logo
Before and After Comparisons of Famous Logo Redesigns
A logo serves as the storefront of a company in the simplest way possible. Getting a logo done is indeed an intricate task, a logo designer puts their heart and soul in the process and strives to create an identity that can be easily detectable from a branding expert to the 5th-grade student. In a nutshell, it’s a first impression that reflects the entire idea of a brand and sticks out a like a sore thumb.
A brand pulls out all the stops to make its logo as the face of their company, which is definitely not an overnight task. It requires constant repetition, perpetual promotions and many other efforts to acquire the desired goal. Then why does a brand have to retire their established custom logo design and go back to the canvas for redoing the strokes? Why don’t they just skip such a daunting task where they will have to go through the intimidating details all over again? Well, sometimes a fine-tune in the logo design gets inevitable. Whether you want it or not, you will have to take on the design journey for the sake of your brand replenishment. Except for the most iconic ones such as Nike swoosh, almost every brand’s symbol had to undergo some kind of reform in their original design.
Here we are going to look at some of the most famous logo designs journey – who have really raised the bar with their new and improved logo redesigns. Let’s delve into the before and after comparison of the well-known logo redesigns and see what we can learn from their tremendous success.
Pizza Hut
Logo History: Since the food chain’s opening in 1958, the company’s logo has undergone drastic redesigns several times. Started from a mascot logo in which Pete was holding the words “Pizza” and “Hut” in both the hands, the logo has come a long way to represent the slanted hut image as the central element of its brand identity.
New Logo- The Improvements: Pizza Hut decided to keep up with modern trends at the same time kept their design’s legacy intact. The logo has been known for its slanted roof not only in its logo design but also on their outlet’s building. Therefore they kept the primary identity untouched in the design. On the other hand, they took a smart move to simplify the color palette of the logo while emphasizing the color red which has a psychological connection with appetite and hunger. As compared to the older version, the logo has been tweaked to maintain the flat look and feel, which is quite trendy nowadays.
MailChimp
Logo History: A free and paid email marketing service started in 2001 with the monkey head as their original logo which was kept by the company until 2005. In 2006, the email marketing company decided to streamline their animated logo and went for a complete overhaul by replacing the monkey head with the typography ‘MailChimp.’
New Logo- The Improvements: The current logo redesign doesn’t even appear as an obvious redesign at first glance. However, upon close observation, you will be able to identify the subtle pinches in the design. The logo has been further simplified and has been given a lighter look. However, the original energy is kept the same as it used to be. But there is a clear difference in the typography which has been optimized over the years to improve the readability.
The logo is the prime example that tells us how one can breathe a new life into the brand identity without going overboard. Designer Jessica Hische has shown here how a low-key redesign is done while keeping the real essence unaffected.
Starbucks
Old Logo: Speaking of the iconic logos, you can’t skip mentioning the classic Starbucks logo and its redesign journey. 1987 Starbuck’s logo displayed a woodcut illustration inspired by the Greek pottery. The original version sported the Starbucks siren as fully topless holding the prominent fishtail. However, the logo underwent a drastic modification in 1987. In the 1987 version, the siren’s frontal upper body was covered by her long hair, however the fishtail was slightly cropped.
New Logo- The Improvements: For the new logo, the designers decided to get rid of the outer circle, and the name has also been dropped from the disc. Before the recent tweaks, designers opted for the symmetry until they realized that they don’t want the siren to be perfect as a Barbie. After numerous brainstorming sessions, Starbuck’s logo design team settled on one point that perfection is not something they want for this logo. Hence, they added a few rounder details and opted to keep the siren’s personality as it used to be; mythical, mysterious and worldly.
Target
Old Logo: Target came up with their unique logo in 1962. The logo initially kept 3 red and 3 white rings with the company name written boldly across the bullseye. In 1968, Target attempted to give a more contemporary look to the bullseye logo. However, in 1989 the company temporarily removed the bullseye image from the logo and kept the wordmark “Target” in bold Helvetica.
New Logo- The Improvements: Since the beginning, Target’s logo has managed to stand out due to its outstanding choice of color. Other than that, nothing can be wiser than representing a brand name ‘Target’ with the actual Target in its logo. As far as modifications are concerned, Target has reduced the number of rings, whereas the circle within the circle has always communicated effectively to the global audience. Not to mention the minimalist circle design creates an image of reliability, attention, trust, and strength. Besides, their perfect choice of color matches perfectly to the core values, vision, and purpose of the corporation.
Old Logo: Google original logo was designed in 1998. The designers used a standard font for the company name. Until 2009 the logo remained unchanged, after which the company decided to alter the shades in the letters. Fast forward to 2004, the company made a few subtle changes in the letter spacing.
New Logo- The Improvements: The simplicity of Google’s logo is the winning factor which makes its brand recognition game stronger than others. The sophisticated yet straightforward wordmark combined with the thoughtfully chosen primary and secondary colors gives the design a wow-factor that many other fails to adopt. The current logo is a flat design with sans serif typeface. Despite several minor changes, the logo has always owned and retained the classic feel with bold and playful colors and laidback typography.
Conclusion
Your logo is the face of your company. Sometimes, the face needs a makeover so that it can be conceived by the newer audience, at the same time, relate with the existing target audience. All the logo redesign examples mentioned above opted for the flat design trends with the bright colors. Not only this, but they decided to tone down the intricate details to modify the logo designs into a memorable yet timeless symbol that’s bold and recognizable from a distance. Remember, as your company grows, your logo should not remain the same as it used to be when the company was initiated. You will have to rebuild a consistent, robust and identifiable brand identity that resonates with the existing as well as potential customer base, which is only possible with an impactful logo redesign.
Portfolio Spotlight: Rock Medical Branding & Website
Go Media is so honored to have had the pleasure to work with Rock Medical, the premier Orthopedic Consulting Team here in Northeast Ohio, on their logo and website design.
