How Important is a Great Logo for Your Business?
The main purpose of a logo is to give a visual identity to your brand or company. A logo is a symbol often used in advertising, stationery and other business materials. It allows people to easily recognize your brand. However, your logo can make or break your business, and having a great logo design is essential to your branding efforts.
Your logo is the face of your business.
A great logo is better than a thousand words. It helps convey the main points of your company, its values and visual orientation. Designing a great logo is a difficult process because it needs to embrace all those ideas in one little symbol. Many people underestimate the power of a great logo and the efforts graphic designers put into creating one.
Some high-profile companies, such as of McDonalds and Nike, have instantly recognizable logos. These companies spend millions of dollars and countless hours in crafting the perfect logo. They care about their logo because they know that instant recognition is the Holy Grail for a business.
While big companies invest a lot of money in their logos, that doesn’t mean that you should get a second mortgage to pay for a logo design. However, buying cheap logos or doing them yourself can be damaging to your reputation. Avoid using clipart or do-it-yourself websites that provide pre-made graphic elements from public collections. It won’t help you stand out.
Great logo design inspires trust.
A great logo should make a great first impression. When a potential client looks at your website or store sign, they see your logo first. This means that your logo is your main way of making a good first impression. To build trust in your prospects, you need a professionally-designed logo tailored to your business and target market.
Professional logos speak directly to your target audience and industry niche. For example – if your business specializes in medical apparatus, but your logo looks like it was pulled from a Disney cartoon, you might want to have your logo redesigned.
When your logo looks sleek and professional, your potential clients will take notice and will be drawn to your business. Think about it. When you see a sloppy or poorly-designed logo, do you feel like doing business with them? Wouldn’t you rather choose a company that has a sleek and appealing logo instead? Some bad logos can also have funny interpretations.
Another aspect of great logo design is that it dictates the direction of other design choices like company fonts, colors, illustrations, images, etc. that you should include in your brand identity guide. Your brand image should comprise similar graphical elements as consistency is key in building your brand.
Great logos also look good in different media, such as websites, business cards, product packaging, vehicles, and more. Logos that have gradient colors, many colors, rich photographic content, or lots of fine detail may look poor or different in those media. Thus, it’s best to stick to a simple palette of less than three main solid colors. Professional logo designers are aware of this aspect and will make sure your logo looks consistent in different situations.
Conclusion
Although a great logo inspires trust and professionalism initially, it won’t be enough to build a respected brand on its own. You must deliver excellent products or services to gain trust and respect for your brand. A professional logo can help you gain new clients, but the quality of your products or services matters most.
