How much do you love your logo?

A couple of months ago I recorded a webinar called "Planning The Perfect Website" where I go through what i've learned over 12 years of building websites for clients such as :

• How do websites actually work
• How the layout of you home page effects what action your visitors take
• How to work with your web designer to get the site you want
• and... how no-one cares about your logo except you!

That last point is an issue that I come across time and time again and it's what I want to discuss in this blog post.

When business owners set up their business there often isn't much to represent the business. Most often there isn't a shop yet or an office (most people start in their spare room or kitchen table), there are very few clients (or none at all), little or no marketing collateral and no website - so all-in-all not much to show for the business.

The logo becomes the focus of your business and I can remember when I first created Lobster how excited I was to get my first logo created and how cool I thought it was.

But here's the thing - at this point, you're the only person who thinks your logo is cool. No-one else really cares.

In the webinar I give the example of Apple and yes, on the outside of their stores their logo is MASSIVE. I was in London's Westfield centre this last weekend and couldn't help but see their massive apple icon glowing even from the floor below. In fact, I remarked to my wife how the leaf on the logo was green so it was very easy to notice and hard to ignore.

However, on the Apple website the logo is very small and there's a good reason for this.

When a user is shopping in a crowded mall they could easily miss a certain shop or walk past it without even noticing. On a website, the user knows they are there, they've come to it deliberately so you don't need to waste important space by showing off your logo. Once the user in on your website they're more interested in what value your services or products offer - they're not going to be impressed by a massive logo.

So next time you're having a website made, or some literature designed just think about what purpose that site or flyer is being made for. More than likely, who ever looks at it will already be aware of you and your brand so don't waste space by showing off your branding - just get to the value added stuff - you can show off your logo as much as you like when they visit your office (just like I do).