Over the past 16 years Rock Medical has served it’s mission while building from a company of one to over 35 sales and support consultants. While Rock Medical has grown, they had out grown their brand image. Rock Medical came to Cleveland web development and branding firm Go Media to overhaul their brand, marketing materials and website. It was our great pleasure working with their president Tom Ramsay on crafting a contemporary brand that properly reflected their technological sophistication and “surgeon first” company culture.
Transitional logo:
Because of Rock Medical’s reputation & established recognition in the industry we needed to be sensitive in our approach to their brand transition. With the original knee logo mark carrying so much of that equity, a transition logo was created to help ease into the future plans for dropping the knee altogether.
Website Design:
Go Media used our Designer Sites platform to build Rock Medical an intuitive, beautiful and easily managed website. Running on WordPress, Rock Medical’s website utilizes Go Media’s proprietary Page Builder editor – featuring a front end drag and drop interface giving the Rock Medical staff total control over the layout and content of their website. Of course, all Go Media websites are built full screen, responsive and optimized for search engines. The result is a powerful tool to help drive Rock Medical into the future.
Learn more about the full project here:
How Do You Know It’s Time for a New Logo?
How to Know It Is Time for a New Logo
One question we get all the time here at Go Media is: “How do I know it’s time for a new logo?” Today, our President, William Beachy, is addressing this complicated issue.
Here are some points to consider should you be wondering if it’s time for a new logo:
What is your current brand equity?
Whether you realize it or not, your customers know you by your current look, so whether you do a brand refresh or redesign, you need to consider what are the implications are / how your customers are going to react to this change. If you have a sterling reputation and everyone loves you, your customers may not react well to any drastic change. If you decide you want to move forward with a new look, you may want to consider that this brand refresh be a small step in an evolution of your overall appearance. This will ensure you don’t lose that recognition factor.
Starbucks has done a great job of this – they’ve been slowly tweaking over a very long period of time – so much so, that the changes are almost difficult to recognize. If you have a bad reputation, the rebrand could be a good thing. For example, airlines that have had major tragedies have completely rebranded to change their look and reputations. Sporting teams with long histories of losing have rebranded themselves, built new stadiums and hoped that that will usher in a decades of winning. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
What will the impact be?
Consider that changing your branding may impact a lot of your sales collateral, your website. It’s going to take a lot of work (and money) to replace these items. If you’re ready and your brand needs this update, however, you do not need to make the investment up-front. For example, you can update your website first, then worry about your brochures later down the line.
What number of modifications are you looking to make?
There are many components that make up a brand – the mark (what people call the logo), the logo type (the name of the company), the color scheme, and all the collateral elements around that. Sometimes, the mark, the logotype and the color scheme look great and it’s just the collateral elements that looks dated. When you update the collateral, everything suddenly looks much better. Sometimes, however, everything does need an update. It just depends on the quality of the branding work.
How will your staff react?
Ask yourself how the family, ownership and staff will react to a refresh/re-brand. Many times, there will be intense backlash within the company itself in regards to a re-brand. If the branding was created by the company’s grandfather on the back of a napkin, there is often a lot of history and heart there. So if you move forward, you really need to explain to your crew why the re-branding needs to take place and keep them engaged in the process. Other times, a re-brand could bring a big moral boost to the company. Either way, keep your employees engaged and you’ll be much better off.
Now that you’ve considered those points, here are some quick do’s and don’ts when considering a new logo.
Do consider a new logo if if no longer reflects your company’s persona.
If your business has been in business for a long time, and your type treatment/mark no longer feels modern or beautiful, that is a great opportunity to do a brand refresh.
Do consider a new logo if if the branding is just bad: Ugly, overcomplicated, not easily recognized from a distance, etc.
If the brand clearly needs to be rebuilt, we will do the work. In these cases, we often mine design elements from the company’s history. These often help us bring bring their past to the present. In this case, we educate the company about how to introduce the new brand to the company’s customers/clients to ensure there is a smooth transition.
Do NOT consider a new logo if your branding is simply boring you.
If you want to do a refresh/rebrand only because you’re you’re sick of staring at it everyday, resist the urge. Keep in mind that your customers aren’t looking at it as often as you are. They might only see it every three months, six months, every year. Brand consistency is very important. So, just being bored with your brand isn’t a good reason to change it up.
We hope this information helped you to know when it’s time to contact Go Media, the Cleveland logo design firm you know and trust, to help you create the new logo and branding you’ve been jonesing for.
Watch our Facebook Live on this topic:
Have more questions for our team? Please submit them to us at [email protected] and we’ll try to answer them here on our blog or on a Facebook Live.
3 Questions to Ask Yourself When Building a Strong Brand Presence
How to Build a Brand
What is your brand? Who is your brand? And why should we care? Developing a brand is more than just your logo. A brand represents everything you are as a company. Everything that you say and do shows your prospective customer who you are. It’s your “dress,” the way you talk, your slogan, your signage, your messaging, how clean your offices are, company uniforms, your collateral materials and so much more.
To build a strong brand presence, it’s important that you ask yourself three very important questions –
What is my positioning statement? (Where is my space in all of this clutter? What does my company offer that no one else does? Why are we special?)
What is my messaging platform? (Why should anyone care? What’s in it for my customers?)
What’s my brand persona? (Who is my target customer? Who is my company?)
Close your eyes for a minute. If you had to talk about your company as a real person. Who would you see? Try to imagine your company as a movie star. Is your company Brad Pitt or Morgan Freeman? Someone young and hip? Old and stodgy? Middle aged and reliable? What about your customer? How do they communicate? How does your target customer like his coffee? You should live and breathe your brand persona so much that that answers to questions about your brand should roll off of your tongue. “Duh!” You should be telling me, “We’re an almond latte kind of company!” Or maybe you’re a tea company, or a pop company. We can’t answer that for you–only you can. This is the first question of many you should ask yourself about your brand persona.
