R. E. S. P. E. C. T.: Show your logo some!
When Aretha Franklin first sang that song, I don’t imagine she thought it would apply to someone’s logo. But it does. And today, I want you to think about your logo, and consider: are you showing it the respect it deserves?
And what exactly do I mean by respecting your logo?
As a trusted expert recently told me, “Brands aren’t shoes. They don’t come in different colours and sizes.”
If you’ve gone to the trouble and expense of having your logo designed, use it as it was meant to: don’t change it, don’t play with it, don’t alter it, don’t mess around with it simply because YOU are tired of it. Your designer has already done the work; now your job is to use that logo consistently across all media, and build some brand recognition. Your job isn’t to mes around with something a professional has already done for you. And what exactly are those sins I’m referring to? Here’s a short list:
1) Changing the colour
DON’T. Your designer has already given you your company colours. If you now hate them, you have to question why. Don’t forget: although the logo may be quite personal, and there may be quite a bit of you in there, the logo isn’t for you-it’s for your target audience. They are the ones that are supposed to respond to it, remember it, be loyal to it, and choose it when it comes to spending money.
2) Skewing it or resizing it
Either resize it proportionately, or don’t do it at all. Better yet: have your designer come up with some brand image standards that you AND your staff can follow faithfully. Stretching your logo, squishing it, rotating it only makes it look silly and distored. And trust me, people can tell when your logo’s been resized incorrectly-it looks weird.
3) “Decorating” it
This includes transgressions such as adding a dropshadow, a glowing edge, some extra dots, or even some words….to make it a little “different” if it’s being used somewhere else, for example, in the flyers you are distributing. All this achieves is to create confusion. Potential buyers don’t want to wonder if they are dealing with the same company; they expect to see the same logo, over and over, and that’s what they should get.
4) Providing vendors/suppliers with a poor-quality image
If someone asks for your logo (ex. people in charge of an event you are sponsoring), give them a good copy-preferrably a vector (.eps) copy. These folks should not be hunting high and low for a good quality copy of your logo: it’s YOUR job to provide it. And don’t even think about telling them to “get it from your website.” That is a low-resolution logo that will only succeed in making your company look unprofessional.
The moral of the story is that once you have had your logo designed, it should stay that way. Resist the temptation to “play with it.”
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