“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”–From Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)
Working internally within an interactive media company has taught me much about design concepts and how to develop effective strategies to bring them to life in a way that can turn heads. Logo design has become a new topic of discussion between myself and the president of the company I work for. As the employee, I do not reject the experienced words of my boss. At the same time, I offer a mixed perspective garnered from an like-minded article I read, while taking a stranglehold on much of what has been imparted to me for the year and a half I have been involved in the digital media industry.
[== : Niel Sumter (me)]
[++ : Matt Dawson]
== Seth Godin, author of the most popular marketing blog in the world, puts his article regarding logos quite simplistic terms: “A great logo doesn’t mean anything until the brand makes it worth something.” But then why are there numerous sites out there offering a “high quality logo design” prices varying in the high hundreds? What does it mean then for someone who is willing to pay that kind of money for a logo? Are they believing that that investment is going to make their brand stronger because it was professionally made? The real question is: What is the difference between having your self-made logo and having it professionally made? Is there a difference?
++ It is important to note here that hundreds for a logo is a discount rate. Logo development typically costs thousands and can easily cost a corporation tens of thousands. Design Business and Ethics, put out by AIGA (the American Institute of Graphic design) is the widely excepted industry handbook for fair practice practices of all things Graphic Design. It states that cost of logos should be based on the value of a given company. This is because that value is directly relational to the company’s ability to reproduce said logo. So it comes down to usage. The logo will presumably be used on every piece of media (printed or digital) a company puts out. This logo creates an impression with each viewing with the goal of becoming uniquely recognizable, such that the symbol or logo font becomes the widely recognized icon for it company. Thought of in those terms a logo can be priceless.
++ If one were to study the world’s successful brands and the logos associated with them, one would find that in the vast majority of cases their logos were professionally conceived. So, if you’re a person that plays the odds, intending to design your own logo, you need to ask (in your best Clint Eastwood) “Do you feel luck Punk?”. The alternative to self creation, with out a developed skill set in logo creation is that you may have a stroke of genius. The odds of this are roughly equivalent to winning the lottery. So if you want a great logo and have recently won the Pick 6, I say give it a go — luck as the they runs in streaks. Otherwise select someone who does this sort of thing professionally to hedge your bets.
== I completely agree with you on how “the value of the logo is directly relational to the company’s ability to reproduce a logo…with the goal of becoming uniquely recognizable.” However, my focus was not on the monetary value of the logo, but rather the latter of what you stated. That is, having the goal of being uniquely recognizable. I believe that with proper planning, trial and error, and understanding of their product or brand that is, of course, directly influenced by the company’s current marketing ability to reproduce said logo, the goal of creating a great logo has the potential to be achieved without an individual placing extensive emphasis on simply how much money they can shell out and moreso on increasing the pressure placed upon the reliability of their product that is recognizable by their mark. In other words, through common sense, creative insight, and hard work, which are, as you have stated prior as inadvisable and risky tactics.
== To also quote from AIGA, they state that “it isn’t enough for a company to have a great logo if the communications effort isn’t carried out across the full spectrum of the company’s interaction with its marketplaces.” In the same paragraph, they go on to say: “The ’swoosh’ didn’t make Nike a successful company. Nike made the ’swoosh’ an iconic reflection of a carefully orchestrated approach to the marketplace.” This is the main idea that I was aiming to convey initially. Together, marketing around your brand, and your brand around your unique, distinctive logo, has the potential to make any company’s logo much more than what it may appear to be from the start.
++ A great logo is memorable enough to maximize every marketing effort put behind it. Simplicity is not the mark of a limited creativity, nor is it an indicator of limited effort. Rather simplicity is the mark excellence, the goal or finishing point for any good logo. To create this logo, you or your design firm has the task of taking all of what is important and embodies you company and distilling it down to a single thing. This thing, this logo is like the concentrated idea of your brand. It is indeed a powerful thing, or at least it should be. Using myself as an example, my company is a tiny interactive design firm. Yet with very minimal marketing I have at least one person whom I have never met introduce them self by saying they know my company at every trade show I do. They recognize my branding and remember my logo. And they identify it with what my company does. This is what a logo should do.
== Call me optimistic and inexperienced in the art of logo design, which I admittedly am, but not only is Seth Godin onto something, but so are you. With both of you being professionals in the industry, this seems to come down to the individual’s perspective of their current company status and the value, in every sense of the term, that they currently have the ability to invest into building that up.
++ Seth and I agree on this point, “it isn’t enough for a company to have a great logo if the communications effort isn’t carried out across the full spectrum of the company’s interaction with its marketplaces.” My stand on the issue however is that a great logo carries infinitely more weight when applied to the full spectrum of the company’s interaction with its marketplaces than one the is poorly conceived. If we divided this conversation in to two subjects, design and marketing, I believe we would agree on practically everything. The two interdependent and critical to the success of any branding effort. Read “Where have the good designers gone” by Kristin Zhivago in the Revenue Journal. She expertly gets down the the basis of good design, and there in the basis for my argument here. I couldn’t have more respect.
