If you were to personify a company, the logo would be the face. When used properly, it will smile and welcome new customers, greet your old ones, and look appealing to your competitors. Used badly, it can quickly become a synonym for everything you don’t want it to be.
For e.g.
This is an actual logo designed in 1973 for the Catholic Church’s Archdiocesan Youth Commission. It even won an award from the Art Directors Club of Los Angeles.
Image above is curtsy boredpanda.com. Click the image for some fun.
Ok Back to our topic, good logos aren’t accidental. They are the blend of semantics, ideologies and well, clichés. Would Nike have been so popular if there logo was a big, fat, cross instead of tick? Not only that, with many companies opting for logos featuring an aspect of their business, customers can link their name to their trade with minimal wording, leaving their business sat in their subconscious just waiting for the day they need their services.
Another good example of a to the point logo or logo depicting the trade craft is Amazon.com. They have created such a identifiable brand that, when one needs to buy a product, they will often first think of Amazon.com (i do). Another thing with amazon logo is along with a strong brand recognition, they also have a logo that iterates just how wide their collection of products are & how much they sell. The arrow in the amazon’s logo points from the “A” in to “Z,” symbolizing that they sell everything under the soon A to Z well almost everything legal that is. And the arrow also looks like a smile!
By using a logo across a business, it gives continuity and creates you instantly recognisable. For small start up companies, a logo across their branding give an air of professionalism and the illusion they are bigger than what they appear. As a company grows, the logo becomes a silent spokesperson, the pin up for the brand and is instantly recognisable. As a society constantly bombarded with advertising, delivering your message in the quickest form possible is essential for survival.
But with poor marketing, shoddy service, or a weak brand identity, a logo can deliver the exact message you don’t want. The Olympics logo was considered a major flop, whether this poor design or simply an outlet for negative opinions of the Olympics in general it, send a powerful message that throwing money at a logo without understanding your market can provoke the exact publicity you want to avoid.
With logos really just being the poster boy for a corporate identity, it’s important for companies to understand their logo will forever be the face of a good business, but is never enough to mask a bad business.
Disclaimer : All Logo used above are properties of their respective owner.