Choosing a Good Logo Design and the Bicycle Repair Man

August 12th, 2010 by admin

A simple Google Search would reveal there are approximately 178,000,000 results for “Logo Design”. This article is going to make it a 178,000,001. What’s so different about this one, you’ll know soon enough.

(Hint: Read the post title again) Image Credit: Alex Castellá

Pictures Speak A Million Words. So Do Logos.

A company or a business logo (yes, they are the ones that pay for our design) is a picture or shape that represents the entire company and what they stand for. Notice that a logo can represent the name of the company, and have nothing to do (yes, nothing) with what the company does.

If you have a notion that a good logo design should describe your company’s services directly, you’re going to have to demolish it. Here are some of the worlds most recognized logos to prove the point

Apple – nothing to do with computers.

Toyota, Ferrari and Mercedes – nothing to do with cars.

Google and Sun – still nothing to do with the internet or computers.

You get the trend! While none of these logos pictorially depict what the company actually does, they do have a very strong and in some cases, obvious connections with the company’s name. Which is exactly what makes these logo’s so good! Which also brings us to the second myth while choosing your company logo.

The Second Myth While Choosing Your Company Logo

If you pictured each and every one of those company logos as and when you read through those names up there, you’ve got great logo design right on! The key to a good logo design for your company is NOT how pretty it looks. It’s the IMPACT that’s going to make, or break your brand and its recognition.

Image Credit: Oddsock

Your logo designers may not be the Pablo Picassos of today, but they sure are a cunning lot. Even if they’re subtle, the best designs often have hidden connections to values that the company stands for, capabilities of the company’s product and so on. What makes them so retainable in the common man’s tiny mind is that very connection.

Gatorade’s lighting bolt and Red Bull’s bull signify high energy and strength. These logos give you a hidden taste of the company’s services, without directly revealing what the company makes. Though the lightning bolt does not stand out on it’s own, the Red Bull logo definitely does.

SO there you go. If your company makes toothpaste, your salesmen need shiny white teeth, NOT your logo.

Unless Your Company Makes Paints or Crayons, Colors Don’t Make a Difference

One of the biggest mistakes people make when choosing a good logo is worrying about the color combination. While a good color combination does add appeal, it’s really not the first thing you should be looking at, because ALL the best designers add colors at the END of their design process. Meaning the meat is more in the actual design concept than anything else.

Some constraints that a color based design would impose on your logo:

• You can’t experiment and print anything in black and white.
• It diverts your attention at the initial stages of design
• No cheap mugs, no cheap t-shirts, no cheap pens and no adverts in B&W movies.

If your company does have something to do with colors, like paints, crayons or markers, you’re going to have to focus on the colors more than anything else. Because the minute your logo speaks colors at first view, there’s the connection! However, it’s going to need to be more than just a paintball splat. You get the idea.

So, Your Design Needs to Stand Out. Get REAL!

Imagine a walk through a busy street in NYC. How many logos do you see? How many logos do you remember after that walk? Most probably, it’s just one. And we don’t think they’re going to reveal who designed their logo for them!

Well, let’s face it. It’s the 21^st century and there are thousands of companies with hypnotic logos that are waiting to steal the little blank area in a passersby’s mind that says “impress me!” Today’s world of competitive business makes it an absolute necessity for your logo to be retained in the mind and memory of the viewer. So that the next time he sees the logo, he recognizes it.

Most designers will lead you off track with logo designs that are complex, highly detailed and absolute trash. Matter of fact, designers these days are finding it difficult to draw something a three year old can! So now you know the level of simplicity we’re looking at! Because simple designs stand out, and simple designs are easy to remember.

Logo Designers Can Mind Read – NOT!

Speak out! If you are choosing a good logo for your company, it’s going to be your company’s representative for a long, long time to come. So when you have a design team working on your logo, it’s important to sit with them and tell them what you want. Or keep guiding them along the way until you get there. While logo designers aren’t exactly mind readers, they are pretty darn good at it.

Now if you’re wondering why we are closing this article without bringing the bicycle repairman in at all, in spite of mentioning it in the title and getting you all excited, I’m sorry to put it this way:

We’re logo designers, we’re a cunning lot!