Communicating brand with a logo
Two clients once sat nervously in my studio. They were a creative startup with a business plan and a deadline. What they wanted to know was: How on earth was I going to communicate their brand through a logo?
I was pleased they asked me this as it gave me a chance to consolidate two understandings.
First, their new logo was only one element in a plethora of tools that would help them communicate brand: Their wider visual identity of fonts, imagery, colours and icons would also play a vital role. Plus design aside, they had the power of messaging, customer experience, social media campaigning… the list goes on.
And secondly. It is possible to communicate brand through logo design. With the strategic use of the Holy Trinity: Type, Colour and Graphic.
As you can see, Type comes first in my Holy List. It’s the most powerful in my book. Think of the big brands (FedEx, Google and Coca-Cola) that use Type alone in their logos. Plus recently, major rebrands have favoured a very simple Type-only logo (think BT Group).
The choice of Typeface can be highly expressive for your brand. For example, a conservative serif font (think Garamond) can convey a traditional and professional brand. A handwritten font (think Instagram) can portray a ‘friendly’ and ‘playful’ brand.
The right agency will be able to select the Type that fits your business.
However logo design shouldn’t just be a case of ‘picking out the right font’. One route to creating a unique Logotype is to take a font and develop it further: Shape it, tweak it, sculpt it. Or even build it from scratch (hats off to the Type Foundries who do this). And boom, you have a unique Logotype that no other business can lay claim on.
So yes, Type can be a very powerful tool in communicating brand.
I would be really interested to receive thoughts from other designers or businesses on the Type in their own logos - and how it communicates their brand (or not). Please comment below, private message, or email me at [email protected]
#designagency #branding #logodesign #typography
Interior Design
4 年Interesting and despite being very aware of design in general it is not something I actually consciously register.
Very interesting piece about the importance of type.
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4 年Lush - I do love a good Type. :) Thanks for posting this.
Bringing life to your marketing with solid strategies and creative campaigns that work. Listed in the Telegraph/NatWest’s 100 Female Entrepreneurs To Watch. Managing Director at The Cotswold Marketing Agency
4 年Great article Emma! Type is such an important part of communicating brand. I think the fact that most of us don't consciously notice the effect it has on our perception of a brand shows just important it is.