Once you figured out your brand personality, it’s time to start working on the visual components of your brand. When creating your brand, it’s important to take its various components into consideration: logotype (the word), mark (commonly referred to as a ‘logo’,) and color scheme.
- The logotype is a distinct font that represents your company. It should be meaningful to your brand. Bold, curious, flirty, simple–fonts speak visually to your prospective consumer and should be an extension of your brand persona.
- The mark, or the symbol, supplements the logotype. If your brand is edgy, be edgy! If your brand is laced up, be more formal. However, always remember that your mark should (not too be too cheesey) help you make your mark on all things visual. It should work well in black and white, not just in color. Additionally, you should be able to use this mark on any design work–print or online. Think about how it will be displayed on social media, on eblasts, on brochures, on t-shirts, or on uniforms… just to name a few visual outlets.
- The color scheme. It should use one or two primary colors, one accent color, or colors of differing value. Creating a strong brand color scheme will facilitate your brand’s flexibility across print and online, and it will also help make your brand visually appealing.
Once you figured out your brand personality, it’s time to start working on the visual components of your brand. This begins with your logo.
Putting in the resources to craft up a quality logo cannot be underrated. Also, we’re going to get on our soapbox right now and tell you that for the love of all that is good in this world, please don’t think that once you have created a logo, you are done. So many brands focus on just this one part of their visual identity. While the logo is vital to a brand’s identity, it isn’t the only visual piece of the puzzle that helps set you apart from your competitors. Your logo, my friend, is just the beginning of your visual brand identity.
Let’s say, for example, you want to create a brochure so that you can tell the world how amazing your company is. Where should your logo appear on the brochure? What kind of header will you use? What kind of typeface will follow? What size font do you plan to use? What kind of photography or imagery will be included? What’s your white space/copy ratio? What kind of voice are you using in the copy? Does the piece feel simple or intricate, casual or fussy? You see, it’s not as easy as you might think to release a brochure. Just like your logo, this brochure should exemplify who you are as a brand–it’s an extension of who you are. Your customers should immediately see and feel the synergy between your logo, your chosen imagery, your words, and YOU. This thought process holds true for every single piece of collateral that you release…no matter how big or how small.
It seems daunting to live up to your brand persona in each and every piece you release. That’s probably why, time and time again, we see a brand that looks and feels different on various pieces of collateral. Maybe you’re using different designers or firms or heck!, maybe an in-house designer is adding his or her flair to your logo, or whatever piece you’re currently creating. Creating a Brand Standards Guide can help keep things consistent. On the Brand Standards Guide, include an example of the mark and logotype. Include fonts. Include colors in RGB, CMYK and Pantone. Include best practices such as uses and spacing. And finally, include example designs. Sometimes, we even see sample copy on a Brand Standards Guide. A solid Brand Standards Guide helps ensure that no matter who is helping push your brand, you’re all pushing the same brand–not spin offs of one another
In no way are we saying that each piece has to look identical. We’re a creative firm–we’d never tell you to go for visual boredom, or ask you to turn into a boring machine spitting out identical pieces, one after the other. Instead, we’re saying that visual consistency is vital to your brand. By following these tips, your customers will create a stronger connection with your brand that they can trust. Trust = repeat business, which, at the end of the day, is what we all want.
Questions? Get in touch! We’d love to help you no matter what stage of the brand process you are in. We can’t get enough!
Portfolio Spotlight: Très Chic Salon Branding
Très Chic Salon Branding
Go Media was approached by stylist Katie Skillman, who was on a mission to turn her passion for hair education & styling into her dream business – a Cleveland local salon known as Très Chic. During the early stages of the brand development, we explored influences from French cinema, fashion, and even some understated vintage looks. At the base of it all, we knew the goal was a strong, classic and elegant identity that held up to its name Très Chic, meaning very stylish.
Throughout the branding process, we explored several potential applications for the identity. Everything from a business card and service menus, to the signage on the exterior of the building. Because of this, the Très Chic identity consists of a handful of logo variations to account for those various needs. You can find their signature TC scissor mark sprinkled across their marketing materials or featured on aprons worn by the stylists.
To see more concepts and learn more about the project:
Portfolio Update: Marina Vape
Marina Vape – Product Line Branding
Over the course of a year, we had the privilege of working with e-liquid company, Marina Vape. The name of the game for these projects was building a visual brand around different flavor concepts. Ranging from abstract fruit flavors, to graham cracker, there was no shortage of visual inspiration to pair with the creative flavors. Below you can see 3 executed products under the Marina Vape brand umbrella.
1. ALTERNATIV 2. Honey Bear 3. Gummy Squirms
For the line of ALTERNATIV flavors, we came up with a graphic abstraction of the plume of ‘smoke’ everyone thinks of when they hear the word vape. The goal was to create an eye-catching visual for the line, which would adapt via color to accommodate for the different flavor profiles. Above were the chosen iterations, where below you can see some initial visual experiments.
Honey Bear Flavor
Alternate Directions
Gummy Squirms
Check out the CLEbaby Branding Project!
The Project: CLEbaby branding
The team here at Go Media had an absolute blast working on the CLEbaby branding project. Please check out the work we did below and learn more about CLEbaby, Cleveland’s premier resource for birth and postpartum doula services, on their official site.
View the CLEbaby Portfolio Item
The Summary:
Doula: a woman who is trained to assist another woman during childbirth and who may provide support to the family after the baby is born. CLEbaby’s mission is simple — bring Doula services to the mainstream. Often thought of as a more “hippy” option in the child birthing department, Gina and Ashley sought to correct that misconception, and cater to young professionals and to be viewed side-by-side with other professionals in the medical community (midwife,ob/gyn). Beyond birthing, they also aim to help the Cleveland parent community with help via educational events in cool Cleveland locations (fun stuff, dinners, meeting others who are pregnant/expecting). They’re a fresh company within an industry that hasn’t quite hit the mainstream yet — aka, the perfect client.
