The importance of a unique and memorable logo in your company’s branding strategy. As explained in the previous blog post, a brand is much more than a name or a logo. In fact, as Dan Pallotta, a talented entrepreneur and author, once said,

“Brand is everything, and everything is brand”

Your brand should be a cohesive experience that creates a sense of consistency and trust with your target market. However, although a logo is only one small part of a company’s brand identity, it is arguably one of the most important. A logo is usually the first impression that potential customers have of a company and as such, it’s a critical element in achieving the goal of creating loyal customers. 

The History of Logos

Although logos may seem like a modern convention, the tradition of communicating identity visually has been around for hundreds of years. In medieval Europe, some of the first “brands” were created in the form of heraldic crests. Unique colors and symbols would represent a specific noble family. This “logo” would be developed into a coat of arms. These crests became visual representation of the families, creating recognition and loyalty. A passerby would immediately know to which clan someone belong because of the unique, recognizable colors and imagery.

At the same time, many businesses faced an advertising problem because most of the population outside of the aristocracy was illiterate. To combat this issue, businesses began using signage with symbols that identified the type of good or service they provided. For instance, breweries and taverns displayed signs with mugs of ale, so that customers would know what they provided without needing to read a single word

Although these olden ancestors of logos were used primarily for identification, the motivation behind logos and iconography began to shift in the early 1950s when companies realized how impactful they could be for customer loyalty. Rather than just use a symbol or image to identify what a company does, they could actually use these symbols to set their company apart from the competition.

Brandish Your Own Company Crest

Think of your logo like the family crests mentioned above. A noble heraldic crest represents not just the royal family of its namesake, but also their character, ideals, missions and values. A unique and memorable logo should take all of these things into consideration, as it is often the first aspect of a business’s branding strategy that a customer will come into contact with.

A good logo will consist of text or images that are memorable and easily let the customer know what your company is all about. There are no logo design choices that should be considered arbitrary. Research each aspect of a successful logo to be cohesive.

According to experts there are 5 principles that are imperative to follow for good logo design.

1. Simple  2. Memorable  3. Timeless 4. Versatile 5. Appropriate

1. SIMPLICITY

While a logo should reflect your company’s core values, simplicity is key. It may be tempting to throw in as many elements as possible to cover every aspect of your company. But this can actually be confusing to the consumer. Simple logos are easily recognized and actually more memorable than their complex counterparts. Having a simple design also makes it easy to adapt the logo for various formats without losing quality or context. 

Key Takeaways: When designing a logo, LESS IS MORE. Stick to

  • 1 to 2 fonts at most
  • 1 to 3 coordinating colors. Avoid too many gradients or color shifts. 
  • Simple iconography and shapes without too many fine details
Simple Logo

2. MEMORABILITY

Having a unique and memorable logo doesn’t mean a logo has to directly say what your company does or offers. Think of well known logos like those for Starbucks and Apple computers where their iconography doesn’t directly tie into what their companies do. Yet they are instantly memorable and recognizable. If you create a simple and original concept and back it with a solid reputation, your logo will gain memorability in the eyes of your customers. 

Key Takeaways: When it comes to icons, you should be utilizing elements that can be recognized 

memorable logo

3. TIMELESSNESS

A truly effective logo should have an aura of timelessness. While it is okay to update logos or branding throughout the years, in order to maintain brand recognition those modifications should be very small, such as in the examples below. Creating your logo with timelessness in mind will build a brand that will stay in your customer’s minds for years to come. 

An amazing example of timelessness in logo design is the CocaCola logo.

timeless logo

4. VERSATILITY

To maintain a consistent brand strategy, your logo will appear across a variety of media and applications. Design your logo with versatility in mind. It should be able to appear on tiny business cards as well as large screens whilst maintaining consistency. Logos with a lot of fine details and multiple color gradients can be hard to scale to different sizes and maintain detail and color integrity. Design your logo in a vector format to ensure it to be scalable to any size without pixelation or distortion. Sticking to a simple color palette will ensure that your logo looks the same across all platforms.  When designing your logo, make sure that it will still be effective 

Key Takeaways: When designing a logo make sure that it will be effective in the following scenarios

  • In one color
  • In black and white. Both white on a dark background, and black on a light background
  • Blown up to the size of a billboard
  • Shrunk down to the size of a postage stamp

5. APPROPRIATENESS

Ensure that the style and feel of your logo is appropriate for your target market. You wouldn’t use the same style logo for a whimsical bakery that you would for an accountant. Make sure that the font, iconography, and color scheme are all catered to your target market demographic. 

unique and memorable appropriate logo

How To Get A Unique and Memorable Logo That Wows

A unique and memorable logo is the first impression of a company. It sends clear clues to the customer about how trustworthy the company is. A sleek and professional logo demonstrates that your company means business and has the credibility to back it up. Business logos can be extremely effective when all of the above principles are in sync, but that can be very hard to accomplish. Although you may be tempted to create a logo on your own, working with an experienced logo designer will make all the difference.