When you’re starting out or creating your business, one of the first ideas that pop into your mind may be “I need a logo!”. A logo, for many who have started a business, is one of the first visual representations that something is REAL– that something is a legitimate thing and you’re not just pretending.
This moment is important because it allows you to understand what you REALLY need: a BRAND.
Many people think getting a logo is the solution to their problems and what they are actually thinking of is a brand. You can buy cheap, ugly logos for $5 dollars that do not represent your business, but you absolutely shouldn’t. Why?
It’s simple: customers buy from BRANDS, not logos.
Your brand is everything your customer interacts with. That not only includes the name of your company and product, your logo and graphics, but also how your product functions, and even customer support.
what is a brand?
A brand are multiple components that work together to create an identity for your business. A logo is often the first piece of this puzzle visually. A brand is:
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The personality of your business in a visual form.
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The experience your customers will receive upon working with you or purchasing from you.
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Your business’ values and aspirations.
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Your business’ reputation and transparency.
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A consistent effort to work your brand voice, brand design, and brand actions together.
why can’t a logo be enough?
Brands are the big picture, while logos are the quick fixes. A logo may be used on social media, but what makes people recognize your post above all others while scrolling mindlessly on their feed? Consistent use of colors, fonts, terminology, and manner of addressing their customers. This leaves the logo realm and goes into branding — how you are perceived by your audience.
Hiring a designer and brand strategist will help you understand the depth of branding and appealing to the right audiences. You may not be trained to understand the difference between multiple shades or blue, different font sizes or types but they are — and my favorite word to tie to branding is that you MUST be consistent.
While it is a massively important visual element of your brand (and deserves your special attention), it isn’t the end-all-be-all of building a strong visual brand.
start with a logo, continue with branding
Your logo will be nothing without being perceived by the right people. Your logo may be the START, but it is not the ending of your efforts. A brand consists of the emotions behind what someone sees when they interact with your company. As a result, your brand becomes your business’s personality, which is why a brand has more responsibility than just being a swanky logo.
“A logo is a flag, a signature, an escutcheon.
A logo doesn’t sell (directly), it identifies.
A logo is rarely a description of a business.
A logo derives its meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around.
A logo is less important than the product it signifies; what it means is more important than what it looks like.”
— Paul Rand, legendary graphic designer who designed logos for IBM, UPS, ABC, and NeXT
As with any project, the scope of a brand identity can scale with the business’ maturity. Pepsi’s infamous $1 million logo was not just for the logo — it was for the whole system, including the redesigning of the Pepsi cans, bottles, delivery trucks, in-store displays, and more. It may start with a logo, but there is more pieces to the branding puzzle that ensures the iconic drink brand stands out from its competitors on the shelf.
The importance of a logo can be masked with the excitement of finally getting going in the business world — but don’t just let it stop there. If you’re looking at your logo with heart-eyes and not sure what comes next, feel free to reach out to me and let’s get you a BRAND too.
