You’ve grown your business over the years by keeping your finger on the pulse of your customers. Meeting their needs has meant keeping up with the trends within your industry, bringing on board new technologies or product innovations to stay ahead of the curve. You’ve made changes within your company to remain relevant in the marketplace. Has your logo followed suit?
Your logo is the face of your brand. It is meant to resonate with your customers and to communicate the value your business will bring to them. When was the last time you examined the message your logo is providing? Does it reflect the evolution of your business and your customers?
Just as fashions change, so do logos. Ten years ago, highly stylized fonts like Papyrus and Comic Sans were popular. These days, the trend is toward more functional and clear typography. These clean lines lend themselves to the changes we are seeing in website design, where large graphics and images, and bold words are the new focus.
The digital world has also brought about what I call the URL look – no spaces between the words within your logo. Playing with letter sizes, colors and styles allows the eye to differentiate between the amalgamated words. This style of logo particularly suits a company whose website address (URL) matches its name. In this case, whenever potential customers see the logo, they are learning where to find the company on the web. Powerful messaging.
Social media avatars are also playing a role in logo design. An avatar is the little picture that follows your comments and postings on sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIN. Designing an element within your logo that lends itself to being recognizable in that little space is an important part of today’s branding.
Remember, updating does not necessarily mean drastically changing your logo. It is important to still be familiar to your customers, continuing to build on the reputation you have honed since your company started. However, if your current logo was created to attract a target market that is no longer relevant to your business, big changes may be appropriate.
Promoting a dated logo is akin to wearing your 1970s leisure suit to a sales call. The message you are sending will not instill confidence that you will be able to serve your client’s current needs. Your logo was designed to be relevant to the era of its creation. Just like your company has had to evolve to stay relevant, your logo must follow suit.
This article was previously published in the Carmel Business Leader.
