The Serious Nature of Logos

Your Logo symbolizes your company and provides an image nothing else can provide. It is one of the many important elements of a business, yet it is often an after thought or a poor step child of the overall brand and message of the businesses.  A logo, its thought, construction and efforts to brand is incredibly important.  Many small and medium businesses have failed to adequately leverage the importance of this fact.

In many cases, either a company doesn’t have one or the one they have isn’t good enough.  Let’s look at some simple ideas to be considered when creating a logo that will actually help in branding your business.

One overriding concept throughout this process is that the logo gives your company an identity, which you leverage throughout your branding efforts and campaigns.  A company without a logo raises questions about your business and invokes a loss or lack of identity, resulting in a lack of customer or consumer confidence in the business, its products and services.

First of all, the shape of the logo.   The shape either has to correlate with the name of your business or it must portray your business.  It must represent your ethos, your image to the world.  In short a logo has a lot to convey to the audience at large.  A logo that has the customer guessing about your business has immediately failed.   

The shape needs to tie in with your business and is something that sticks out so people will remember. An example, is Atlantic Creative Studios,  their logo the stylized compass, is an easily recognized symbol used for navigation, direction and strategic planning.  Hence it is appropriate for us at it identifies both the business model – “Strategic Planning, Media & Web Marketing and Communications”.  It also ties in with our name “Atlantic” with the nautical feel of the ocean.

Color also plays an important role on catching the eyes of viewers. The color has to be catchy but not awkward for the logo.  Different colors portray different emotions and perceptions.   Blue is traditionally calm, professional, solid;  Green is soothing, refreshing, environmentally friendly: Red is bold, urgent, aggressive;  the list goes on.  The color combinations, shades and subtleties all have an impact.  The colors also must tie back to the company website, for a true holistic feel for the corporation and provides part of the foundation for brand development.   Obtaining the correct color for your logo can be hard, especially if there are competitors who have a similar logo, (E.g. eyeglass retailers using eyeglasses).  Leveraging color is a good way to separate yourself from the competition that may have a similar logo.  Take the time to experiment with colors and shading to see what you like, a survey with customers to engage with them on the best color for your logo is also a novel way to approach this, it also enables involvement and helps to promote your brand at the same time.  Remember your logo is designed to target your consumers and what better answer than from a customer’s standpoint. 

It is recommended to seek a Professional graphic designer who may take your detailed thoughts and designs to further polish your logo.  ASG Strategies has a relationhsip with great designers such as Isaiah Gillis (GillisAD.com) as well as Asheville Signarama who also has a professional designer on staff.  However any designer you visit, if they do not take you through these steps and processes, I would recommend you seek an alternative.  Any professional designer will ask many questions and provide valuable advice and guidance.   If they do not, then again, they may not provide the level of service and support you require.

Once you have the logo, take the time to register the trademark from trademark infringement. Visit http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/ for more information on registering your trademark.

The Next Step – creating a brand building campaign.  We will cover some of the basics required for a campaign next time.

Remember, your Logo is a must to build your brand image because it conveys the qualities and thoughts of your business, your clients and the public at large..