Have you ever wondered why successful companies invest a lot of time and money while designing a logo? It is because they understand that their logo is an integral part of their brand image. When companies engage in brand building or brand makeover, logos usually take center stage.
What are logos?
Logos are symbols, graphical representations, and signs used by businesses, organizations and individuals to make it easier for people to identify them. A company’s logo is its face and reflects its brand identity. Logo, being an image, is relatively straightforward to recall and recognize than the company’s name. Every company has a unique logo; a concoction of fonts, colors, styles and ideas, which illustrates the company’s core values. Companies prominently use Logo on their corporate identity package, which usually includes letterheads, visiting cards, envelopes, and also across various other forms of print and media. Therefore, a logo must be cautiously chosen.
This article is divided into two sections. The first section informs about some common characteristics of great logos. The second section discusses how to pick a logo that is outstanding.
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Know your basics: Ask these preliminary questions to check if your logo is great
Is it simple?
Simplicity is the most important virtue of a good logo. A simple logo is often easy to recognize when viewed in smaller sizes on business cards or on smartphones. Even if a logo is printed or published at a lower resolution, viewers should be able to identify it. Moreover, it is easy to recall a simple logo, and they take lesser time to register in mind. On the contrary, a logo should not make an effort to incorporate every aspect of business. This practice renders complexity and makes it ineffective.
Is it unique?
People often look for logos to identify a company because they are unique in nature. These thoughtfully designed symbols are highly memorable. They are unlike other logos and do not try to emulate others. When you choose a logo, ensure that it is very different and something you have never seen before.
Is it functional?
Does the logo suit the purpose it is created for and is it apt? Merely having a beautiful logo does not account for anything. A suitable logo attracts potential customers, leaves a positive impression and improves sales. It carefully reflects business persona. So, avoid choosing styles and colors that are likely to misrepresent the style of the business.
Is it versatile?
A versatile logo is designed to be used across various mediums like website, business cards, packaging, apparels, etc. This helps companies to use it widely according to their requirement. A versatile logo often works well in single color and is effective in smaller sizes. It is able to stand on its own and rely less on color. It is not detailed, and its height and width are fairly balanced. It can also be used in a number of very different situations.
Is it distinct?
A logo can’t be different just for the sake of it. It must represent the business aptly. Logo designers must avoid using commonly used imagery and styles to circumvent the risk of creating a logo based on conventional ideas. Therefore, knowledge about business and its competitors is essential to create a unique logo. Moreover, you need to ensure your logo is distinct in order to avoid copyright suits.
Does it look right?
While all elements mentioned above are central to logo design, they become ineffective if the logo does not look pleasing. A good logo design incorporates typefaces that match logo graphics and looks visually balanced. It is a good practice to draw a logo manually on paper first to understand the idea behind it rather than worrying about color composition.
Colorful flowers pots hanging on the wall with beautiful flowers on the agricultural market. Scenic decoration of the exterior
How to choose a logo like no one else can.
In the first section, we discussed how to choose a logo based on some well-known criteria. The next section will help you further refine your choices so that your logo is outstanding.
A logo affects people psychologically, provides them with a social and anthropological context, helps bring in financial and economic value, is politically relevant, and knows its historical context. It also borrows from fine arts and linguistics by playing with aesthetics and words. Logos depend on classical liberal arts as much as on design or technology. In fact, if you want a great logo that is impactful, just run our liberal arts test. In this section, you will discuss how to choose a great logo by looking for various liberal arts factors that are as important as great design.
Wait a minute. What are the liberal arts?
Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, was the first to define the concept of liberal arts as an approach to liberal and critical thinking. It focused on nurturing intrinsic values rather than on the extrinsic. In medieval times, Greeks and Romans defined liberal arts as consisting of seven subjects in the form of Trivium and Quadrivium. Trivium is a method of critical thinking that included three subjects i.e. grammar, logic, and rhetoric (input, process and output). On the other hand, Quadrivium was a method followed by Trivium and consisted of four subjects i.e. arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Trivium and Quadrivium were then followed by the study of philosophy and theology. The core idea of liberal arts was to produce refined, articulate and virtuous individuals with knowledge across various fields with a broad range of transferable skills.
