What are logos for anyway?

Logos are extremely important when building a brand. When you think about brands that have achieved iconic status, the mere mention of the brand name will conjure up the logo. You might not be able to draw them exactly, but you will instantly recognize them and picture them in your mind.

Apple

McDonalds

CocaCola

Nike

https://coolmaterial.com/media/logos-drawn-from-memory/

But notice that every one of these logos do not tell the entire story of the brand. Logos have a very specific purpose. It needs to be memorable. It’s the symbol that will evoke all the memories, feelings and perceptions accumulated in your mind from every touch point it has with you. From advertising (polar bears sharing a coke at Christmas time), product packaging (lifting a tab and the ipad delightfully falls into your hands), to celebrity endorsements (Lebron James dunking a ball with his new kicks), the logo is meant to capture all of that everytime you see it or think about the need it fills.

The best logos:

1. Scale to difference sizes

Billboards, websites, favicon, social avatars, hoodies, mugs… your logo is/ can be used across different mediums and should scale appropriately without losing resolution. If a logo is too complex, it makes it very challenging to be used, which limits it’s visibility and thus defeats its purpose.

2. Are simple, yet differentiated

The ones most memorable are the ones people can draw. Ask anyone to draw the Nike swoosh and you’ll probably get it them 90% right. Ask people to draw the Puma logo and you’ll probably get more wrongs than rights. The challenge with a simple logo is the ability to be differentiated. This is where you have to think about the category and industry, making sure that it stands out from its competition, not from all the brands in the world.

3. Reflects the essence of the brand

It is in the end THE symbol for the brand. Understanding the essence of the brand and making sure the logo reflects that is fundamental, but it’s not always the case. It requires first of all the uncovering of the brands essence, a strategic process that most brands skip… going straight to design -> FAIL.

4. Surprise and delight

In neuroscience, anything that evokes an emotion or additional senses help the mind to more likely create a long-term memory. Reinforcement of that memory through repeated recall keeps the memory from being erased. When logos have an easter egg, a hidden surprise, it becomes more memorable. Go look at the FedEx logo (find the arrow) and the GM logo (find the electrical plug). Be delighted.

5. Make a point

Instead of telling the whole story, the logo can be designed to make a point. ONE POINT. It could be the legacy of the brand, it could be the personality of the brand, or it could be the value proposition of the brand (look at the Amazon logo -> everything you need from A to Z) is in the logo! If there is a very specific point you want the logo to make, design it into the symbol, but don’t forget the other points!

Conclusion

Your logo is no doubt really important, but it is not supposed to tell the whole brand story, its job is to remind people of THE BRAND STORY.

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