Your logo is, in many ways, the cornerstone of your brand — and, if your cornerstone is crumbling, it may be time to consider a logo redesign.
Of course, your brand is much more than your logo, and we’ve written about this before. However, when you ask someone about a brand, the logo is generally the first thing that pops into their mind.
This is where your brand lives after all: In the mind of your customer.
Your logo isn’t the only thing your customer thinks about when your brand your brand pops into their head — customer service, news and events, recent articles, the emotions they feel when your brand is mentioned, the attitudes they have towards your brand, your products and services (especially if they really like or really hate them).
But through all of that, visually, your logo takes precedence. It’s the touchstone, and it’s important.
So it’s obviously critical that your logo be awesome, simple, memorable, adaptable, and clearly relevant to what you do.
If your current logo doesn’t fit these criteria, it may be time to consider a logo redesign.
But how do you know when you should update your logo? Redesigning or altering your logo, or even coming up with a brand new logo, is expensive and time consuming.
It’s also possibly a huge undertaking, depending on how large your company is and how many different pieces of marketing collateral you have, both online and offline, not to mention any branded materials you might have generally, from letterhead to a fleet of trucks.
If you’ve only got a handful of business cards and a website, it’s not that big of a deal.
If you’ve got your logo plastered across 300 employee uniforms, a fleet of trucks, thousands of business cards, a website, hundreds of brochures, well…
You get the idea — it’s going to be a lot tougher, a lot more expensive, and something you’re really going to want to think about.
Let Us Start With the Basics Before We Jump Into Logo Redesign. What Is a Logo?
Here’s a simple definition:
“A graphic representation or symbol of a company name, trademark, abbreviation, etc., often uniquely designed for ready recognition,” (dictionary.com).
Logos have many goals, but the main one is to represent your company well. If your logo is not aesthetically pleasing, or worse, doesn’t clearly communicate what your business does, it may be time to consider a logo redesign.
With that in mind, keeping your logo up to date with contemporary design trends and ideas can be important for businesses over time.
Many businesses update their logo every few decades to avoid being seen as old or behind the times.
Coke and Pepsi are prime examples of this, both undergoing multiple rebranding campaigns over the decades.
If your logo isn’t resonating with your target audience, it may be time for a logo redesign, but there are other scenarios where a redesign may be appropriate.
Here are 3 scenarios where you might consider a logo redesign.
1. Your Business Has Changed
If your business is experiencing a merger or a name change, then it may be the perfect time to redesign your logo. Other business changes may warrant a logo redesign, like adding new products or services.
You may even be taking your business in a completely different direction, for example, reducing your B2C services and increasing your B2B services.
2. You’re Ready to Update Your Brand’s Look
Now, a dated look isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and a rebrand is kind of a big deal (not to mention expensive and time consuming), so you don’t want to go into this just because you feel like the logo is a little dated. Make sure there’s a discernible benefit to updating the logo.
For instance, if your customer base has grown younger over the years and they often comment on the dated look of the logo, it may make sense to update for the changed customer base.
Standards of design are changing all the time and your businesses’ branding may have to change to reflect that, but keep this in mind — the best logos are timeless. Don’t get carried away by design trends that disappear in a few years.
Apple has consistently updated their logo and striven for progressively simpler design.
However, they’re not doing it often — just when the time is right. Their brand relies on being seen as forward thinking, cutting edge, innovative, and always in front of new designs. As part of their brand, they have to update regularly.
3. You Chose Your Original Logo Quickly and Now You’re Ready Make It Professional
So this is sort of an amalgam of the first two, but it’s a unique enough and common enough situation that it bears its own section.
It’s not uncommon for businesses to start without any sort of branding plan, especially businesses that grow organically and were never intended to be more than some freelance work or side work.
For businesses that started in this way, the logo may have been put together quickly and easily with little thought and no budget because something is better than nothing.
Now that your business has grown, you’ve decided to throw out the stop-gap solution and get something more permanent.
It’s clear that this is a full-fledged business and that you’re going to keep moving forward with how things are growing, so you’ve decided to invest in your branding.
The logo is the natural place to start.
You’ve Decided to Invest in a Logo Redesign — Now What?
Redesigning your logo is much more art than science. We can give you some general suggestions, but honestly, this is something you have to feel out.
Where you go with the redesign is completely up to you.
A drastic change may make sense if you’re moving the business in a very different direction or merging two well-known companies with a lot of baggage. However, a slight upgrade may be exactly what you want (and avoid alienating your audience).
It’s something you want to give careful consideration, to plan out effectively, and to only do with adult marketing supervision.
If you don’t have an experienced designer and an experienced rebranding expert on board, you’re gonna have a bad time.
So, do you think your logo is in need of a refresh? We’d love to help you with that. Click the button to learn more about our branding services.