Merchandise: With Cleveland’s love affair of t-shirts at an all-time-high, part of the project for CLEbaby was to explore a merchandising aspect to the brand. The hope, of course, is to round out the service’s customer experience but to also throw another hook out into the water to attract unsuspecting customers as well. With branding variations for the rest of the family (Dad, Mom, and Kid) our goal was to explore some tasteful options for the different merch elements.
Tutorial: How to Use Vector Textures in Adobe Illustrator to Distress Your Logo/Design
Free Vector Textures + How to Use Them
We are so excited to announce the release of a new vector set, the Fistful T-Shirt Design Graphic Vector Set.
This new vector set was created by new Arsenal Artist, Dedda Sutanto, and can be found over on our Arsenal for purchase now. This set is exclusive to our Arsenal and includes 43 individual elements, plus the fully completed design. These elements include a fantastic array of frames, crests, wings, borders, bullets, stars, ornate elements, and more. A gun and fist are extra elements that complete this unique set.
Purchase the Fistful Vector Set now
We’ll be using elements from this pack, along with free distressed vector textures, to create a distinct weathered design. So, in order to follow along, you will need to purchase the set, as well as to download the free set of distressed vector textures we’ve made available for you here:
Download now: GoMedia_Vector_Freebie_Distressed-Vector-Texture
Step One: Come Up with Your Own Design in AI.
Use the elements from the Fistful T-Shirt Design Graphic Vector Set to create your own unique design. (Or, if you choose, use the fully completed design provided in the set.)
Here’s the design I’ll be using for the purposes of this tutorial:
Step Two: Select (Ctrl + A) and Group (Ctrl + G) all of the elements together. Make sure your design is centered horizontally and vertically within your artboard. This will come into play later.
Step Three: Select (Ctrl + A), then make a copy your design (Ctrl + C). Place your copy next to the original. Then go to Window > Pathfinder to pull up your Pathfinder Window.
Step Four: Making sure your copy is selected, press UNITE on your pathfinder tool. Your copy should merge into one solid shape. Well done!
Let’s leave it there for a moment and go back to our original design.
Step Five: It’s time to paste our vector texture over our original design! Open the vector texture of our choice up in AI.
Copy (Ctrl + C), then (Ctrl + V) to paste the vector texture over top of your design. Head over to your swatch panel in order to change the vector texture from black to white and place your texture where you think it looks best.
Step Six: Add the copy (i.e. the black shape) over top of the original design (and, of course, the vector texture you’ve added to it).
Just like the original design, you’ll want to center this shape to the artboard. You’ll also want to make sure that this shape is indeed at the top of the pile so to speak. You can do this by making sure it’s selected and going to Object > Arrange > Bring to Front.
Step Seven: Next, select all (Ctrl + A) and head back to your Pathfinder Tool. Hit CROP.
Purchase the Fistful Vector Set now
Step Eight: and you’re done! But wait!
Step Nine. Let’s see how your newly distressed design looks on one of our mockups! (I’m going to use one of our Men’s Ghosted Pullover Hoodie Mockup Templates featuring displacement maps.)
Hope you guys found that helpful. See you all very soon!
Purchase the Fistful Vector Set nowAccess our full library, only $15 per month
5 Ways to Further Your Reach
Expanding Your Brand Presence: 5 Tips
Are you feeling a stagnant air in your business? Strategy planning is a key element of any business, so here are 5 simple ways to further your reach!
How to Further Your Reach
1. Invest in yourself!
Let everyone know who you are by professionally branding your business. Start with a logo and simple website. Creating a relationship with a professional designer will help you throughout your businesses lifetime, you never know when you’ll need something! It helps to have someone on standby who understands your brand and can help support your direction. Designers do a lot more than just create pretty pictures. We create marketing plans, help plan strategies, consult and more. As you grow, your advertising needs change and your designer should be there by your side to guide you. When you are professionally branded and have a user friendly, modern website, it gives your business instant legitimacy in the eyes of your customer. If you are unsure about your logo or website, lots of designers do brand consulting and can help point you in the right direction and show you where you need improvement.
2. Utilize Social Media
The best thing about Social Media is that it is FREE! The worst? You can get lost, easily. The best advice I ever heard was pick the best social media for your business and focus your time and energy on creating great content for your audience there. Do not spread yourself thin posting to countless social media accounts every day. If your biggest audience is on Facebook, utilize groups, events and business pages. Maybe you find your following is more Instagram central. Post updates, stories and go live! Pick your best social media platform and run with it. What about sponsored posts, you ask? Personally, I hardly ever sponsor posts because I know how to reach my target on social media. When I have a post performing exceptionally well, reaching thousands without much effort, I will occasionally boost those. It is already performing for me and converting it to a paid ad will only help my reach!
3. The Right Content
You picked your perfect social media platform, but now you need to post. Create relevant content for your target customer. We’re not talking click bait. Research shows valuable content builds better customer relationships and leads to positive returns for your business! Create each piece with a “Call to Action” or the intent to trigger a specific action in your customer. Pro Tip: Create your content for a few weeks and mass upload them as scheduled posts!
4. Be Engaged
The right content grabs your customer’s attention, now it’s time to engage WITH them! Your created content gets people excited and they want to learn more about you. You start getting comments and messages, engage with them and reply! Your customer base needs to think of you as someone they can count on, someone they are comfortable with. When people feel like they already ‘know’ you from connecting and engagement on social media, you’ve already built the foundation of trust in your relationship with them. Comment on posts in and outside of your social media community. I’m not talking about a sales pitch saying “I’m Sally & I do blah blah blah..”. Comment on things that ENGAGE YOU and that YOU are the expert in. Show off your knowledge, the rest will follow. Engaged networking goes a long way with expanding your reach beyond your own two walls.
5. Get Listed!
Are you listed on the big 7? What is the big 7? Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yelp, Foursquare, YP & Superpages. Maybe your business doesn’t need to be listed on all 7, but you can absolutely benefit from being listed on the others. Not only is it a FREE way to get out to your customer base, it helps populate your website and business on search engine rankings. Listed on these websites goes back to tip #1, instant business legitimacy in the eyes of your customer.
