Your logo is one of the most important assets to your business. Take Coca-Cola for example. That logo could be licensed or sold today for millions of dollars – that’s just the logo.
Your logo is the pivot point of your business operations – everything connects to it. Your customers react and interact with it, your marketing materials feature it and your advertising promotes it. It’s not just a pretty picture – the colours chosen, the typeface selected and the illustrations you use all blend together to create a ‘feeling’ for your business. Your logo creates that all-important ‘first impression’ for your potential customers.
A logo should be current – if it is more than five years old then you really need to upgrade it (unless, of course, you are Coca-Cola). You probably aren’t wearing the same clothes you bought five to ten years ago – fashions and trends change and your business image needs to reflect this.
Like a creative, modern design, colour also adds vibrancy to a brand and delivers a physiological message to your potential customers. Your logo should contain at least two colours and usually no more than four – these colour combinations create subliminal meanings like friendly, trustworthy, dependable and so on. What do your logo colours secretly say about your business?
Today’s modern printing methods have made full colour printing more affordable than ever before, so don’t be scared to use bright colours in your design. A word of warning though: make sure that the colour chosen works equally as well on a computer screen as it does on a printed letterhead or business card. Colour consistency across all mediums is vital to brand-building.
Ideally, you should employ the services of a qualified designer to create your logo as this will become your business brand. An initial outlay of a few thousand dollars now will turn out to be the best investment you could make in ensuring the success of your business in the future.
Who knows – maybe someday your logo could be worth millions, too.
Tony Eades is the creative director for DesignShop, Australia’s fastest growing online design and print solution provider. He is a business marketing expert, with more than 20 years experience in design, advertising and client media campaigns.
Photo: Ayumina (Flickr)
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Tony Eades Reply:
June 15th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
I agree, if a logo is designed professionally from the start it will last a long time however an upgrade of it should be considered every five or so years. This doesn’t necessarily mean a complete re-design – a change of USP/Positioning Statement (even the brand leaders like Coca Cola and McDonalds do this), a modern take on the icon (like Qantas did recently with the flying kangaroo) or as you mentioned, a freshen up of everything that carries the logo – from business cards to brochures.
An upgraded logo is a like a fresh coat of paint to the business and gives you a great reason to re-visit old customers with a ‘new face’ on.
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