A Logo is identification or a remembrance for a brand. Its an important part of branding and the brand identity. It’s one word that speaks a thousand words for the brand and makes a groove in the minds of the customers or people casually coming across the said logo. Therefore, its importance can’t be over emphasised. It definitely calls for immense amount of application of thought and formulation of branding strategy before it’s readied and presented to the world.
People are of the belief that preparing logo is a small feat. Whereas it actually takes immense skill and artwork to prepare a logo of a brand that actually is a face of the brand and forms image in public that they can associate with.
Although there are no set rules in logo designing, its best crafted through experience. It’s based on the past designs by the best designers and the methods they used to craft a logo. This will give the insight into what works best for them and the brands and what does not.
However, theoretically the guidelines can be summed up as follows in the mnemonic- SMART—
SIMPLE- Simple designs convey the right message to the right audience. It gives clarity of message, is memorable and has ease in giving quick brand recall. It has an aesthetic appeal that provides industry relevance at the same time and evokes emotional reaction. The major advantageous feature of a simple logo is that it gives recognisability in a glance to the target audience.
MEMORABLE- it’s a component of branding and brand strategy that grabs attention and gives the needed brand identification. Recently in the year 2020, studies have shown that attention span of people at large has reduced from earlier 12 seconds to now 8 seconds only. So the need to have a catchy and a memorable logo was never felt so strongly before. It also differentiates our brand from the competitors’ as it creates first impression in the minds of the target audience and evokes brand loyalty.
APPROPRIATE- A logo needs to be proper and appropriate and by being appropriate implies knowing your audience and recognising what will go down well with them and accordingly striking the right cord with them. An appropriate logo delivers the true essence of the client’s brand, establishing brand identity and creative branding includes devising branding strategies and design strategies in alignment with what the brand stands for and what it wants to convey. All that reflects in the designing style and branding guidelines as to the kind of style a brand decides to use. For example, Windows, Virgin Mobiles, Oreo biscuits etc are the perfect examples to demonstrate fitting colours, and fonts are so crucial and integral to forming their logo.
RESIZABLE- Another important aspect that logo designers factor into is the resizeability. Many clients want to look effective. Brands that use emblems incorporate text, icon or symbol of any sort like a seal or a badge then it should be ensured that the logo is equally visible. It should look as clear from a distance of 10 metres as it would look from a distance of 10 millimetres. Like HP or GE logos, when used for smaller uses, still yield same size and shape.
TIMELESS- A logo has to have the quality of timelessness instead of falling for the fads that come and go in the industry for a short period of time. A timeless logo is one that does not use complicated graphics or gradients but use limited colours. A logo that does not overwhelm other components of the logo is a timeless one. A simple and uncluttered logo with minimalistic designs and layouts will look equally good on a billboard as it will look on facebook page like gelato ice cream, noodle bar etc.
Therefore, a brand logo is to be designed keeping in mind all the pointers. A brand must therefore empanel an ad agency that adds immense value.
