As I already mentioned in my last blog post, there are many reasons for a logo redesign. For example, the company was sold and the new partner wants to have a new corporate identity or the logo needs to be adapted to the contemporary taste or adapted to the target group.
Before redesigning a logo, it’s necessary to check the current appearance and then incorporate the new information. Additionally, think about the main advertising message or the slogan of the brand. Consider that it’s not always useful to add a dominant logo to an already very strong slogan.
If there are two logos and they should be merged into one, it’s also essential to identify elements that are indispensable and elements that can be removed.
There are three social techniques that help to create activating brand logos:
- physically intense design: using conspicuous colors and shapes or presenting the logo bigger
- emotional design: addressing cross-cultural, culturally influenced or target group – specific schemata
- cognitively surprising design: designing logos that outcast expectations. Note that these logos are usually not long-lasting
To make a strong brand logo, it needs to fulfill these conditions:
- it needs to be easily recognizable without too much cognitive effort
- the consumer needs to associate the logo with the brand name and the brand image
- when looking at the logo, the consumer should remember the brand name and the brand image and vice versa
In order to create a strong connection between the logo and the brand name, they should always be communicated together.
If the brand is already very strong and easily recognizable, the logo can also become more and more abstract. An abstract logo increases the retentiveness.
Furthermore, the designer needs to think about cultural differences. This is not only important in logo redesign, but in design in general. A logo for an international company also needs to work for different cultures. If the logo consists of a wordmark, it might not be understood or even misunderstood in another country. Moreover, the different direction of reading needs to be considered.
Also, the different areas of application need to take into consideration when doing a redesign.
The logo should work in every area. This table is from the year 2004. I’m sure that there are more areas to consider, for example different kinds of social media like Facebook, Instagram, etc.
Sources:
Esch (2008): Strategie und Technik der Markenführung. 5. Aufl. München: Verlag Franz Vahlen GmbH.
Hamann, Sabine (2004): Logodesign. Grundlagen der digitalen Gestaltung von Logos. Analyse von Logoarten und Markentypen. Markenbildung und Corporate Identity. Frechen: mitp Verlags GmbH & Co. KG.
Picture:
Hamann, Sabine (2004): Logodesign. Grundlagen der digitalen Gestaltung von Logos. Analyse von Logoarten und Markentypen. Markenbildung und Corporate Identity. Frechen: mitp Verlags GmbH & Co. KG. (S. 288).
