Whether you are rebranding an older look or you are trying to create a new brand ID from scratch for a company you are going to always run into the question of what makes a good business logo? What is it about the Nike Swoosh, Golden Arches, or solitary bitten apple that make them so recognizable? There are rules you can follow, and then there is a certain amount of doing the right thing in the right place at the right time. Here are some points to consider when you are crafting your perfect new logo.
Stance
You may just be about the product or you may just be about the dollar but to your customers at least you want your brand to have a point of view. What is your corporate stance on any number of issues? We are not all going to be Steve Jobs; we are not all even going to be Michael Kors. But one thing both of those businesses share in common is a stance. People know they buy your product over another because of X, Y, and Z. You need to figure out just what that magic rubric is and you need to incorporate that into your brand logo.
Image
Your company image is a little bit different from your corporate stance but many parts of both overlap. With your brand image you are concerned about what your customers view that to be. If your company is big enough that brand image may already be out of your control. By crafting a smart, tight, focused logo which really highlights your brand image, you will have people drawn like magnets to your products. Go after the people you want on your side with your logo and allow them the opportunity to don this image and accept the logo you have brought into the world.
Frivolity
Your brand logo should have some thought put behind it. It should represent your style, aesthetic, and should speak directly to your desired core audience. But you have got to have a little fun with it also. Do you think that there wasn’t a bit of frivolity in something like the Nike Swoosh when they were creating it? Even the word, “swoosh” has a certain air of lightness to it. This logo is the thing which you hope to define your brand and make others aware of who you are by what it stands for, so it should have a certain panache.
Swap
Let’s say you have gone through all of your market research and you have done the legwork to come up with the very best logo possible. If there are no takers after introducing it, don’t let yourself be discouraged. The best thing to do is take this as a learning experience, sock away all of your branded merchandise somewhere and go back to the drawing board. There is no sense trying to stuff a logo down people’s throats when it’s obviously not something they appreciate. At the very least you will have a lot of “commemorative products” later on if and when your new logo takes the world by storm.
Finding the right logo for your company is not something that anyone can say is an easy task. Make sure to think about your customer, think about your place in the market, consider what it is you stand for, and don’t forget about your core principles. If you follow these suggestions you will be able to find the perfect logo for your brand.
