What makes a good logo?
If you think your logo is the most important part of your brand, you're not alone. Most people focus on creating a cool logo and miss what’s actually needed to turn it into a badass logo that people recognize and love.
Most people focus on creating a cool logo and miss what’s actually needed to turn it into a badass logo that people recognize and love. In the small business space, it has everything to do with how you communicate what you have to offer in a clear and meaningful way.
It has almost nothing to do with your logo!!
The problem is we small business owners are looking up at huge companies for ideas of what we need to succeed.
But we are not them, and they are not us. And we aren't even headed in the direction to be them! Because most of those example brands you are looking at are products.
But you are a service.
And even for the huge badass brands of companies that sell products- even their logos aren't the reason they are successful. It's the brand that made the logo what it is. For example:
NIKE: THE GODDESS OF VICTORY
Case in point: Nike. When we think of Nike, we think of the swoosh. So it’s no surprise that most people equate the power of a brand with the power of the logo.
I mean, what a brilliant logo, right?
WRONG!
Sure, there’s a story behind the shape of the logo, but people don’t buy Nike because of the swoosh.
The logo is brilliant only because of the behemoth brand that backs it up. Apparently a student designed the swoosh for $35 in 1971—what a steal! But it wasn’t really a steal. Nike made that logo brilliant by positioning the company in the market, and then pumping cash into smart advertising campaigns over decades.
The swoosh might as well be some weirdo abstract creature that has nothing to do with what it’s selling, like the mermaid on the Starbucks logo. It’s iconic because the brand made it iconic.
The logo is only one small part of the brand. Yes, a bad logo can hurt your business. And a brilliant logo that makes people stop and think, “Hey, that’s cool,” will have customers think about you for an extra millisecond.
But a logo does not a brand make. On the other hand, a great brand can make a plain logo seem absolutely brilliant.
TOO HARSH?
Why are we being so harsh on logos? After all, we love designing badass logos, and it’s fun to come up with a smart logo that encapsulates the brand’s essence into a single mark that, over time, the consumers will recognize sans the company name. That’s pretty cool, and that’s what all businesses want.
We’re being harsh because we don’t want you to spin your wheels on getting the perfect logo in lieu of building the brand that’s actually going to make that logo sing. Yes it's important that the logo is in line with your brand's positioning (a nice luxury font logo for a premium priced brand makes sense while a childish font would not) but once it's in the right vicinity, we find no "perfect" logo is going to make your company successful.
10:1 RULE
So what makes a good logo? The brand behind it. Go ahead: Put effort into a logo you can be proud of. But don’t do it if you’re not going to put ten times the effort into a brand that’s going to make it work for you. Stop spending time on your logo, and start spending time on your brand: your logo will thank you.
Most people think if they have a badass logo, they also have a badass brand! And while a cool logo can take you far, it is most certainly not a brand, and understanding the difference can open your eyes to new opportunities for growing your business.
Below are 4 key differences that can help you determine if you have a brand or not, and when you need one.
OK but what’s the difference between a logo and a brand?!