What does your logo say about your business?

When was the last time you had a jolly good look at your business’s logo? And what do you think it says to customers about your business? Your logo is often the first thing that new customers see about your business – it’s as important as the proverbial shop window.

Let’s think about a very prestigious brand with a very striking logo – Ferrari. Toni Marino’s post on his blog tells the story of the prancing pony of Ferrari, and its interesting origin from the side of an Italian fighter ace Francesco Baracca’s plane from World War I. The logo evokes a sense of passion and courage, which is carried through into the design and style of the cars themselves. It’s bold colours and traditional shield shape also create a sense of legacy and quality. It would be hard to imagine Ferrari with any other logo wouldn’t it?

Now picture the logo of Best Buy. This is a very unfussy logo. Its simplicity and straightforwardness aligns to the perception of the brand – value. The little yellow ticket in the logo suggests a bargain. That is a very clever ‘device’ and isn’t in there by accident. And the choice of colour (yellow) this suggestive of the yellow bargain stickers you find in many stores. No guilt edging here! Imagine if this logo had copperplate script – it would completely change the perception of good price deal. See what I mean?

Now take Sainsbury’s – the supermarket chain. It’s a supermarket centrally-positioned (Waitrose above it and Tesco below it) and the logo stays true to that. This logo uses only a curved line as a ‘device’ but instead it majors on the brand-name itself. But notice the brand name is in a thin, curved font. The strapline is in a ‘hand written’ font. You could say this adds a touch of class without being too obnoxious! The orange of the logo making it more mainstream than high-end.

The importance of the logo is very clear, at a glance it should be obvious how the brand is positioned in its market. Prestigious high-end brands will tend to be more ornate and the bargain brands much more simple. This is very true for supermarket own brands; have you noticed?

Of course that isn’t always true – take Apple as a fine example of a logo that breaks the norm. A very simple demure logo with negative space in the ‘bite’ – probably the simplest you will see amongst its peer group, or any brand for that matter. This logo has been honed over many years. Although this logo is counter to the above wisdom it wasn’t always like this! If you were to Google right now the original logo for Apple you will be in for a surprise!

Logos really do convey a lot of information at a glance. Often it is all that a customer will see of a brand as they go about their busy lives. This is why many millions are poured into logo development. They don’t just appear by accident!So take your logo and ask yourself what does it say about your business?

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