After seeing some horrible logo makeovers and creations this week I wanted to give a few pointers for those of you that haven't been to my branding seminar. More information can be found at this page on our site: elleven
To make my argument, look around you. There are busy, horrible logos all around you. If you want to get distracted, search "bad logo" in your favorite search engine and see what people paid for. Ouch.
But here is the lesson for today:
Graphically Simple- A brand should be simple to look at or you are immediately labeled as not simple to do business with. Look at the major dominating brands. Do they have a lot of shapes? Are they complex? Are they easy for your brain to process? Easy to remember? Small business owners especially fall pray to trying to fit too much in their logo. A lot can be fit into a logo, but it is done with the way the shapes are used, colored, positioned, etc. Symbolism should be used artfully.
We hear it all the time, "But without that, it doesn't say all I do..." When going to McDonald's I don't remember seeing breakfast burritos in the logo. There is a significant trend demanded by the people of this paradigm for simplicity. "Tell me quickly what you do." Unilever is an example how to effectively communicate many things, but it is limited in it's use.
The logo should be designed well enough that it can be embroidered and not have to rely on graphics made from billions of colors, complicated shading...
You get what you pay for...and wait for- FedEx reportedly spent 5 million dollars and 2 years to have their brand redone. It incorporates rewarded comprehension...(See the arrow?), effective color schemes and excellent flexibility. A real bargain for them if you look at how it has helped them increase market share. I am not suggesting you run out and spend millions, but learn from the greats,...without knocking them off. There is a reason why these companies pay more than a couple hundred bucks for a logo...because they work.
A couple other fun ones:
Next $100k
BP redesign $211MM
BBC $1.8MM
Pepsi $1MM
accenture $100MM
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