What about you? Do you know or practice any other creative ways to further your reach that should be included in this list? Let me know!
Branding Cleveland’s Own Forest City Shuffleboard
Cleveland Design Firm Go Media helps to develop Forest City Shuffleboard brand
Based on the success of their original shuffleboard business in Marblehead Ohio (the Erie Social), owners Jim and Kari looked to elaborate on their concept by venturing to the city of Cleveland. As the branding began, we quickly realized a tweaked direction based off the original concept could be fruitful, and thus we arrived at the vintage varsity aesthetic. Orienting visuals to the feel of late-century gymnasiums and sports movies helped develop the voice of the concept. To further cement the brand voice, we decided to rename what would have been Cleveland Shuffleboard, Forest City Shuffleboard — A throw-back, nickname oriented approach which was the cherry on top of their new brand.
Wall Cards
Website
Designing a Kick-Ass Logo? Here are 7 Mistakes to Avoid
Mistakes to Avoid When Designing a Logo
When you think of great products or companies, the visual image that forms in your mind is probably that of their mark; McDonald’s golden arches, Nike’s Swoosh and Coca-Cola’s wave. The inherent value of a quality brand is well established. At Cleveland graphic, web and logo design agency Go Media we’ve perfected the process of building memorable brands that last.
Our Cleveland logo design experts will ensure that your business stands apart in a competitive marketplace. We love helping folks through their entire branding process, one aspect of which is your logo – the mark or shape you’d use to represent your company.
A logo speaks volume about your brand, so what can you do to ensure it doesn’t fall flat on its face?
Here are 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Designing a Kick-Ass Logo
Mistake #1: Not trusting your designer.
It’s absolutely imperative that you choose a solid design firm (*cough – Go Media – cough*) with a great reputation (*cough – Go Media – cough*) for the job. Once you’ve chosen the firm and meet your designer – trust them. Their life’s work is to recognize great design (and the opposite). Heed the advice you receive and remember why you’re paying good money for it.
Mistake #2: Not trusting your instincts.
Now that we’ve told you to trust your designer – understand that this is a collaborative effort. Just as your designer is the expert in their field, you are the expert in yours. You know your customer base better than anyone. Educate your designer about your audience, the environment the identity will live in and your industry before they put pencil to paper. Once proofs are being send out, give your honest feedback. Trust your instincts and feel free to be honest.
Mistake #3: Being Too Emotionally Attached
Already have an existing logo? Recognize the difference between familiar and good. If you’ve established that your logo needs a facelift, work with a firm that can maintain your brand equity while bringing you the update you deserve. Unsure if your long-time logo is good or not? Talk to your customers, collect candid feedback, reassess.
Mistake #4: Imbuing all of your company traits onto your mark (that’s the symbol that represents your company).
In other words, don’t try to jam-pack your logo with everything you think your company does or represents. Remember that your logo is meant to be a symbol that represents your company. If your branding is done right*, your customer will fully experience your company in a wide variety of ways (for example, via your website, packaging, commercials and more), so no need to fit it all in here. Trying to bake in all of your brand values, personality, services, etc. and still have a strong mark is nearly impossible.
Learn the difference between logo design and branding here*
Mistake #5: Overly complicating your mark with shapes, color gradients, etc.
Your mark is not a piece of artwork, so hold back on the temptation to add pieces of flair. Avoid too much detail, pull back the reins. The best logos are simple, yet memorable due to their quiet strength. Aim for something unique or unexpected instead of packing on extras that will pull focus away from the heart of the matter.
Mistake #6: Using Insufficient Contrast
We want to see your logo without going cross-eyed. Don’t destroy a good thing by choosing the wrong colors for your logo. Learn about contrast and apply the rules appropriately.
Mistake #7: Being Overly Artistic in your Typeface
The number one goal of your typeface is for it to be legible. While it’s tempting to get creative with type, hold back and again, remember to keep it simple. If you’d like to infuse a strong sense of style into your logo, do so in your imagery.
Remember: There are many well-meaning, but not-so-hot logos out there in the world.
Remember, your company’s livelihood relies your branding, so make sure your logo game is tight. There are no shortcuts to greatness!
Check out out Go Media’s Logo Design Portfolio and contact us so that we can discuss your logo design needs.
The Branding Process: 4 Steps to Success
Steps involved in Branding Process
Now that you’re fully educated on the difference between logo design and branding, you’re probably coming to a realization.
And that understanding might be something like this, “Bill, I really need more than a logo. I need a full Go Media branding experience.”
Wondering what that will look like? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
While each branding process is unique, the following examples will walk you through a typical experience.
1. In the first round of proofs, after research and the kick-off meeting, our designers are going to put together several possible brand directions. Each direction will include their thoughts and visual examples to explain the ideas behind the aesthetic.
2. Once a direction (or several directions) are selected, the team will begin to explore designs for your company. You may see a mark, logotype and supporting examples of the brand in use. Exactly what’s designed is based on your needs.
3. Based on your feedback, the design team will continue to refine the brand – exploring more applications and dialing in the fonts, colors, mark and logotype.
This example only shows four steps in our process, but frequently our branding process will have over seven rounds of revisions. We’re going to keep working until you’re overjoyed with your new brand.
4. Once you’re satisfied with the final brand, we package up your assets and deliver them to you through email as well as on disk. We can prep your assets in any file format you need. Your assets are yours to keep. We also keep a copy of all your brand assets on our servers for any future need you might have.
Still not satisfied? Want to see more? Check out our branding project, Trés Chic.
1. Exploration of many directions.
2. Further exploration of selected directions, including marks, logotypes, and supporting elements of your brand.
3. Refining the brand, dialing in on details, and exploring more applications including fonts, colors, mark and logotype.
