Simply Brilliant

Today, advertisements and image branding are everywhere you look. The interesting thing is that we are no longer phased by the overwhelming number of ads we are exposed to each day. A recent study has shown that the average person is exposed to as many as 3000 advertisements each day. 3000!

Now in order to segway into my original point, I”m going to make a guess-timation and say that at least half of these 3000 ads contain the brand”s logo. From this assumption, let”s say we are exposed to 1500 logos per day (whether consciously or unconsciously). That being said, the importance of creating a memorable and unique logo is more important that it has ever been before.

You would think creating a simple mark to represent a brand wouldn’t be that difficult. Then, you take into consideration the elements that make the best logos so great and you find yourself in a whole new ballpark. According to several designers and resources, the best, most iconic logos are, most importantly, SIMPLE. The following guidelines are also extremely important, however, in my opinion, simplicity acts as a determinant in how well you meet the following additional criteria for good logos.

Great logos are: memorable, effective with and without color, scalable and relevant to the brand or industry. So let”s relate these back to simplicity. For starters, I think it’s quite obvious why you want your logo to be memorable. The best logos act as an identifier for the brand or company they represent. The more memorable your logo is, the more recognizable it becomes, thus, strengthening your brand identity and contributing to your position.

Because most consumers only glimpse at logos without dissecting them like designers do, complex marks increase the likelihood that the consumer will forget it, or decrease the ease at which it is instantly recognized.

Continuing, although I have written previous posts regarding the importance of color in design, in logos, color is seen as a secondary element following shape and form. Thus, it’s important that the mark can stand on its own, when viewed in black and white. One graphic designer even argued that if a mark doesn’t shine in black in white, no amount of color can fix it. Logos are used on everything from packaging to letterheads, so scalability is also extremely important.

The design has to be eye catching, yet clear whether it’s blown up on a billboard or shrunk down on a business card. Although large designs would allow for more detail, the mark has to be simple enough so that the mark is still clearly identifiable when shrunk to 1” x 1”. The last guideline, relevance to the brand or industry, is a bit more complex. If the mark doesn’t have a clear relevance to the company that it is representing, it becomes less memorable, which as we have discussed, hurts your brand identity.

If you are like me, its incredibly hard to keep things simple, however, I’ve designed several logos and the rule has proven true. My most simple designs got great responses. So remember this next time you get [logo designers] block. Let us know how you have simplified your over-complex logo designs!

Written By Karly Poole