Mark.
Your logo is often the first thing a customer notices about your brand. Are you making sure they remember your mark?
Why did you choose the logo? Did you like it personally or was it designed for your customer to know something about you? Having a meaningful logo can immediately set you apart from the competition. While it seems like a small piece to the puzzle, having a powerful logo can last a lifetime and be synonymous with your brand’s values.
What is the purpose of a logo?
Your logo makes your brand memorable to the audience, and gives them something tangible to remember you by. Powerful logos and brand names enable recall in the minds of the audience, to go along with the point of difference that your brand also has. Logos make your brand easily identifiable and should represent a core brand value.
When reflecting on your current logo or deciding what your logo should be, be sure to keep it simple. Decide on one unique aspect of your logo that you want your audience to remember time after time.
Gevalia coffee is a great example of a powerful logo. The brand refreshed their logo in 2021 to ensure it continued to engage and capture a growing and younger audience of at home coffee drinkers, while still staying true to its brand values, strategy and point of difference.
3 key aspects make Gevalia a strong logo:
Leverages their unique Swedish heritage- bold, bright yellow, and pronunciation with umlaut over the “e”. Lowercase typeface is approachable & contemporary
Their crown evokes feeling of premium quality (i.e. Rolex)
“Aroma” graphic evokes the sensorial coffee experience and stems from the crown icon
Your logo is the embodiment of your brand.
While choosing a logo may seem easier than nailing down your point of difference or positioning, your logo plays a critical role in visualizing who you are as a brand and should be inspired by your brand strategy. Does your logo portray your brand as positive and engaging or neutral and outdated? Chances are, you can name a few logos off the top of your head that are eye-catching and some that are confusing. Make sure your logo is remembered for the right reason. If your logo is not reinforcing your brand, it is probably diluting it.
When creating a logo, pay careful attention to font and color. When it comes to color, choose one that your audience can identify you by. Color and visuals are the number one things people remember, significantly more than written words. Choosing a color palette and font style and using them consistently across marketing touchpoints helps your audience distinguish your brand.
The font style you choose makes a difference.
All fonts are not the same and knowing a little behind the psychology of how we subconsciously think about font styles is important when considering what will work best for your brand logo. This concept for poster for Titanic illustrates just this point. Which one do you think best represents the experience of the movie?
Because human beings are more engaged with visual content than written content (a phenomenon termed the Picture Superiority Effect by psychologists), the appearance of the text (i.e. the font) on a brand’s logo, advertising and other output is more important in determining brand perception and brand memorability than the written content.*
Serif fonts (ones that have small curves or a decorative finish at the corners) give a feeling of credibility, intellect and often premiumness, while san serif fonts (fonts with clean, straight or rounded corners) evoke a feeling of modernity and being approachable and friendly. Script fonts tell an audience your brand is creative, fun and sometimes romantic or youthful.
There are many other considerations when it comes to font style that influence our impression of a brand such the weight of the font, whether it uses capital or lowercase letters, etc... which is why it is important to work with a graphic designer that is experienced specifically in logo or type design. It is also important that you know there are free for commercial use fonts (www.fonts.google.com) and there are fonts that require a license. If you're using a font, it is important to understand the difference because if you haven't purchased a license it could be considered copyright infringement. It's always a good practice to modify an existing font for these reasons, as well as to make it more ownable for your brand, and always consult a trademark attorney or other expert if there is ever any question.
Logos are a key unifier for your branding.
Having a logo also creates consistency across all platforms that you use. Your website, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. will all be recognizable if you have a powerful logo that is appropriately applied throughout.
Unilever’s logo is a great example of an asset that unifies and brings flexibility in branding at the same time. The logo is a visual expression of their commitment to making sustainable living commonplace. Blue is the memorable brand color and each element represents a range of aspects of the business. The brand's "U" icon allows for creative flexibility when using it across touchpoints while reinforcing the overall brand equity.
Building brand recall.
Your logo is more than just a piece of art that lives on your website. Your brand recall will increase the more that your logo is applied. Using your logo for business cards, social media, and merchandise will be its main source of exposure, so choose wisely and make sure that your logo thrives on whatever it is placed on. Ask yourself if your logo is shareable and whether or not it is something your customers would be excited to wear or share. Do not be shy about giving your brand the exposure it deserves. Make sure your brand’s logo is up to date and reflects the work that you do.
The Brand Evaluator is a joint venture of independent brand builders – Michelle Thompson, BrandSpark Design LLC and Christine Sech, Brave Oak Brand Building LLC. We work with emerging businesses to help them clearly and meaningfully convey their organization’s value through brand building strategy, design and content that drives results.
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