Branding 101: The Logo as Part of a Visual Identity

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

The Logo

While a logo is not the only part of a company’s visual identity, it is the most defining and often the most enduring. When we see major companies rebrand, when the logo changes, it usually doesn’t change much. Take Pepsi for example. When Pepsi rebranded, it took their trademark red, white, and blue circle and "simply" made the white inside a different shape. Look at the evolution of the Apple logo. Other than the first major overhaul of the logo, throughout the remaining years it has gone through only minor tweaks.

If we take a look at Company Folders’ 10 Best and Worst Logo Redesigns Ever, the ones that they deem the worst have the greatest change between original and new. The ones considered the best, overall, have the least amount of major change. These logos result in the greatest improvements. There are exceptions to the rule of course, but most often, when a logo changes, it’s not a major shift in appearance. Because the logo is the most enduring part of your visual identity, it is the most important part. Your logo helps direct your visual strategy.

When designing a logo, several laws, or best practices, must be kept in mind as defined by Al and Laura Ries.

The Law of Shape

According to their book, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, the structure of the human being (our eyes our side-by-side not on top of each other) determines the best logo shape. (For more information on shape, visit here.) The ideal shape for a logo is about two and a quarter units wide by one unit high. A logo this shape provides maximum impact. For example, the Avis logo is much more effective than the Arby’s logo because of its shape. Components of a logo’s shape involve its typeface and its symbol.

Typeface

In typography, a typeface refers to a font family. A font family is a set of characters, or letters and glyphs, that share certain similarities. For example, a typeface is Times New Roman; Times New Roman Bold is the bold version of Times New Roman.

The typeface in your company’s logo says a lot about your company, so choose it carefully. The typeface can influence a customer to believe your company is strong, professional, traditional, formal, modern, or juvenile. For example, sans serif typefaces look modern, serif typefaces look traditional or old-fashioned. Bold typefaces look strong; light typefaces look feminine.  But more important than the style of your typeface is the legibility of your typeface. A logo, and thus logotype, has virtually no meaning if it is illegible.

The trademark, or visual symbol, of a logo is another aspect of shape that is often overrated. It is not the symbol that gives a company or logo its meaning, but the words. “The power of a brand lies in the meaning of the word in mind¹” not the symbol.  But it can be a visually identifying mark of a brand. So if your logo does include a symbol, make sure it represents your brand well.

(Edited to add: Now that we have seen more and more companies that have dropped names from their logo, it's the words, or name, the symbol represents.)

The Law of Color

Another best practice of logo design is the law of color. When choosing brand colors, it is important to consider color psychology, or what certain colors represent. For example:

• Red often attracts attention and is considered an appetite stimulate, that's why it's so often used for restaurants, it can also symbolize anger or toughness
• Orange communicates warmth and optimism
• Yellow conveys creativity 
• Green is the color of growth or environmental-friendliness
• Blue communicates stability or leadership
• Purple speaks royalty or quality
• White is the color of purity
• Black is the color of opulence or luxury

Naturally, the best color for your logo is the one most symbolic of the category (i.e. red for food or green for farming). This list is not exhaustive for everything a color communicates.

One other thing to consider when choosing color is color consistency. If your company becomes well-known and you standardize a color, you build a powerful visual presence. If a woman sees a Tiffany blue box under the Christmas tree, she doesn’t need to get closer. She doesn’t need to know what the box says. It means one thing.