4. Design is finalized and assets are packaged and delivered to the client.
So, that’s it in a nutshell.
Sold? Ready to start your branding project with Go Media?Request a Quote for your next Logo Design Project. Or give us a call! 216-939-0000
Logo Design vs. Branding – what’s the difference?
What’s the Difference between Logo Design and Branding?
Why do I hate my new logo?
Never fear, your Cleveland Logo design firm Go Media is here to explain!
Everyone knows what a logo is. It’s that shape companies use to represent their company; like Nike’s swoosh, McDonald’s golden arches (M) or Starbucks green mermaid. But what’s branding exactly? Branding is a more holistic perspective of how your customers experience your company. While a logo is only a small simple mark, a brand includes every single touch-point your customers have with your company.
Let’s use Nike as an example and consider the differences between a logo and a brand.
Nike’s logo is the swoosh. It’s a nice clean simple shape that represents motion and speed. The name Nike is derived from the greek Winged Goddess of Victory. It’s very nice, but it’s just a mark – a simple shape.
Nike’s branding includes its commercials, sports celebrity endorsements, product packaging, store design, product placement on tv and in movies, sponsorships, in-store graphics, hang-tags, the music in its videos, the design of its website, print ads, product photography, technology, and on and on and on… It’s every touch point you have with Nike.
So, why does it matter? Why should I care that my Cleveland Logo Design company Go Media does branding and not just logo design? Here’s why: your customers don’t experience your company in the form of a logo floating to them in a white Matrix-like void. They experience your brand through your website, or your menu or your product packaging or your commercials. It’s important that the design company that is working on your logo understands that your logo is just one small part of a large collection of graphics.
Unfortunately, this is how many business owners think a good logo design works.
Step 1. A potential customer sees a logo.
Step 2. If the logo is ‘good’, they have an emotional and intellectual reaction. They instantly know what the company sells, and they know it’s awesome!
Step 3. They decide to purchase the product or service.
Naturally, if this is how business owners think branding works, then they would expect to have a strong positive emotional reaction when seeing a new logo concept for their company. But they don’t. Almost all business owners upon seeing a new logo design for their company do NOT have a strong emotional reaction. And since they don’t, they assume the logo design is bad. After all, they have a strong positive emotional reaction to the Nike logo! That’s what makes it a good logo. Right?
Wrong.
So, if the logo itself doesn’t trigger a positive emotional reaction, why the heck do I get so excited when I see the Nike logo? Here’s how it really works:
Step 1. A potential customer sees a logo.
Step 2. If the logo is familiar to them (such as Nike’s swoosh), they will instantly remember all the experiences they’ve had with the brand – the commercials, your experience owning Nike products, seeing your hot neighbor wearing Nike clothes, the packaging, the way your friends talk about the brand, celebrity endorsements, etc.
Step 3. These memories trigger the emotional and intellectual response. Yes! I know this company! I know their products, and they’re COOL!
Step 4. They decide to purchase the latest pair of Nike shoes.
As you can see, the logo is only a visual queue to the brain to recall their experiences interacting with the company (also known as the ‘brand’!) The memory of the brand experience is what triggers the emotional reaction!
So, back to the business owner and the new logo. This is how their experience looks when looking at their new logo.
Step 1. A potential customer sees their new logo design.
Step 2. They do NOT have any memories tied to the new mark.
Step 3. Because they have no memories, they do not feel ‘excited’ or enlightened in any way.
Step 4. They fire their designer.
Now, let me just clarify something. I don’t want to suggest that all business owners instantly hate their logo design and fire their designers. But this is certainly a challenge that designers face when working with business owners – particularly those who have well established brands. Companies with well established brands have many years of experiences with their logo – creating strong emotional attachments. Hopefully this knowledge will help you understand why you’re still clinging to your old logo and not upgrading to a new, better one.
“Well, that’s all fine and dandy Bill, but why are you telling us all of this?” I can hear you thinking. I just want to make a clear distinction between ‘logo design’ and ‘branding.’ What Go Media does for it’s clients is ‘branding.’ We consider all aspects of what makes up a brand, and integrate that into our design process. So, yes, at the end of the project you WILL have:
- logo
- fonts
- color scheme
- brand style guide
These are all the foundational elements you need for your brand. But during the process, you will find that our team also considers other aspects of your brand. This is unique to each project, but might include things like: hang tags, signage, website, apparel, paper type and finishes, uniforms, billboards, product packaging, etc.
This design process is different than most other firms take and can even be confusing at first to our own clients. In the first couple of rounds they might ask: “Hey! Where’s the logo?” Invariably, they come to understand what we’re doing and by the end they have a much more well thought-out solution for their company. They have more than a logo, they have a brand!
“But Bill!” I can hear you saying “One last thing. Why does your website call your service ‘Logo Design’ if what you really do is ‘Branding?’” Well, the answer to that is simple. More business owners search on Google for the term ‘logo design’ than they do ‘branding.’ So, naturally, I want my website to be optimized for the term people search more. When communicating with clients it’s important to maintain a client centric perspective.
Stay tuned for the next article that details a step-by-step example of our logo (branding) design process: “The Branding Process: 4 Steps to Success”
Sold? Ready to start your branding project with Go Media? Request a Quote for your next Logo Design Project. Or give us a call! 216-939-000
Branding: More Than Just a Logo
How to Build a Strong Brand Identity
What is your brand? Who is your brand? And why should we care?
When most people think of a ‘brand’ they think specifically about a logo (known by graphic designers as a ‘mark’) – Nike’s swoosh, McDonald’s golden arches, Coca-Cola’s wave. While a logo is certainly one very important part of a brand, it’s so much more than that. Let’s start with Brand 101: A brand represents everything you are as a company. Everything that you say and do shows your prospective customer who you are. It’s your “dress,” the way you talk, your slogan, your signage, your messaging, how clean your offices are, company uniforms, your collateral materials and so much more.
