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Monday, December 10, 2012

Enhance Your Brand With a Great Logo



First impressions are very important. Creating a strong first impression provides advantages for any company. Recognition will help you to enhance the popularity and the identity of the brand. Company logos are the primary element that conveys the personality of the brand; it is the primary weapon of a successful brand.  Logos are the most visible part of your company, thus a company should have a strong yet simple logo to communicate effectively with your target market.
Attributes of a company will differ from one to another. Product or services offered and marketing strategies play a vital role in determining a specific logo design. Identify who your company is before proceeding to create a logo design.




The Starbucks Logo and its Evolution (Source)

TARGET AUDIENCE


What are the characteristics of the target market and cultural attributes that will affect to the overall logo design?
Logos are the key to the brand's personality, conveys who your company is to whole world. Your company logo is not only a marketing tool; it is the face of your company. So it doesn't matter how perfect you are at conducting business, if you don't have a professional design to attract customers, you will end up losing business.




SIMPLICITY


Simplicity is the main feature of a logo. Complex symbols and fonts will add clutter. Look at the world's most famous brands such as Nike, Google and Apple. Simplicity is a common feature of these companies' logos.
Company logos need to be placed on billboards, the company location and in newsletters. That means most of the time logos will have to be in different sizes in different places. If you add too many elements and fonts, it makes scaling very difficult. Logos give you the strength to communicate with your target audience, whereas an improper logo could damage the overall image of the company. Always try to be simple and creative.



Conveying a specific message is very important. Designs that are too busy will add more complexness to the message. Furthermore, a unique logo is the expectation of every company. It should always differ and be better than their competitors' logos.

COLOR


Color is the most powerful weapon of the logo. Different colors add different impacts. For example, black, gold and silver add premium touch to the logo. If you are looking to convey a corporate look the most ideal color would be blue. Red is the symbol of strong emotions, power or heat. If you look at famous fashion brands you'll see that they have used color red to enhance that feeling.

SYMBOLS


Another effective, but not commonly used, tool is hidden symbols. Did you ever notice the arrow sign in the negative space in the FedEx logo? Look closely and you will find it. Normally, hidden symbols are not easily found but you have the freedom to enhance your logo with these hidden signs. But, remember it needs to add value to the theme of the logo.




A logo should convey the personality of the brand. Most designers look to add symbols to show the product attributes of the company, it will limit creativity. For example, brands like Apple and Nike do not focus on the product attributes.
Another area that you need to look at is the brand slogans or taglines. It's always better to have a slogan separately. If you use a specific slogan in your logo it can be too complex.  It will help to maintain the same brand personality, no matter the size of the advertisement.
A logo is the main tool that builds the bridge between company and its target market. It facilitates the marketing communication. If you are unable to build that bridge in a strong manner, it will add difficulties when you are establishing a brand. Logos are not just a symbol; they create a company's identity.