5 Branding Basics Every Logo Designer Should Know

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Jan 12 2010 by Fatima Mekkaoui | 64 Comments | Stumble Bookmark

advertise advertise here here While many articles try to dissect the process of designing a logo itself, I will attempt to share tips from my experiences with branding-focused logo design for the real world.

Photo by lpwines

07/06/2012 17:58

5 Branding Basics Every Logo Designer Should Know

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With the surge of "stock" logos, the quality of branding for new companies is literally going downhill.
Many new designers fail to see that a logo, unlike any other design element, is literally the face of a company, and hence attached to a much larger beast. You can’t peel it off from a book and slap it onto things like a sticker.

A logo versus a brand
Let’s begin with the fine difference between a logo and a brand:
Logo
"The logo (ideogram), is the image embodying an organization. [...] Logos are meant to represent companies’ brands or corporate identities […]"
- Logo as defined by Wikipedia
Brand and identity
"[A] burning scar [with] bankable value"
- From BusinessWeek

1. Research, research, research…

Research is everything. It’s your first and last name, as well as your food and bed, when you are creating a brand.
Research is the most important part of designing a logo, and branding as a whole. Logo design with strong branding focus can easily push the limits of a five-figure budget primarily due to extensive research. Whether you are a solo freelancer or part of a branding team, your client’s target audience will heavily influence the decisions you make and the direction your design goes towards. Understanding a company’s marketing strategy is as important as placing the keystone in a building foundation. Research encompasses everything from typography selection to presenting to a focus group.

2. A strong name is recognizable

07/06/2012 17:58

5 Branding Basics Every Logo Designer Should Know

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Photo by Stuart Chalmers
Giving an identity a name and then giving the name a face. These are your bottom line goals when planning out your design. In that order. A strong name, with or without a mark, has to be recognizable without any taglines. It must carry weight of its own.
For the life of me, no one can remember my last name, much less how to pronounce it (it’s Mekkaoui by the way). But, say for example, I had you write it and pointed out that it included all the vowels in the alphabet, then you might remember me next time you come across it.
In branding however, we don’t have that luxury. I would have to be able to catch your attention as you zipped down the supermarket aisle. Hence, I made a short, rare name that I identify myself with and use persistently all over the web: Imokon.
When Coca-Cola briefly changed their formula in 1985, people flipped over sabotaged history. Can you imagine their reaction if Coca-Cola changed their name to Sanscoca Fizzola? Exactly.
Coming up with a strong name can either be fun or a complete burden. Regardless of whether it’s made up (Skype), a misspelling (Google), or a simple word (Borders, Apple); it all goes back to marketing strategy. You can read more about brand name types here.

3. A good logo builds trust

The logo is the first impression, of not just who a company is, but how trustworthy it is – and in turn, how much a consumer will open up.
Let’s say you point your browser to go.com.

07/06/2012 17:58

5 Branding Basics Every Logo Designer Should Know

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It is very probable that one of three thoughts will go