What’s the scene today?
The spectrum of liberal arts, however, has evolved in modern day scenario and encompasses a broader approach. In recent times, liberal arts comprises of fields such as humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and formal sciences.
- Humanities consist of art, literature, linguistics, philosophy, religion, ethics, theater, speech, etc.
- Social sciences include history, psychology, law, politics, gender studies, anthropology, economics, geography, business informatics, etc.
- Natural sciences consist of astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics, botany, geology, etc.
- Formal sciences include mathematics, logic, statistics, etc.
How does knowledge of liberal arts impact logo design?
As you can see, all of the subjects above are related to making, choosing and using a logo. If you need a great logo, you need to see if the selected design can withstand the scrutiny of a wide range of professionals who have been trained in liberal arts subjects. Design is a broad field that draws from interdependent topics related to communication, expression, interaction and cognition. Design is an area where science and aesthetics depend on each other.
Let us take a look at the way the 4 broad categories of liberal arts have impacted logos.
Impact of humanities on logo design
Humanities consist of art, literature, linguistics, philosophy, religion, ethics, theater, speech, etc. In other words, it helps us to gain knowledge about how people process and document human experience. Design academia has, throughout history, sought inspiration from humanities and literary criticism.
An ideal logo contains an element of abstraction that helps to project an organization’s internal values through a symbol. Knowledge of humanities helps to create logos that are universal in their vision. If a logo can document a story, symbolize a philosophical concept that strikes a note with people, or evokes artistic elements, it is directly deriving its meaning from the humanities. By now, you must already know that a good logo helps to narrate a company’s story. In other words, it is part of the brand narrative.
Impact of social sciences on logo design
A logo designer must clearly understand the identity of the client, its customers, the purpose of design, and how do businesses want their customers to respond. A well-informed logo designer tends to ask the same set of questions as asked by social scientists about human behavior. It is just that logo designers use this knowledge to animate their visual talent. They also use geographical and environmental knowledge to augment their design’s denotation.
When we choose a logo, we are seeking to convey our brand identity to a large group of people, for which, sociological and anthropological information is required. Understanding individual minds and how people recall or recognize symbols, and how they interpret or process them requires the study of psychology. Economics helps to put money matters in perspective while law, politics and gender studies help you to choose a logo that is socially informed.
Impact of natural sciences on logo design
The role of physics is of particular importance in 3D imaging and vector graphics. Though logo designers themselves may not have a masters degree in one of the natural sciences subjects, design depends on topics such as physics and chemistry.
Physics has a major role to play in graphic design. Newton’s Theory of Color states that objects appear to be of certain colors because they absorb and reflect different amounts and wavelengths of light. With this understanding, logo designers can play with colors to make an image stand out. They can create different color textures and effects to depict an emotion.
Understanding human biology is vital to ensure that colors are well represented, lines are drawn carefully and that symbols are easy to process by the human nervous system. Moreover, printing depends heavily on chemistry. To choose a great logo, you might first want to see how it looks when it is printed on a card, and if the textures and colors are represented well on different materials, for which, an understanding of chemistry and physics is required.
Impact of formal sciences on logo design
The field of designing is closely related to mathematics, logic, and theoretical computer science. There are many areas in design where math is actively used. Scaling is employed to resize by percentages or dimensions, reduce and enlarge an image proportionately. Some designers use Fibonacci sequence to make something visually appealing. Flipping and rotation by fine fractions of a degree needs a sound knowledge of arithmetic.
Unquestionably, mathematics is an essential building block of a logo. Logo designers need to have good knowledge about 2-Dimensional / 3-Dimensional drawing software, statistical tools and other programs to design a logo. As a customer, you will probably need to check if the size, width, height, etc. are compatible with your requirements. You might also need to rely on statistics to do a pilot-test for your chosen logo.
