Is your logo SMART?
No matter what industry you are in, if you want to stand out in a good way, you need a logo that is Simple, Memorable, Appropriate, Reliable, Timeless.
So, how SMART is your logo?
Why do you need a SMART logo?
Three letters: R.O.I.
Return On Investment (R.O.I.)
When your logo is simple, memorable, and appropriate, you spend less time and marketing dollars reminding people you exist. When your logo is reliable and timeless you don’t waste time and energy revisiting “the logo discussion” every few years because your team is empowered for success.
Having a SMART logo will save you time, money, and a whole lot of headache, so that you can focus on what you do best.
A good logo should be simple — NOT a one man band trying to spout off everything you can do all at once.
It just needs to serve as an identifier that can represent your organization even in the smallest or fastest of circumstances — like a social media profile, or a billboard at 60+ miles per hour.
Our brains consume a LOT of branded visuals — estimates range from the hundreds to multiple thousands daily.
If you want your logo to be remembered in the sea of brands out there, it needs to be both simple and memorable — like this iconic mark for Westinghouse, created in 1959 by Paul Rand.
The look, feel, and style of a logo should be appropriate to the organization. We’ve established that it doesn’t need to say everything, BUT it definitely shouldn’t convey the wrong thing. For example, is this sign for S Urplus Ales a daycare, used car dealer, or something else altogether?
Your logo should feel appropriate for what you do.
Your logo should be part of a brand identity system that is reliable in any circumstance, at any size.
The version of your logo that gets embroidered onto a hat, may not be the same version that goes on the stem of a pen, or gets screen-printed on a t-shirt, but THAT’S OK! With a reliable brand identity system you will have the right version for the right application at the right time.
Have you ever been house hunting? You can immediately tell what era a house is from if the owners did anything trendy.
We use the timeless principles of design, NOT just the latest trends, to create logos that last. You don’t want to be the house with shag carpet on the bathroom floor (unless that is really your thing).
