Comments on: How important is a logo?

By: David Airey :: Graphic Designer

David Airey :: Graphic Designer — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:39:42 +0000

When someone speaks about those companies, I think about their brand, for sure, but more often than not, I see the company logos rather than hearing someone speak. So in that case, the logo is the first thing I see when creating an image of the brand.

Thanks for teaching me about Russia’s special forces. ;)

By: Jan from thrusites design

Jan from thrusites design — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:17:15 +0000

Of course, they have logos. But the point is somewhere else. What do you think about when anyone speaks about those companies (or so)? Their logos are the last things in my opinion. Actually, I am not thinking of logos at all. For me a logo can be a simple text of including the company name.

Specnaz are Russian special forces, btw :) .

By: David Airey :: Graphic Designer

David Airey :: Graphic Designer — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:56:49 +0000

Jan,

IBM, Ferrari and the FBI have logos. I don’t know what Specnaz is, but from your other examples, I guess they have a logo too.

By: Jan from thrusites design

Jan from thrusites design — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:51:25 +0000

What if you have no logo? Anything can’t be wrong without a logo. Take Nike or Adidas as an example. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t care about logo, there are more important things for me. The trademark for instance. IBM, even FBI, Specnaz or Ferrari. Logo? No. Trademark? Yes.

By: Lakshmi Mareddy

Lakshmi Mareddy — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:41:06 +0000

David an addendum:
I did post this one at Nick’s site, though its taking ages to show up :)

A beautiful logo with no business cannot be salvaged, but a good business with a bad logo can be salvaged albeit with some outlay!

By: Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 12:27:40 +0000

Without a doubt a businesses logo DOES matter. If it’s good it may not have a “conscious” impact (unless it’s outstanding) but if it is poor it really will produce a negative attitude to the business as a whole. I see much of this on the web - home produced logos and site graphics - what message does it convey about the business? To me it’s one of can’t be bothered. Will they be bothered about service & my custom?

By: David Airey

David Airey — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 11:15:05 +0000

Thanks for your comments Ed, and good points over on Nick’s article.

Lakshmi, I completely agree that businesses end up ’stuck’ with a poor logo.

The key word in your reply is planning. It’s a shame that so many people open their doors for business before thinking enough about their corporate identity. It’s just leading to one of two things – either being stuck with an inferior appearance or needing a large cost outlay for a re-vamp that could have been avoided at the beginning.

By: Lakshmi Mareddy

Lakshmi Mareddy — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:29:47 +0000

David heres my take..

I did read Rice’s article, and much of it did make sense.

I think the design matters. In the broader perspective, if you have sufficient business, then within context of good business, the logo design shouldn’t matter so much, as life is good anyways right?.

But from a branding point of view, it should matter. Anticipating growth is difficult. Sometimes you may just grow and after your logo is identified with a strong customer base, redesigning is very difficult, as your customers may not associate you with a new logo. You are more or less stuck..

I have seen that quite a few businesses, just start off anyhow and once stabilized, pour lots of money into a branding exercise, which could probably have been avoided with a little anticipation and planning.

By: Ed Roach

Ed Roach — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 01:47:41 +0000

I absolutely agreed with your position David. I dropped my 2¢ off over there. All comments disgreed that I could tell.