by Jared McCarthy
March 1, 2005

Developing a great logo is a strange mix of art, science, psychology and (in most cases) a good amount of luck. Last week, in part one of this two-part series, we discussed some fundamentals of logo development and design.

Now, in part two, we'll look at:

- The pitfalls of literal translation
- How size matters
- How to choose the right logo
- Ways to protect your rights

1. Don't look for a literal translation

If you saw a logo with a hamburger in it, you'd think the place sells hamburgers.
When you see the Golden Arches, you think of McDonalds, not Burger King. When you see a logo with a drawing of a car, you think of a car dealership or service center. When you see the three-point star inside a circle (for hippies, the peace symbol) you think Mercedes, not Buick. A logo with a tennis shoe would lead you to think about shoe stores. The "Swoosh" takes you straight to Nike, not Converse.

Certainly, these logos are among the most effective ever produced. But none have any literal connection with what their companies sell.

This doesn't mean that an apple orchard should not use an apple in its logo. It just means that the orchard doesn't necessarily have to. Actually, logos that are literal translations of the business line may be less effective at building a unique brand identity.

Imagine if every hamburger joint had a hamburger in its logo. Placed side-by-side, they would be pretty difficult to distinguish from one another.
Logos, over time, come to represent the company. They don't have to be literal translations of what the business does.

2. Size matters

Strange as it seems, some logos fail because they were never checked for size.

Before saying yes to a logo design, insist that you see it mocked up in your corporate ID package. You want to be sure that the logo works well on business cards, letterhead and envelopes.
If your logo is going to be part of a product marking, be sure to see it there, too. A logo that looks great on a big presentation board might fail completely when reduced to an inch in size.

Before saying yes to a logo design, insist that you see it mocked up in your corporate ID package. You want to be sure that the logo works well on business cards, letterhead and envelopes.
If your logo is going to be part of a product marking, be sure to see it there, too. A logo that looks great on a big presentation board might fail completely when reduced to an inch in size.

3. How to choose your logo

Don't make choosing your logo too complicated. Have fun with it. There is a tendency for the evaluation process to get long, involved and much more cerebral that it should be.
Remember that your customers and the viewing public are not going to sit down in a boardroom and study your logo for weeks. Neither should you.

Put the proposals on the wall. Ask people to give you a quick impression. Then—and here's the important part—watch what their eyes do. Find out which one they look at first. Get their first impression and get it quickly.

Don't be tempted to tear the design apart looking for hidden meaning or to be an art critic. That kind of stuff is best left to the goofballs who hang out at galleries pretending to enjoy those little triangular sandwiches as they make totally irrational interpretations of what they see. (And, no matter how hard they try, they'll never convince me that they really like Woody Allen movies.) Prolonged discussions confuse the issue.

Try a preview. If it's possible, try out the new designs in a real-world setting. If your logo is going to be on a box of rice, mock-up the box and take it to the grocery store. Put it on the shelf for a test drive. Ask your designer to mock-up a billboard and superimpose it on the picture of a real billboard. (Most of the big outdoor advertising Web sites have photos of their billboards posted online. Grab a few and see how your new design looks in traffic.)

4. Be sure to protect your rights

Whether your logo is brand-spanking-new or has been around since dirt, you have to protect it. Significant time and resources are invested in your logo, trademarks and service marks. But unless you take active steps to protect them, you run a serious risk of losing them.
Logos, trademarks and service marks must be used properly and consistently in order to protect your exclusive rights to them. That's why style sheets and usage guides are so important. Most of the time, these guidelines will be created by the design firm as a part of the total package. If it's not included, the guidelines should be your first order of business before you begin using your new logo.

Style sheets are graphic representations of precisely how logos should appear. They include dimensions, proportions, clear-space requirements, and color references. The guidelines will include how a logo is to be printed and displayed in four-color process (CMYK), spot (PMS) color, Web (RGB) color, and black and white.

Logos should have staying power. Avoid trendy stuff that will go out like Nehru suits. Hire a competent design firm, and do your best to leave your personal preferences and biases aside.
Remember that it doesn't matter if your logo works for you. What matters is that it helps you sell stuff.

Erin Ferree Contributing Writer from Elf-Design.com 2005-02-28

Initial lack of customers and cash flow often causes a small business to put off designing a logo and marketing materials professionally "until [they] got a few clients" or "until [they] get started." Designing their own marketing materials when they launch their business, instead of having them professionally created, will make getting those initial clients more difficult, and may result in a business that will not succeed.

Many entrepreneurs choose to design their own marketing materials when they launch their business, especially by creating their first business card. Or, they will have an amateur designer, friend or relative create the design. There are several reasons why this is not the best idea. An amateur logo design and business card can make your business more likely to fail because:

- Your business won't look stable. It will appear to be more likely to fold or to fail. Clients won't have confidence in doing business with you. Would you do business with someone that seems to be on unstable footing - who might not be in business by the end of your project, or after you've purchased an item?

- You'll look like a very small business. Large, successful businesses would never consider doing business without professional, originally designed marketing materials. Using materials that are not professionally designed (i.e., Microsoft or Vistaprint templates) makes your business appear even smaller, and can possibly indicate that you cannot perform to or meet the standards required.

- You'll look unpolished and rough. Not having a professional look and feel can make it look as though your business does not matter to you. Customers may get the impression that you don't care about the way your business presents itself, which might indicate that you wouldn't care about the quality of your work, or the way that your work reflects upon their business.
You'll look unfocused. Unprofessional, uncoordinated marketing materials can make your business look "jumbled" or confused. If you have a business card with one look and feel and a website with another, this creates a confused - and confusing - look and feel for your business. This can also cause an identity crisis for a small business. When looking at your differently designed materials, potential clients may be fooled into thinking that they are looking at materials that represent different companies.

About half of all businesses fail within their first few years. One source of failure that's commonly cited by experts is sloppy or ineffective marketing - if your marketing materials don't stand out from your competitors', your sales will suffer.

When you start a business, you need to create the quickest possible route to business success. A logo helps to create this by contributing to your business's visibility, credibility, and memorability - three factors that will help your business to grow and achieve success. So, while putting off your logo development may seem like a prudent idea from a cash-flow point of view, it could result in your business never getting "off the ground". It can also lead to your business folding when it would otherwise succeed - if you don't invest in your business, who will?

If you think that you can't afford to design a logo when starting your business, consider the outcomes - how can you afford not to?