Establishing A Brand: Giving Attention to Your Logo

A very critical thing in the branding process is your logo.

A logo gives a new visitor and potential customer a quick representation of what to expect from entering your business, be it brick and mortar or a cyber door.    It's the sign on the front of your establishment.

Let's face it, who of us would be interested in entering a restaurant with a very poorly scribbled sign on a piece of old cardboard?   Unless we just happened to know from word of mouth that this place was GREAT, we'd probably go so far as to AVOID that restaurant, wondering if care was being taken in the kitchen to prepare the food properly.

I'll be the first to say that when I'm in a tourist town,  I'm most interested in visiting the shops with imaginative  signs and attractive windows!   So you get the point, your logo is a big part of your draw, that second glance, that moment when the customer says, okay, I'll give this place a few moments of my time.

Your logo represents your work and your character, as well.

It needs to stand out as yours alone....not so much that it needs to be 'over the top', but, it needs to be uniquely yours.

The colors used in your logo should be representative of your work and your vibe.  

If your design work is elegant and upscale, then your logo should reflect that.  If it's homespun and folksy, then the logo needs to blend with that sort of artwork.  It can be comic, if that idea applies.  It can and should be attention-getting....but never offensive, not even if you think it's funny and it makes your friends laugh.   These folks coming along down the pike don't know you and aren't your friends yet. 

What will *they* think of your logo?

Another thing you will want to do, when selecting your logo, is to look ahead in time just a bit.  Does your logo work with your goals, your business plan?   Or does it work simply with what you're doing now?   Will it blend with your plans a year from now?   Two years?

You might be thinking:  well, I can always change it.   And, you'd be right!   Logos SHOULD change every few years.   That's new thinking; it used to be said they should only be swapped out every ten years, or as generations come and go.   For big corporations, there may be still be a bit of truth to that.  But YOU are an artist; your work will morph, improve, take new directions.  

That being said,  your logo will need to stay current, and up to date with who you are, as well as who you become.   To that end, as you decide on a logo, you might like to chose  a key element that will stay a constant as your business, website, brand! evolves and grows.....some recognizable, discernable link to your past, your present, the future.

Here's a little excersize:  if you have a logo already, try and stand away from yourself and look at what you have chosen very, very objectively, as if you were someone else.    How does your logo make you feel?

For example:  people are amazingly affected  not only by color and style but by font and font size.

--too fancy a font, they can't decipher it. 

--too large, it's imposing, or perhaps grandiose.

How do you want people to feel when they see your logo?

I'm going to just put it out there--boldly!-- and use the logo from the B'sue Boutiques jewelry supplies website as an example for us to pick apart:

First of all, I like it.  I have always liked it.   I like the colors, too.

It's soft, it's pretty, it's got lots of curlicues and hearts.  I love curlicues and hearts!  Like my style of jewelry design, it's a bit effuse and fussy.  Hey, I almost never make jewelry that focuses on one style of component or mixed media technique, or one solitary color.

STANDING ASIDE, however, this is what I am beginning to see:

While conveying fun, cuteness and being 'artsy', this logo implies that I sell over the top boutique accessory goods...or at least, as a vendor of findings, that I probably sell glitz, SWA machine cut beads, lots of rhinestones and shiny, sparkly things.  

Yeah, well.  I do sell *some* of that stuff.   But you guys know me.  Glitz, SWA, lots of shiny stuff is really not what B'sue Boutiques is about, these days.    I do still make jewelry and I am still an artist.....and this logo would convey nicely the type of jewelry I made 10-12 years ago.   BUT....

I don't make a lot of jewelry for sale at this time, and my creative style has also evolved.  I'm a 'purveyor of parts' focusing on American made metal products with seven designer finishes....in the vintage style.   I sell light, pretty finishes like our Old Rose Ox, Silverware Silverplate, and Russian Goldplate.....but lots of dark finishes like Brass Ox, Rusty Black Patina, Choxie Brown (Chocolate Ox) and even Green Patina Brass which is applied green-teal patina over antique copper plating.     

At  You Tube  I teach a lot of mixed media techniques, specializing in patinas and colorization for brass, along with a bit of polymer clay and wire wrapping.  Nope.  Not glitz. 

What do you think about my logo as it applies what B'sue Boutiques is, today?

I believe that while it's as cute as a bucket of peaches, it doesn't represent my supplies enterprise properly.

It's time for it  to be changed, swapped out.   The colors need to change and become darker.  It needs to look like who I am now, so that when you view my magazine advertising, you don't come to this website and say hey! Is THIS the same person?  Am I in the right place?

There will be an element that stays constant and identifiable in my logo:  my name, which is a take-off on my literal signature.

I've seen some awesome examples out there of great logos that are so dead-straight-on-point that they just make me shake my head and say, why couldn't I have been that clever?   But you know, your logo doesn't HAVE to be clever.   It just has to correctly represent you, as you are.

When you stand back and look at yours....what do you see?

 

Comments

[gerry]

Since I don't have a logo this is perfect timing. Thanks for giving so much of yourself. I feel as if I have known you for ages.

[Brassy Steamington]

I could not agree more, that it's time to bring the Bsue brand to the here and now. I am excited to see what you and your team come up with. I am sure it will be something rusty, gutsy and oh so patina-y.

~Dr Brassy

[VintElegance]

Thank you for sharing and taking the time on writing all this for us! You are right it needs a little of your touch now, how you changed through the years. I cant wait to see what you come up with.

[Brenda Sue]

I'm really happy to use my own process as an example to analyze. I always say, if you have to go through something strenous or that takes time and a lot of effort, take something away for yourself that you can share with someone else. In the long run, though, this series is meant not only to share but to help those who need a little boost with their brand to see how important the process is. It's not so much that I have branded myself or continue to work on it.....many don't understand branding and that they need to work on it, too. As Brassy mentioned, someone knew her because of her name, so she's on her way. It all starts somewhere, and everyone has to start. ;-)

[Candy W.]

I need to redo mine and really work on whole "the package". I really appreciate articles like this one. Helps me to work on objectivity.