Every element of your company logo sends a message. Its colours represent your brand’s core values, attributes and benefits. Its lines, shapes and fonts convey valuable information, too.
For these reasons, throwing together any old logo, without consultation with a professional, can be detrimental to your brand.
Sammy Blindell, founder of marketing company How to Build a Brand, says that consumers may not understand, directly, why they don’t trust your brand. Nevertheless, the slightest detection of inconsistency or a lack of authenticity can send your ideal client packing, for no reason other than a company logo that wasn’t designed to clearly convey your brand message.
‘Look for a professional who takes the time to understand the underpinnings of your brand, and who can give you common-sense reasons for every element of a proposed logo,’ she says.
‘Pay attention to your gut reactions to that logo, rather than judging it on beauty or ingenuity. What feelings does it raise? What impressions does it give? Whose attention will it attract? Answer these questions honesty (or ask a panel of ideal customers to answer them), and if the answers align perfectly with your brand, you’ve got your company logo.’
Cause4 underwent a brand refresh late in 2015, and founder Michelle Wright felt it was time to review the brand and to recognise it had become a more mature business, seven years on.
‘We wanted the logo to reflect our new status as a socially responsible brand working in charity and philanthropy, and while we kept the same brand colours and boldness, the designer worked on developing our square brand into building blocks.
‘This demonstrated growth and development for the clients with which we work – we’ve raised over £46 million charitably since we were set up, so this is very important to us.’
The way the blocks are placed also looks like a heart shape, which feels appropriate in terms of the company’s work in philanthropy and giving back, Wright adds.
‘Our designer really wanted to get under the values of the business and to think cleverly about our positioning. A collaborative process is essential and I feel lucky that we found somebody that gave this real care and attention.’
Simon Corbett, founder and managing director of Jargon PR says, ‘When we were designing our logo, the key for us was to convey what makes us different as a PR agency. Too many of our competitors simply use interesting sounding words that don’t mean very much. Our style is all about simplifying PR and cutting through the jargon.
‘The scissors in the design highlight this message very simply, and the strong but simple font in the lettering gives the impression of authority and expertise. The overall result is a simple design that conveys what we’re all about: great results, and a clear and open way of working that minimises jargon.’
Further reading on branding
