It’s the end of an extensive rebranding process, and your designer has given you three logo options. They’re all fantastic, but it’s tough to choose which one is best for your business. Your employer wants a professional logo that looks good on golf balls and t-shirts, while you want a modern and edgy logo that stands out in the crowd. Is there a perfect combination of all three? How do you decide which one of these three criteria should have the most influence on your business?
A logo is a set of letters and/or symbols that are used in the same way to identify a company, product, or service. The logo is the most visible and stable component of marketing, and therefore it should be created meticulously to fully represent your product or service’s branding.
Your Brand Is Defined by Your Customers
It’s crucial to remember that your brand isn’t what you claim it is; rather, it’s what your consumers perceive it to be. Customers of the Apple brand provide it with a sense of luxury, dependability, and ease. The Apple brand has this reputation because of its consumers. Customers are the lifeblood of your business. A logo is merely a tiny aspect of a brand, yet it has a significant impact in attracting ideal consumers. What we buy says something about us, and selecting one business over another is a question of trust and instinct. Your mission statement may address a lot of ground when it comes to assuaging consumers’ fears about your company’s integrity, but your logo will be on the billboard.
The Expectation That Is Subjective Reality Meets Desirous Expectancy
One of the most widespread challenges with corporate logo design, and design in general, is that it is subjective. Sure, you may pick a designer who matches your personal style. But what if your design aesthetics aren’t appropriate for your product? How do you know which direction to go and who to listen to in such situations?
It’s important that your brand appeals to your consumers, not you. Your goal is to link your business and its ideal consumer in the hopes of finding a match. A visually appealing logo is nice, but if your consumers don’t feel it’s for them, they won’t buy your service or product.
Because design is such an intangible and vague concept, you must be objective in order to appeal to your ideal customer. You may make abstract notions tangible by asking questions and using descriptive adjectives. As you get ready to meet with your designer about a potential logo design, consider the following questions:
- How would you characterize your ideal customer?
- What is the tone of your firm’s voice?
- What advantages might your clients obtain if they buy your product?
- What distinguishes you from your competition?
- What is your business culture like?
During the first meeting, you should ask these questions in order to decide on the ideal logo for your firm. A skilled designer will narrow down the answers to these questions until they are reduced to simple terms: descriptive words, for example, as seen with this company’s response to the first question:
- How would you characterize your ideal customer?
My ideal client is a middle-aged to elderly male with a high-end service requirement. He is meticulous and wants the work done correctly since he can do the task himself but lacks the physical ability to complete it. He resides in a residential neighbourhood and enjoys luxury.
Now we pull out the most descriptive words:
- How would you describe your ideal customer?
An older, wealthy man in his forties to seventies who is seeking a high-end service is my ideal client. He is meticulous and wants the work done correctly because he knows how to do it himself but lacks the physical capability to accomplish it. He resides in a residential area and keeps his home like a museum, having become used to it.
The words “older,” “wealthy,” “high-end,” “meticulous,” and “luxury” will be appended to a list of terms pulled from the company’s other statements. After sifting through the entire list, the designer can choose 4–5 of the most evocative terms to use as a logo. The following sentence, for example, tells me the client is seeking a firm that can generate a feeling of deep-rooted loyalty, and who will do the task correctly and has done so for many years: “The more you work on anything with all your intellect, passion and thoroughly examine methods.
Moving Forward with the Right Logo
Let’s go back to the three logos your designer showed you. You can’t satisfy yourself, your manager, and your business with just one logo. Instead of relying on personal preferences, we should redefine the criteria so that the logo represents both your organization and its ideal customer. If the first encounter between you and your designer goes well, the three logos they provide you should be quite similar. After all, each logo has to accomplish the same purpose.
Is it permissible to be subjective now that you have three similar logos to pick from? Not in the least! Every aspect of a logo design process should remain impartial, and the consumer should always come first.
In order to continue, bring in a few of your consumers to make the decision for you. If they react favourably to one of the logos and not the others, inquire as to why. Let’s assume that the most popular answers are “because it looks really nice.” Does the term “fancy” match your objective statement? Is there a difference between yourself and other firms by being “fancy”? If not, you may want to consider one of the alternative logo designs or start from scratch.
A good logo design needs time, effort, and many meetings to be correct. The designer asks the appropriate questions at the beginning of the session, but it is ultimately up to the organization which logo they choose. The first step in selecting the logo that’s appropriate for your company is to understand how a logo is made.
