Is your Logo Creating a Good First Impression?
Logo designs are all about capturing the audience and impacting it in a positive way. This way you are remembered and chosen first over your competition. Obviously one nifty company logo alone will not have that impact. Your designs all have to be equally good to leave an everlasting impression on your customers.
Today’s post will focus solely on the impression your logo designs have. What do clients say about your logo? Is it creating a good first impression? They say that the first impression is the last impression; I believe this hold true regarding logos. It is imperative for companies to create an everlasting impression in order to establish themselves in the market. They have to get it right the first time around.
What Do YOU think about your Logo Design?
A great way of determining how your logo will be perceived by your customers is to become a critic yourself. During the initial design phase, carefully evaluate the sketches and record your feelings the moment you look at the logo. Some of these feelings will either be a gut reaction or just your subconscious kicking in. And even thought it may lack reasoning, it is still a very worthwhile feeling to consider in your calculations. The chances are that the way you feel about your design is the same way the viewers will. If you are not satisfied with the draft, make changes then and there.
Factors That Make a Logo Design Stand Out
A good logo design generally follows two conventional attributes:
- Simplicity
- Uniqueness
Some of the most iconic logos today are very simple in their design. Take the GAP logo for example. They had a simple and straightforward design initially. They tried re-branding it with an altered version, only to see disastrous results which compelled them to go back to the original logo.
Noteworthy Examples of Logo Re-branding
To illustrate our point, below we will highlight some noteworthy examples of logos that underwent considerable change to capture their target audience.
The NFL Logo is a classic example of how keeping things simple can positively impact a logo. They kept the red, white and blue color theme the same in the new logo (on the right) to match the American flag. However, by reducing the number of stars to eight, they actually brought more meaning to the logo because now each star represents the 8 AFC and NFC divisions.
Toys R Us logo is yet another example of simplicity and creativity blending together. The company decided to drop the double quotes from the letter ‘R’ and placed a star in it to make the logo stand out more. The new logo was well received by the audience and it helped improve the company brand immensely.
A great example of adding a tag line to your logo, Red Lobster redesigned a really elegant logo for their business back in 2010. The move also came about as a result of the restaurants newly designed interiors and refreshed new menu; their customers loved the new logo for its simplicity.
Ask For Critiques
In any event, viewers are the ultimate judge of your logo and they will give you feedback. When unsure about a logo, one of the best things you can do is go for a beta testing. It’s something I like to do when creating logos. Show your final logo to a few potential users or people who buy the kind of stuff you offer and ask for their initial reaction. Do they trust the logo? Does it represent the right feel for the company? This usually helps.
Creating a good first impression with your logo designs is not always an easy task. However, by sticking to the basics and coming with a truly unique concept, your designs will come out on top.
Tags: Company Logo, Designing Logo for your Business, Good Logo, Impression of your Logo, What your Logo says about your Company
3 Comments so far »
July 23, 2012 3:47 AM
Great Info thanks for the sharing
July 23, 2012 9:47 AM
I completely agree, most people vastly over complicate their designs, making them (in most cases) appear cluttered and cheap.
By far the simpler designs appear more modern and although I’m not personally a fan of tag lines in logos red lobsters new logo made it look infinitely more professional.
Great Post!
July 24, 2012 1:55 PM
Wow, some really good points there!
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