Creating Your Company Logo

Whether the golden arches, the bright red cross or the swish of a simply designed “check mark,” logos and symbols have become the very core of many of the largest and most recognizable corporations and humanitarian organizations in the world. The logo is one of the most important and best marketing tools available in your company and to develop and use the logo effectively makes the difference in your bottom line: just ask the CEOs of the symbols described above. There’s little doubt you already know what companies are represented. Why? Because the McDonalds golden arches, The American Red Cross’ bright red cross and the Nike “check mark” have achieved a status where even the words are unnecessary to convey the operations behind the symbol. Don’t discount what a well designed and implemented logo can do for your business -- whether in a local market or a growing international enterprise.

Saul Bass (1920 – 1996) was one of the most talented graphic designers to dominate the logo industry. While you may not recognize Saul Bass’s name, it is a sure bet that you recognize some of his design legends such as Minolta, AT & T and United Way. One study done in the 1980s found that the AT & T logo achieved a 93 percent recognition rate in the United States. Imagine! Designing and promoting a logo that 93 percent of Americans recognize! What an accomplishment! What a necessity in a growing marketplace! Saul Bass understood the need to separate United Airlines from Delta and AT & T from its growing competition and to effectively convey that United Way united all charities and lent a helping hand. Decades later, the helping hands continue to identify United Way and its charitable works.

Establishing and effectively implementing your corporate logo is one of the most important and critical decisions you make in growing your company. Ironically, studies find that many new businesses rely on amateur assistance or low budget designers to develop one of the most important tools in growing your company… identifying it. Compare for example the couple who conceive a child. The couple waits nine months for the baby’s arrival while preparing the nursery and anticipating the baby’s birth. After 20 hours of stressful labor the baby is born! The couple is overjoyed! The future looks bright! However, the couple doesn’t give the baby a name… or, equally as shocking, relies on a stranger – after four or five months – to pick some name out of a hat that will identify their beloved child for the rest of his life.

Consider your business as the beloved child and carefully examine the identity you have created for your baby to survive the corporate jungle. The signage outside your business is in one color while the letterhead uses a different font, color or even slogan. Why? Each part of your “baby’s” identity was created when you were in a crisis, needed it to be done, and assigned the job to two or three different people. Consequently, your “baby” is trying to grow up in a world with different identities and styles.

Now compare your “baby” to one of the master’s well-identified children: while your corporate identity is weak, a corporate giant such as McDonalds has branded itself so effectively that even a napkin or pack of ketchup in your takeout bag bears its symbol. Days later, as those extra napkins and packets litter your car seat; you know where they came from and are literally driven to visit again. During your next visit to the golden arches, take a moment to count the number of time you see those golden arches… it is sure to take more than a minute!

The point is simple. A logo is important! Plan, plan, plan your logo so it can communicate, communicate, communicate! Designing this logo must be a priority and involve a number of important factors that should be carefully considered when this careful planning is being achieved.

1) Your logo should express who you are and what you do as a company. While abstract symbols may work as part of the logo, don’t stray too far from what it is you do! Knowing what to put together to make this logo is most of the logo job itself! The time spent on typestyles, name presentation, colors, and symbols is will take the majority of your team’s time. Fine tuning the chosen log and implementing it are actually the easy parts! Hint: Don’t forget the logo should identify you with the credibility that your business demands. For example, abstract pain splatters for a painter may lesson a painter’s credibility since who wants paint spattered all over their home? Remember in establishing your credibility through your logo, you have to determine who your customer is and what he is looking for.

2) The old KISS principle still applies! “Keep It Simple Stupid” assures that your logo is easily recognized, easily readable and easily transferable throughout all applications in which you use it. Unfortunately, with the onslaught of desk-top graphics, many amateur designers want to implement pictures, colors, many fonts and styles into designing a corporate logo and have left the KISS principle in the dust. The application of what looks good on the screen and what looks good on the door are often two very different things and make sure your graphic team understands your applications and the budget constraints within that application. For example, while a three color logo looks colorful, if your budget can only afford a one color logo, you are already compromising that logo. Besides, most really well known logos are short on color, short on words, and long on identification!

Also use the KISS principal to assure that the ways your logo is presented work for all applications you have without getting too fancy. Generally the most effective logos use the symbol over or on the left of the company name and can be used interchangeably when needed. For example, The American Red Cross uses their symbol of a red cross either above the type or on the left in the largest majority of its applications. Both styles assure the application can be done throughout signage, news print or promotional items with equal identification value. Don’t just have your logo designed, give it the KISS test!

3) Once the logo has been designed, it must be prominent in all of your corporate applications. As part of the logo creation, it is important to get the graphic agency to brainstorm all possible applications from internal memo formats to customer bag design! Appointing an internal “Logo Guru” who assures the images are available to staff while allowing protection of the style and format. Establishing “graphics standards” along with creating the logo is something most designers are well trained in doing and will assure your logo guru has the backing of experts in the field! A logo guru will also help identify that branding opportunities are constantly being sought whether it is the entry way carpet or the post-it notes that are on each desk! Each of these applications assures that your message is there, in the same format, over and over again! Do not discount the myriad of opportunities available for promoting yourself through your logo! The list can be endless and exciting!

With a thorough design, well established effective implementation and communication of a well designed logo, long with the dedication to using your logo, who knows, you could be the next golden arches!