What's In a Logo?
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Logos are a significant part of business marketing. A unique logo is a major contributor to a business’ branding strategy, leading to the creation of a distinctive identity for the business which encourages easy recall, familiarity and even trust. Graphics and illustrations have long since been used for product representation purposes in order to appeal to, and raise awareness with, a specific target audience. Hence, a well-designed and creatively conceived logo will be better able to communicate with and engage your target market and coupled with all the other important ingredients, can help lead to the success of your business. |
Logos help businesses carve out a separate identity or corporate theme, to have a distinguished standing among their competitors. The graphical representation of your business, with distinctive design and differentiated use of colours and fonts, allows consumers to form a visual perception and thematic understanding of your brand, which can help stylise the way in which you communicate your message as a business.
Graphic presentation, in the form of a logo, and effective branding strategy can take your business a long way. A comprehensive branding strategy is focused on details of the consumer experience, which your target market is to have when being associated with your brand. Choosing an abstract graphic symbol for example, as per the choice of many car manufacturers and industrial businesses may help visual recall whilst remaining impersonal and professional. An illustrated logo incorporating a character often tends to be favoured by family-aimed, food or leisure related businesses to imply warmth, happiness, trust or well-being whilst an emblem or badge style logo can imply quality or endorsement. Many businesses simply choose a unique typography with which to encapsulate their business name and form the company brand thereafter.
Today, with increased awareness of brand strategy and the importance of marketing, logo design and aesthetics have gained considerable importance in the field of marketing which has led to some leading businesses and organisations making huge investments in the cost of branding or re-branding.
Record Highs & Lows spent on Company Branding
British Petrol spent a phenomenal $211,000,000, in implementing their new logo and re-branding which replaced their traditional shield after the year 2000. (Imagine how many petrol stations had to have new signage!) Other such mammoth investments in rebranding include the BBC logo which cost £1.15 million and one of the least popular logos, the logo for the 2012 London Olympics that cost £400,000.
However, the great news is that logo design does not have to cost a fortune to be successful. Logos of giant companies such as Google and Coca-Cola were created free of charge! The Google logo was actually self-designed at no cost whatsoever in 1998 by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Coca-Cola’s logo was create totally free of charge by the founder's bookkeeper Frank M. Robinson, (who also thought up the company name saying that the two C’;s might look nice together!) Twitter obtained their logo for less than $10. The Nike tick or "Swoosh" is also one of the most well-known "cheap" logos - costing the sports brand just $35 USD. Co-founder Phil Knight commissioned the logo via graphic design student Carolyn Davidson back in 1971. When it was finished, Knight said "I don't love it… but I think it will grow on me!" There is a happy end for the Nike designer however. As a thank you for her work, Phil Knight gave Davidson a golden Swoosh ring with an embedded diamond in 1983, as well as an undisclosed amount of shares in the company – which is said to be $600,000 worth.
Today, businesses have various options when it comes to designing a logo for the graphical representation of the company, products or services.
There is an abundance of professional logo designing services, marketing agencies and graphic designers to choose from who can create bespoke and customised designs and concepts to represent your image, ethos and company. Budget options include logo generators, DIY logo design platforms, and freelance designers, often available on set rates from freelancer websites.
Unexpected Benefits
Finally, the creation of a logo that you believe in can have an additional subtle but extremely helpful side effect when growing a business. It begins to give your business a thematic identity around which you can create and add detail and evolve concepts, (a little like how producing the blueprints for a building allows you to begin filling in the gaps and letting loose your imagination on the design and interior.) You have an identity around which to build the finer details and, for new businesses, a logo represents that first important marker of bringing to life your business concepts and turning them into reality.
Graphic presentation, in the form of a logo, and effective branding strategy can take your business a long way. A comprehensive branding strategy is focused on details of the consumer experience, which your target market is to have when being associated with your brand. Choosing an abstract graphic symbol for example, as per the choice of many car manufacturers and industrial businesses may help visual recall whilst remaining impersonal and professional. An illustrated logo incorporating a character often tends to be favoured by family-aimed, food or leisure related businesses to imply warmth, happiness, trust or well-being whilst an emblem or badge style logo can imply quality or endorsement. Many businesses simply choose a unique typography with which to encapsulate their business name and form the company brand thereafter.
Today, with increased awareness of brand strategy and the importance of marketing, logo design and aesthetics have gained considerable importance in the field of marketing which has led to some leading businesses and organisations making huge investments in the cost of branding or re-branding.
Record Highs & Lows spent on Company Branding
British Petrol spent a phenomenal $211,000,000, in implementing their new logo and re-branding which replaced their traditional shield after the year 2000. (Imagine how many petrol stations had to have new signage!) Other such mammoth investments in rebranding include the BBC logo which cost £1.15 million and one of the least popular logos, the logo for the 2012 London Olympics that cost £400,000.
However, the great news is that logo design does not have to cost a fortune to be successful. Logos of giant companies such as Google and Coca-Cola were created free of charge! The Google logo was actually self-designed at no cost whatsoever in 1998 by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Coca-Cola’s logo was create totally free of charge by the founder's bookkeeper Frank M. Robinson, (who also thought up the company name saying that the two C’;s might look nice together!) Twitter obtained their logo for less than $10. The Nike tick or "Swoosh" is also one of the most well-known "cheap" logos - costing the sports brand just $35 USD. Co-founder Phil Knight commissioned the logo via graphic design student Carolyn Davidson back in 1971. When it was finished, Knight said "I don't love it… but I think it will grow on me!" There is a happy end for the Nike designer however. As a thank you for her work, Phil Knight gave Davidson a golden Swoosh ring with an embedded diamond in 1983, as well as an undisclosed amount of shares in the company – which is said to be $600,000 worth.
Today, businesses have various options when it comes to designing a logo for the graphical representation of the company, products or services.
There is an abundance of professional logo designing services, marketing agencies and graphic designers to choose from who can create bespoke and customised designs and concepts to represent your image, ethos and company. Budget options include logo generators, DIY logo design platforms, and freelance designers, often available on set rates from freelancer websites.
Unexpected Benefits
Finally, the creation of a logo that you believe in can have an additional subtle but extremely helpful side effect when growing a business. It begins to give your business a thematic identity around which you can create and add detail and evolve concepts, (a little like how producing the blueprints for a building allows you to begin filling in the gaps and letting loose your imagination on the design and interior.) You have an identity around which to build the finer details and, for new businesses, a logo represents that first important marker of bringing to life your business concepts and turning them into reality.
