Is Your Logo Pulling Its Weight?
Two weeks ago, I shared tips to determine whether your website needed some updates or a total redo. If you’re redoing your site, look closely at your logo first.
Do You Need a New Logo?
When you first started your business, you may have designed your own logo or had a friend who could do nice PowerPoints help you out. Maybe it was impossible to afford a logo.
But now that you are more established, your original logo may not be on par with your business growth and success. You may be hurting your image with a logo that doesn’t represent the level of service offerings.
"A professional business should look professional." Smashing Magazine
Logos are powerful. They communicate your business identity and your professionalism. A poor quality logo can work against you and send the wrong message to prospects. But how can you tell if you need a new one?
Checklist to Determine if You Need a New Logo
- Was your logo created by a professional graphic designer, or preferably a logo specialist? They are the ones who draw from scratch.
- Have your clients ever complimented your logo? You are appealing to them, they should like your logo.
- Does your logo have a stock image or stock illustration? If so, you will not be able to trademark it because it is already copyrighted. This is a sign the quality of your logo is probably low; get something unique that markets like a rock star for your business.
- Does your logo use legal fonts? Sometimes new designers or amateurs do not properly check out copyrights; it’s possible they just Googled the font.
- Are you happy with your logo? Does it communicate your brand effectively? If not, hire a graphic designer to evaluate it.
- Have your services or product offerings changed significantly? Using a logo that reflects your old business model may be confusing prospective clients.
If alarms are going off in your head while reading these criteria, it’s time to start asking business colleagues for their logo designer recommendations.
Steer Clear of the Crowdsourcing Logo Websites
Logo design (and website design) is a consultation process. You want your designer to know your business well. Also there are a number of copyright infringement horror stories resulting in bills for illegally used images, etc. It can be a crap shoot. Quality takes time, so skip the shortcuts.
A high quality logo is a fantastic marketing tool that tells clients who you are and makes a great impression.
How do you feel about your logo?
great blog post!
Another tip to add.
If all you have is a low resolution png or jpg file… You will be limited in what you can do with your logo. It will be impossible to resize it it and maintain quality if you want to create any type of signage, trade show art… Or even printed brochures.
Be sure to get high resolution… Or better yet, vector files for your logo.
Your logo is the keystone of your visual brand identity. It will set the tone for every other bit of marketing you do. A professionally designed logo that appeals to your client base and captures the essence of your business, is an investment that will pay for itself many times over.
Hi Robin,
Excellent advice couldn’t agree more! Even us web designers need those vector files (format frequently is .ai at the end folks), usually by the time a flattened file (png, jpg) has gotten to me the quality of the colors can also be a bit off.
I wrote on the subject a while back warning business owners to keep track of their logo files.
https://artsassistance.com/logo-artwork-files/
Thanks for stopping by Robin!