To figure out who you are as a brand, ask yourself these questions:
- What is my positioning statement? (Where is my space in all of this clutter? What does my company offer that no one else does? Why are we special?)
- What is my messaging platform? (Why should anyone care? What’s in it for my customers?)
- What’s my brand persona? (Who is my target customer? Who is my company?)
Positioning and messaging are a huge–and often underplayed–part of a company’s brand. They help you figure out how you can be a trusted company in what can often seem like a world of muck. Go Media is a creative firm that does Cleveland Logo Design, so in this post, we’re going to focus on the visual aspect of your brand, but we just want to make sure we stress the importance of messaging. The things you say are as important as how good your brand looks.
Close your eyes for a minute. If you had to talk about your company as a real person. Who would you see? Try to imagine your company as a movie star. Is your company Brad Pitt or Morgan Freeman? Someone young and hip? Old and stodgy? Middle aged and reliable? What about your customer? How do they communicate? How does your target customer like his coffee? You should live and breathe your brand persona so much that that answers to questions about your brand should roll off of your tongue. “Duh!” You should be telling me, “We’re an almond latte kind of company!” Or maybe you’re a tea company, or a pop company. We can’t answer that for you–only you can. This is the first question of many you should ask yourself about your brand persona.
Once you figured out your brand personality, it’s time to start working on the visual components of your brand. When creating your brand, it’s important to take its various components into consideration: logotype (the word), mark (commonly referred to as a ‘logo’,) and color scheme.
- The logotype is a distinct font that represents your company. It should be meaningful to your brand. Bold, curious, flirty, simple–fonts speak visually to your prospective consumer and should be an extension of your brand persona.
- The mark, or the symbol, supplements the logotype. If your brand is edgy, be edgy! If your brand is laced up, be more formal. However, always remember that your mark should (not too be too cheesey) help you make your mark on all things visual. It should work well in black and white, not just in color. Additionally, you should be able to use this mark on any design work–print or online. Think about how it will be displayed on social media, on eblasts, on brochures, on t-shirts, or on uniforms… just to name a few visual outlets.
- The color scheme. It should use one or two primary colors, one accent color, or colors of differing value. Creating a strong brand color scheme will facilitate your brand’s flexibility across print and online, and it will also help make your brand visually appealing.
If your logo is good enough, you’ll be remembered. I suppose if it’s bad enough, you’ll be remembered too–but certainly no customer will trust you.
We’re going to get on our soapbox right now and tell you that for the love of all that is good in this world, please don’t think that once you have created a logo, you are done. So many brands focus on just this one part of their visual identity. While the logo is vital to a brand’s identity, it isn’t the only visual piece of the puzzle that helps set you apart from your competitors. Your logo, my friend, is just the beginning of your visual brand identity.
[Tweet “”Your logo is just the beginning of your visual brand identity.” – Go Media”]
Let’s say, for example, you want to create a brochure so that you can tell the world how amazing your company is. Where should your logo appear on the brochure? What kind of header will you use? What kind of typeface will follow? What size font do you plan to use? What kind of photography or imagery will be included? What’s your white space/copy ratio? What kind of voice are you using in the copy? Does the piece feel simple or intricate, casual or fussy? You see, it’s not as easy as you might think to release a brochure. Just like your logo, this brochure should exemplify who you are as a brand–it’s an extension of who you are. Your customers should immediately see and feel the synergy between your logo, your chosen imagery, your words, and YOU. This thought process holds true for every single piece of collateral that you release…no matter how big or how small.
It seems daunting to live up to your brand persona in each and every piece you release. That’s probably why, time and time again, we see a brand that looks and feels different on various pieces of collateral. Maybe you’re using different designers or firms or heck!, maybe an in-house designer is adding his or her flair to your logo, or whatever piece you’re currently creating. Creating a Brand Standards Guide can help keep things consistent. On the Brand Standards Guide, include an example of the mark and logotype. Include fonts. Include colors in RGB, CMYK and Pantone. Include best practices such as uses and spacing. And finally, include example designs. Sometimes, we even see sample copy on a Brand Standards Guide. A solid Brand Standards Guide helps ensure that no matter who is helping push your brand, you’re all pushing the same brand–not spin offs of one another.
In no way are we saying that each piece has to look identical. We’re a creative firm–we’d never tell you to go for visual boredom, or ask you to turn into a boring machine spitting out identical pieces, one after the other. Instead, we’re saying that visual consistency is vital to your brand. By following these tips, your customers will create a stronger connection with your brand that they can trust. Trust = repeat business, which, at the end of the day, is what we all want.
Questions? Get in touch! We’d love to help you no matter what stage of the brand process you are in. We can’t get enough!
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And check out our Brand Guidelines Template, now available over at Go Media’s Arsenal!
When you design a logo for a client, are you including a Brand Style Guide? You know, a document that tells the client how to use their new logo? If not, you should be. A well done Brand Style Guide provides tremendous value to your client and can earn you more money on logo design and branding projects.
But how do you know what goes into your Brand Style Guide? And designing it takes up a ton of extra time, so wouldn’t it be nice if someone like us did all the work for you so you just have to replace all the content with yours and be done with it? Yes, that’s what we did! Learn more now
Cleveland Browns Branding: Julia Briggs of Blue Star Design Weighs In
Updated Cleveland Browns Branding
Our recent post, “New” Browns Logo Leaves Cleveland Graphic Designers Deflated” collected expert advice from local authorities on the matter including Julia Briggs, CEO and creative lead at Cleveland design firm, Blue Star. Julia is responsible for logo development for Ohio Lottery: Keno; Classic Lotto; Pick 3, 4 and 5, and more, Ronald McDonald House of Cleveland and the State of Ohio: Red Treehouse, Dwellworks, and more.
Julia’s full interview is included below. Enjoy and be sure to catch the full story, featuring fellow experts William Beachy, Wilson Revehl, Chris Comella, Aaron Sechrist, and Todd Radom here.
