A good logo is important for every business. It is important to remember that a logo is the face of your company and something that is going to be attached to every piece of marketing or content your company produces.
In order to have an effective logo, make sure it is:
- Simple yet elegant
- Timeless
- Appropriate
It is important to make sure your logo has these three attributes or a great idea can turn into a horrible marketing display.
Simple and Elegant
A good logo is simple. A simple logo is one that can be instantly recognized by anyone that sees it. A simple logo is one that does not have more than four colors and can also look good in black and white print. A logo needs to have less than 20 characters, and it must be memorable. An elegant logo also has a meaning behind it.
For example, the logo for Apple is an apple which represents knowledge,while FedEx’s logo has an arrow showing moving forward. Both of these logos use a minimal amount of colors and words. They also have simple and relatable attributes such as apples and letters.
It is important to make sure that your logo is effective in conveying the message you want when people see it.
Timeless
It is important to have a logo that is timeless. Fads are always coming and going and even though your logo might catch traction at one time, in the long run it is hard to keep a persona if your logo is outdated. When creating a logo it is important to consider if it will be effective a year from now, five years, 10 years, and 50 years from now? Logos should try to avoid using key word fads or regional fads as well. Forexample, “ya’ll” might work in Texas, but if your business expands to California; your business will have a Texan connotation.
When looking at the Pepsi and Coca-Cola example, it is clear that a logo needs to be timeless, as changes can cause issues in rebranding along with connecting the company across many target audiences. Pepsi’s logo is trying to always be modern and revolutionize while Coca Cola is keeping their original logo with some types of adaptation keeping it connected.
This can cause two ways of thinking toward Pepsi. People will either think Pepsi is trying to adapt to their newer targets or that Pepsi is having a hard time maintaining one image. In a recent survey, 64% of people were not able to guess which Pepsi Logo is the most recent one.
Appropriate
The meaning of appropriate can be taken in many different directions. It is important that a logo suits, or is appropriate for, their target audience. The logo must be able to attract its target audience and they must be able to relate to it.
There are many ways to showcase an appropriate logo — by font, colors design, etc.. A logo for a Disney or ToysRus will not have the same font or color choice as a United States Government Department. Logos should be appropriate for the client’s entire product line and not feature their products. Although a business may think they will not be expanding their product line, it is important not to be too specific about your products and services too soon.