The quick liberal arts test to finalize a logo
With logos being heavily dependent on liberal arts, it only makes sense to run a quick liberal arts test before closing on your choice of logo. After you ask the preliminary questions in Section 1 to choose a logo, use the liberal arts questions to make a final decision.
Is it psychologically relevant?
The term psychological here refers to not only how people perceive and interpret your logo, but also how they feel about it. A logo can invite different reactions from different people depending on their culture, education and experiences. It can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Before choosing a logo, you should try to identify such possible interpretations.
For example, the two most significant psychological parameters in logo design are color and shape. Colors have different meaning in different societies. Human brain is accustomed to understand different shapes and memorize them. They often recall forms that are well-defined and distinctive.
While deliberating on the psychological aspect of a logo, spend some time on how people might feel when they look at the logo. Ask your friends and colleagues to describe how they feel when they look at it. Choose the emotions you want to elicit in your target audience, and finalize the logo that is most likely to elicit those feelings.
Is it politically relevant?
Most customers today are politically aware. To strike a note with them, you can choose a logo that comes across as politically aware and relevant. If your target audience is most likely to vote for a party that is environmentally friendly, you can choose a logo that somehow evokes sustainability or environmentalism.
As long as you are not overtly political and alienating certain sections of the society, you can pick a logo that is politically relevant, as that is likely to help in recall value of your logo. For example, a white dove could be a strong logo in the context of a country that has historically fought many wars.
Is it socially relevant?
As we have mentioned earlier, logos are symbols that have a context to them. If we must choose a logo that is going to be successful, it needs to be socially relevant too. Most societies have a number of problems, issues, and aspirations. Choose logos that are likely to appeal to social aspirations or that which may solve some social problems.
Social awareness is also about choosing logos that are not offensive to certain groups in the society. You might also want to ensure that your logo is selected after looking at it from the perspectives of feminists, minority theorists, and labor groups.
Does it make financial and economic sense?
You need to identify how logo helps your company financially. Can your logo improve your sales, enhance your brand image or help in brand positioning? Is it worth to invest in logo design and promotion? What is the expected return on investment? Ask these and many other questions that will impact your numbers.
At the end of the day, a logo should help you to drive profits and increase sales. Ensure that your logo will help you to gain new customers as that is what you need to earn more.
Does your logo consider historical context?
For a long established business entity trying to revamp its brand image, it is very important to take into consideration the company’s history and its core values. Your customers and your approach towards them evolve with time. The new logo should be developed keeping into account the company’s legacy and modern values while also ensuring that it does not remind people of unpleasant times in a historical past.
Is your logo artistic?
Besides all your hard work in contemplating different elements of logo design, are you able to choose a logo that it is beautiful and creative? Does it appeal to the aesthetic sensibilities of your target audience? Is it truly special and distinctive? Artistic here definitely does not imply that the logo should be ostentatious in nature. It just means that it evokes intended emotions without being boring or generic.
Do the words in a tagline strike a note?
Words can make or break a company’s brand identity. Those linguists were really at something when they stressed on the importance of studying languages! Your brand’s tagline reflects your personality and attitude. It connects with people at an emotional level. Tagline should be carefully phrased by connecting it to brand logo. It is always recommended to use short sentences. An effective tagline instills confidence in customers about quality and reliability of your product and service.
Choose your logo wisely, after looking at it from many different angles.
Logos help customers in identifying favorable goods and services. An unsuitable logo may confuse people and harm your brand image. For that reason, professional logo designers and companies always take into consideration the liberal art aspect while designing a logo. Similarly, you should choose your logo after deliberating its relevance on the very same liberal arts topics. This will help you to choose a logo which is elegant, simple and easy to remember. Most importantly, you will have a logo that makes sense.
Julia Raven
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