Cleveland Browns Branding Interview with Julia Briggs
The new Cleveland Browns logo design has been harshly derided in some circles for being underwhelming or, as some have put it, “just oranger.” Do you think that kind of criticism is unfair?
I do think it is fair criticism at this point because the Browns set themselves up for this issue. Regardless of whether the new look is good or bad, the execution of the project and reveal wasn’t done well at all…and that is too is part of the organization’s brand. Brand doesn’t just stop with the logo and color way.
Is there anything about the new logo that “works”? If so, explain.
The logo isn’t bad – because ultimately it’s the same logo we’ve had for — forever. So I can’t really say it doesn’t work.
I do credit the Browns organization for taking care to listen to the fans who asked them to push the look and feel forward while respecting the tradition — with a lot of emphasis on NOT changing the helmet.
But then there comes that moment where you stop listening and call on experts to help make the right decision. There’s that quote by Henry Ford — “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
I wonder how Henry Ford would have handled the logo change for the Cleveland Browns.
Is there anything you would have done differently if you had tackled this project?
I wouldn’t have announced this reveal as a new logo. I would have had my PR team announce it as a refresh or an update. Using the term NEW LOGO sets up the expectation that you will be releasing a NEW LOGO.
You will always have a group of people who won’t like the change regardless, because change is hard. However, now the Browns have a group of people who don’t like the change AND another group of people who are dumbfounded by the lack of change. That’s a lot of disappointed people.
Do you think this logo design change was ultimately the best decision for the team?
Personally, I believe change and trying to grow and stay relevant is always good.
But my in this case, my concern is that Cleveland will have to live with this new change for five years. NFL rules state: Once a team does change their logo they are under the NFL’s five-year rule which prohibits any other uniform changes for the first five years after an initial change.
Someone in this town had the opportunity in their hands to make a bigger impact and couldn’t make it happen – again. I think that’s what this Logo Change represents to Clevelanders today.
Anything to add?
It’s moments like these that make me cringe. The design agency tapped to do this work is at the mercy of the people who cut their check. But they get to go down with the sinking ship — when and if the ship sinks. The public may see it as a lot of time and money spent on little return. And then the rest of the design community gets tethered to that ship, too, by association.
Let’s hope the Cavs win the NBA championship this year and we can just forget about this whole fiasco. For more Browns branding info, be sure to check out other interviews by our Cleveland graphic design team!
More from Julia and Blue Star: Official Site | Twitter
Updated Cleveland Browns Logo Design 2015: Previous Dawg Pound Logo Designer Designer Todd Radom Weighs In
Updated Cleveland Browns Logo Design 2015
Our recent post, “New” Browns Logo Leaves Cleveland Graphic Designers Deflated” collected expert advice from local authorities on the matter including Todd Radom, independent graphic specializing in branding for professional sports franchises and events. Todd has designed everything from Super Bowl logos to All Star Game logos and has created the graphic identities for multiple franchises as well as over 50 team anniversary marks. His two decades of work with the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball have resulted in some of the most familiar icons of our popular culture. Todd’s work includes the previous dawg pound logo.
Todd’s full interview with Cleveland logo designers, Go Media is included below. Enjoy and be sure to catch the full story, featuring fellow experts William Beachy, Wilson Revehl, Chris Comella, Aaron Sechrist, and Julia Briggs here.
Interview with Todd Radom
The new Cleveland Browns logo design has been harshly derided in some circles for being underwhelming or, as some have put it, “just oranger.” Do you think that kind of criticism is unfair?
In my opinion the criticism is fair—and partially due to the fact that the team has been readying the fan base for a logo change for two years. An already cynical constituency has been discussing the kind of change that was coming, and was given a primary logo that represents a lateral move. Fairly or otherwise we have been hearing “well, that’s such a Browns move” since the announcement, and that gets your customers wondering if this confused messaging extends to other aspects of the franchise. I have likened it to this scenario—it’s Christmas morning and the Browns had a present for the fans. They gave them a gift card. Disappointing.
Is there anything about the new logo that “works”? If so, explain.
If nothing else, it defends the status quo. There is a very vocal portion of the fan base that wanted no change at all—this placates those concerns (although we’ll have to wait until the new uniforms are unveiled in April before we collectively make a truly informed judgement.) I’ve been trying to emphasize the fact that any team logo is one single piece of a series of visual assets. All of these need to work in unison in order to properly amplify the message that the Browns want to send. If we were marking this in a traditional way I’d give it an “incomplete” as of right now.
Is there anything you would have done differently if you had tackled this project?
Wow. I’d have loved to have seen the creative brief on this one. There are lots of stakeholders here and I suspect that the design team pushed it far out there at the outset of the process, only to see it fall back to what ultimately emerged. The process of branding a professional sports team is incredibly complex and multilayered. Creating bulletproof assurances and holding hands is often as important as execution. What is the franchise DNA of the Cleveland Browns? Who do they aspire to be? I’m certain these questions were asked at the outset of the project—but I’d be very interested to hear what transpired along the way.
Do you think this logo design change was ultimately the best decision for the team?
Time will tell. The success or failure of most sports identity projects has a lot to do with the success or failure of the team making the change. Also—if the new uniforms represent a real change—preferably one that builds upon the past in some relevant way—then the logo becomes a single asset among many that can be deployed in strategic ways. If I were king I would have introduced something, anything, other than another helmet—even if it never was meant to appear on the real helmet.
Anything to add?
This had to be a difficult project to work on. The Browns are a weird, weird case in many respects. This is a team that hasn’t won a championship in over a half century. A team that was shifted from Cleveland to Baltimore after the 1995 season and reborn as an expansion team several years later. Putting a logo on the helmet has been declared a non-starter for years. They are a team frozen in visual amber with little opportunity to renew their look in a meaningful way. Some teams can blow it up and start from scratch, the Browns cannot do that, which had to have made this a challenging assignment.
More from Todd: Official Site | Twitter