Thoughts on logo design

I found this recently and couldn't put it better myself...

MAKE THE LOGO SMALLER - By COLLIN ARNOLD

A phrase never heard but always dreamt of by creatives in the advertising business when receiving client feedback – “Make the logo smaller!” – will one day reign champion over the dreaded and all too familiar, “Make the logo bigger!” auto response.

However, it will take some client education and persistence on our part to make this happen.

The client’s thought process seems logical – to them – and is easy to understand:

They are paying big bucks for great advertising; they want their name to be all over the ad.

WHAT THE CLIENT NEEDS TO REALIZE, HOWEVER, IS THAT THERE ARE TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY – AND TWO MESSAGES IN EVERY ADVERTISEMENT:

THE EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT.

The difference is beautifully summed up by Luke Sullivan in his book, the famous Hey Whipple, Squeeze This!:

“In every ad there are explicit and implicit messages, both equally important. The explicit message is what the headline and visuals are saying. But implicitly, the layout of the ad is sending many messages about the quality of the product, about the class, the demeanor, the personality of your client.”

IT DOES NOT GET ANY SIMPLER THAN THAT.

ADS SEND IMPLICIT MESSAGES BASED ON THEIR LAYOUT AND DESIGN, WHICH SEND CUES TO CONSUMERS ABOUT A BRAND’S CLASS DEMEANOR AND PERSONALITY.

What does a humongous brand logo say?

We’re cheap?

We have huge egos?

Our logo is more important than our main messaging?

There are only downsides to oversized logos, and unless creatives and designers in the advertising business weigh in on the argument – and, in fact, educate clients on the double-sided messaging that all advertisements contain – the status quo and the dreaded phrase, “Make the logo bigger!” will remain.

Forever haunting our waking logo dreams.

K MoFebruary 25, 2013Comment