5 Tips to help make your company logo stand out
Your company logo is the face of your business.
Your company logo will often be the first thing people see and the main thing they recognise and remember.
If asked, most of us could name at least a few iconic company logos, whether it be Coca-Cola’s cursive script, the namesake bird of Penguin Books or the golden arches of the McDonalds ‘M’. And that’s the whole point: You invest time in crafting the perfect logo so it will stick in people’s minds, becoming an instantly recognisable symbol and achieving brand recognition.
The best company logos have several things in common. Below are five keys to a successful logo and memorable logo design.
1. Simplicity.
The first element of many killer logos is simplicity. A good way to think about simplicity is how many moving pieces are there in the logo. For instance, the old Apple logo was rainbow-colored, while the current one is rendered in solid black or simple grayscale. That newfound simplicity makes the logo easy to look at, which customers appreciate.
The easier it is to process things, the more we like it. For that reason, most brands want to present a simple aesthetic that is easy for consumers to digest. Other major brands such as Siemens, IKEA, IBM and Coca-Cola follow this rule. It’s hard to find iconic logos that have more than two or three colors.
2. Brand consistency.
Your logo will communicate things to consumers about your brand, so you need to ensure that its design fits your company’s overall message. Consider the Apple logo again. A few decades ago rainbow colors had a certain association with being free and easygoing, but not anymore. Whereas Apple’s old logo connoted the free spirit of an upstart that was taking on staid tech giants, its current position as one of the most valuable corporations in the world calls for the sleek, futuristic and quite contemporary logo it has now.
At the same time, Apple’s logo still seems lighter and friendlier than IBM’s, which is more dark and foreboding. That’s consistent with the message that Apple wants to suggest: We are technology, but we’re friendly technology, we’re easy-to-use technology. If you’re starting up a new company you should put some serious thought into your brand’s key characteristics and how you want to convey them in your logo.
3. Memorability.
Memorability is the quality that makes your logo easy for customers to recall, which leads to repeat customers and word of mouth. Your logo should help them remember that you exist and what you stand for.
Simplicity usually makes for memorable logos, but interestingly, a little bit of incongruity in your logo can aid people’s memory. If Apple’s logo didn’t have the bite taken out of it, then it might be easier to process, but you would be less likely to remember it because it will then look exactly like the millions of apples you’ve seen before. Put a little something different or unexpected into your logo to make it stand out from the pack.
4. Remarkability.
The remarkability of a logo is what makes it worthy of remark, cutting through the clutter of your industry to reach customers.
5. Market testing.
Finally, don’t just trust to your gut when designing a logo. Do market research. The point is not to assume that a given logo is great. Before you print up those business cards, get some independent feedback about whether your logo is saying everything you want it to say.
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