Is it time to change your branding and logo?
Are you thinking redesign your company brand? Often the best place to start is with your logo. By analyzing whether or not your logo needs updating, you can determine whether your whole company could benefit from re-branding. Below we list the top reasons why you may wish to change your logo.
1. It no longer represents who you are as a company
Over time, it is natural the services offered by a company develop and change. If you have been using the same logo since your company was founded, it may no longer accurately represent who you are and what services you provide.
2. It doesn’t look good on social media
Many company logos were created before social media became an essential element of marketing. For this reason, many brands create blue logos, without realizing these logos would fade into the background of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, which also use blue branding. To ensure your company logo pops on social media, you may need to consider a logo re-design.
3. Your logo is too complex
A successful logo should be simple, easily recognized, and an accurate representation of your company. If your logo is too complex or confusing, it will not be instantly recognizable for your services.
5. Is your logo still identifiable?
Marketing channels have drastically changed over the years. Odds are, you’re not developing TV commercials or paying for billboard ads, but instead, using internet marketing mediums such as Facebook, Instagram, and PPC campaigns. This means that logos today have to be designed with small screens in mind. If your logo is hard to view on a smaller screen, you’re going to need to redesign it.
6. Does your logo have meaning?
Your logo represents your company and should convey an important message. If it’s ‘just a nice look,’ then you should create a new logo that emphasize your business’s core values and strengths.
How to Redesign Your Logo
There’s more to redesigning your logo than just throwing it in the trash and starting from scratch. In fact, your logo may just need a refresh instead of a full redesign.
Refreshing your logo is not necessarily easier, but it’s less dramatic, as the changes can be minimal. When refreshing your logo, you want to keep your current design elements in place, update your color palette (if needed) and simplify the look of your logo to modernize it.
Why does my logo need a redesign?
You need to be clear why your logo needs a redesign. If your answer is “because it does,” that’s not good enough. Unless you’ve identified the specific problem with your logo, you won’t be able to remedy it.
Which elements should I keep?
Your logo is made up of many elements combined together—colors, typeface, shapes/icons. Before overhauling your logo or deconstructing it, inspect each of your logo’s elements and identify:
1. What they are (such as the specific color scheme, font-style, shapes and icons).
2. What the meaning behind them is. This will help you remove any elements which you don’t need to keep; if there’s no meaning, or the meaning is working against you, it’s time to say sayonara.
Logo Refresh Vs. Logo Redesign
Updating your logo doesn’t necessarily mean ripping it apart and starting over from scratch. You may want to consider a logo refresh, which is like a logo “upgrade” to help reflect current trends and make it appeal more to your target audience.
A logo refresh typically includes things like adjusting your color palette, tweaking your fonts, changing or creating your tagline, and/or reorganizing your logo’s shape. It can be a good way to signal to your audience that your brand is up-to-date and listening to their current needs and wants.
Over to You
Redesigning your logo isn’t a project to be taken lightly, nor should you choose to do it based on a whim. Instead, you need to understand why a redesign or refresh is required in the first place.
Identify which of your design elements are essential and which ones you can show the door. And, take note of the giant companies that have rebranded. They wanted a logo design fit for the digital age, and customers expect sleek and modern-looking designs.
Overhauling your logo also means you’ll need to replace all of your marketing assets — social media, email signatures, and any physical items and clothing your logo appears on.
