Logo Redesign: Seemingly simple but serious business. Proceed with caution!

A logo is not a brand, but it’s a vital component of it. People visually identify a company by its logo and may express surprisingly strong emotions when it’s altered. A logo not only reflects the company’s self-image but, often, the customers’ as well. Changes considered “off brand” may conflict with a customer’s experiences, associations and sense of self. For these reasons, a good logo redesign involves multi-dimensional research, professional advice and careful design and implementation. Done right, a redesign can be brilliant. Done poorly, disastrous.

For example, a recent redesign of the well-known Starbucks logo sparked a wave of social media chatter disliking the new identity. It appears to have become its own Café-no-a-lika-Grande.

Five of the most common logo mistakes you should be aware of include:

1)      Amateurish design – A professional business should look professional. A logo designed by a friend, relative or cheap online site will likely not. Using clip art or aspects resembling another company’s logo could lead to licensing and legal troubles. Your logo is your unique, memorable signature — and should be treated with respect.

2)      Too trendy – Following design trends is tempting, but is akin to putting a sell-by date on the image. Trends come and go. A strong logo is timeless.

3)      Poor reproduction – A properly designed logo can be reproduced in various sizes and mediums (t-shirts, billboards, automobile wraps, etc.) It should be designed as a vector graphic, using software such as Adobe Illustrator that creates mathematically precise points, not a raster graphic, which can result in poor pixelation. In this electronic age, a logo must reproduce online just as well as it does in print.

4)      Too complex – A well-designed logo will be simple. A complex design with photos, drop shadows, small text or special effects may be illegible and look like a smudge when printed in smaller sizes, such as on letterhead or business cards. A good logo incorporates no more than 2-4 complimentary, business-appropriate colors and 2 easy-to-read fonts. It will appear just as professional and attractive when printed in black as in full color.

5)      Not well studied – There are numerous (and comical) examples of costly logo designs that were approved and implemented, only to be retracted or scorned when others perceived unacceptable images or messages within them. A new logo should be studied up, down and sideways for anything that could even remotely be perceived as organizationally, sexually or culturally inappropriate!

 

StimulusBrand Communications has developed a significant business and reputation designing award-winning logos for major corporations, small businesses and nonprofits. “We take these assignments seriously and love it when launching or refining a brand requires new identity and positioning. What may seem like a simple design project is actually an exhaustive and critical step in properly defining the tone of a brand. Designed well, it should indeed appear to be simple, memorable and easy to consistently display,” states Tom McManimon, Principal of StimulusBrand Communications. See our logo sample sheet below. Or visit www.stimulusbrand.com.

Click here to see some logos designed by StimulusBrand Communications

— Diane Blaszka

— Tom McManimon

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Is Print Advertising Dead?

Last April, five magazine superpowers facing sharp declines in print advertising revenues promoted the value of magazines to readers and advertisers via a joint “Power of Print” campaign. The five magazine companies — Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines, Meredith Corporation, Time Inc. and Wenner Media — collectively ran the ads in 100 titles (both print and online) for a combined reach of 112 million readers each month. The text of one of the ads featuring swimming star Michael Phelps read:

“We surf the Internet.  We swim in magazines.” 

The Internet is exhilarating.  Magazines are enveloping.  The Internet grabs you.  Magazines embrace you.  The Internet is impulsive.  Magazines are immersive.  And both media are growing.

Barely noticed amidst the thunderous Internet clamor is the simple fact that magazine readership has risen over the past five years.  Even in the age of the Internet, even among the groups one would assume are most singularly hooked on digital media, the appeal of magazines is growing.

Think of it this way: during the 12-year life of Google, magazine readership actually increased 11 percent.

What it proves, once again, is that a new medium doesn’t necessarily displace an existing one.  Just as movies didn’t kill radio.  Just as TV didn’t kill movies.  An established medium can continue to flourish so long as it continues to offer a unique experience.  And, as reader loyalty and growth demonstrate, magazines do.

Which is why people aren’t giving up swimming, just because they also enjoy surfing.

For sure, both online and print advertising have strengths and limitations. Online offers clickability; immediate updating; targeted placement strategies; lower pricing and detailed tracking. Print offers tangibility; strong branding and memorability; portability (not many readers take their computers into the bathroom to read); and readers who tend to be more highly engaged. Many designers feel they have more creative options with print, which is also not reliant on a consumer having a computer and internet connection.

The wisest choice is likely dependent on the specific product or service being advertised, as well as many variables that professional advertising executives help clients explore and identify. What’s crystal clear is the fact that technology plays an increasing role in the lives of readers and consumers, who appreciate choice – print, digital, mobile, iPad…  A strong advertising campaign will integrate as many of these venues as possible — including print, which can borrow an old Mark Twain line and declare, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

At StimulusBrand, we are very active and experienced in the website/interactive arena. While we are not by definition a web design company, we have developed and launched a dozen new websites in the last year with several others in our current workflow. Still, we continue to build lots of print into the mix. Take a quick browse of our StimulusBrand portfolio featuring some print work we’re proud of. Or visit our website at: www.stimulusbrand.com. You can see a sample of our print portfolio at  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=147690025260939&id=146922775337664&aid=28746.

A sample print ad designed by Stimulus Brand Communications.

– Diane Blaszka

– Tom McManimon

 

 

 

 

 

 

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