Your logo is often considered the most important and integral component of your brand. A good logo becomes the face of your company, makes your business standout among your competitors and, hopefully, is easily remembered.
So when does a good logo go bad? Considering the investment to incorporate your logo into collateral, digital, social, video and print, a decision to update or revise a logo is not a simple one. Here are three questions to ask yourself if it’s time for a new logo:
Has your logo been there and done that?
In the magazine publishing world, it’s recommended to revise your banner/logo every 4-5 years. Sometimes it’s a complete overhaul, but more often than not, just a subtle shift that allows compatibility with images in a new way or reworked to a more compact format for viewing on devices. Designers know years before your customers when a logo has seen its best days.
Does your logo represent what the business or product is about now?
With start-up brands and companies, a logo gets created months or years before the brand’s unique qualities and attributes are discovered. The logo should communicate your company’s current mission while convincing prospects to try your products or services. You don’t want your logo signaling yesterday’s business plan. The unveiling of a new or even modified rebranded logo clearly announces a new focus.
Does the logo work?
In an era of vector files, it is amazing when a logo doesn’t scale, reproduce in various formats or have the flexibility to work within the constraints of social profiles. It’s disheartening to see your logo easily corrupted by a vendor with the good intention to ‘fix it’ versus referring to your thoughtful style guide. If your time is spent corralling a logo repeatedly, investment in a new logo will be worthwhile in time and frustration savings alone.
Here are two logo samples representing Before and After.
Jeanne Miller M.T.
www.jeannemillermt.com
Jeanne Miller M.T. is one of the very first independent therapeutic massage professionals in southwestern Ohio. After 35 years, her business has evolved to provide specialized services with spiritual counseling and breathwork. The original logo was dated and not consistent with the current brand goals.
Before
After
Designer: Sara Cormier
http://cormiercreative.com/
1 Night 12 Kitchens
www.1night12kitchens.com
In the 7th year of this successful fundraising event for the Cincinnati State Technical and Community College Midwest Culinary Institute, the college wanted to refresh and rebrand the event. Goals to update this logo were for ‘evolution’ vs. ‘revolution’ with tweaks needed to strengthen the identity with the college while eliminating a past partner logo that had been incorporated early in the event history.
Before
After
Designer: Nancy Stetler