Why you need more than just a logo | It's Design

Imogen Sandbach
Jul 29, 2020
5 min read

Updated: Oct 19, 2020

There is a lot of planning that goes into creating your own company. You probably spend a lot of time working on your products or services. So, why would you let it all go to waste by spending as little as possible on your brand by just getting a logo designed?

Well designed branding is a huge factor in the success of your company. Most people buy based on the brand's image, not the product itself, because of how the branding is portrayed and how it makes you feel. Why do you buy Nike shoes over an identical pair with a lesser known brand? It is because of their successful branding that wearing their shoes makes the customer feel as good as an athlete. It is not necessarily about the benefits of the materials but how you are seen because of your association to the brand.

When you look around you do not see just logos everywhere, so why would you need just a logo for your business?

Branding is not just putting your logo on everything. Your logo is simply a symbol of the brand, a graphic to remember your company by. In the words of Marty Neumeier, your brand is "a customers gut feeling about a product service or a company". There are many factors that go into creating a brand such as:

Products
Values
Message
Culture
Design
Experience
Customer Service
Reputation

Therefore, your branding should not be a checklist of a logo and tag line. When people see your branding they should know your values, message, culture and reputation. Each customer or client should have the same experience that your brand is known by.

Does your logo alone can not represent your brand.

When people go into your store, visit your website or purchase a product they should be reminded continuously that this is your brand through consistent brand imagery and design. This does not mean your logo is plastered everywhere, it can be subtle through sticking to your colour palette and using the same shapes, patterns and type throughout, to hint at your brand and remind them who you are. This is where brand guidelines come in handy keep on reading and I will talk more about this at the end.

Branding Example - More than just a logo

Below is the rebranding project that I worked on at university for Petrie, The Museum of Egyptian Archeology. You can see that I have not just created a logo but I have rebranded the whole museum maintaining the new design throughout all of the touchpoints from wayfinding and signage to a museum guide.

Elements from the brand logo such as the colours and feathers from the wings are apart of the museums brand identity. The logo does not appear everywhere inside the museum, but with the distinct shapes and colours being reflected throughout the museum, such as the colourful feathers from the wings that become a way finding tool on the walls showing you the way to the categories shown on the guide. The iconic P that becomes a decorative frame on the walls and a way finding sign, you always know you are in the Petrie museum, and the experience of the museum is fitting with the brand.

In the video below you can see highlights of the process in creating the branding for Petrie.

Keeping your branding consistent throughout each touchpoint presents your business in a professional manner. However, brand consistency cannot be achieved by simply using the same design or logo repetitively.

You can view more about this project in our portfolio.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/a86504_cffe29755e7c468ba1e2a77b8f2cfe87/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Have you thought about how your branding will adjust to fit on any kind of product or platform?

Your business will have lots of touchpoints. A touchpoint is somewhere your customers or clients will engage with your business. This can be elements such as your website, packaging, menus, price lists, business cards, loyalty cards, gift cards, etc.

Even with the logo itself, do you need a simplified logo for printing? Will the logo you use on your website header fit in your social media profile picture? What will you use for your website favicon? These are very important to create professional branding that you will miss out on when going for a cheap option, such as an online logo maker opposed to a professional graphic designer. That is why I always include every logo variant possible for your brand included in my branding package, to make sure you have everything you need for a successful business.

This is the brand identity I designed for one of my clients, The Holiday Hut.

Every element is different and well thought out to suit the individual design.

You know that each of these pieces of stationary belong together, but they also reflect the brand individually too. Most importantly, it is not the same design placed on everything like cheap merchandise, the designs have been tailored to each individual piece.

What It's Design Offer

My client's success is very important to me. I have developed my process to make sure I deliver the best results possible to all of my clients. That is why I have produced the ideal package that includes all the essentials for any kind of brand.

Strategy and Research

As part of my service I include a 1:1 strategy consultation with a brand questionnaire and in-depth research. I take the time to make sure that your brand identity can be the best it can be. Professional branding is not a cut and paste job of ready made templates, every design is bespoke, tailored to match your personal brand values and personality. I build strong brands that stand out amongst crowded markets and help to grow successful businesses.

Mood board

Once I have a solid understanding of your brand I will begin designing mood boards. This helps my clients think past just the logo and focus on their branding as a whole. With the chosen mood board, we then have a style we can work towards. This gives us a direction to head into and ensures that we are on the same page in terms of the style we are aiming for. This makes the designing process more efficient and allows you to feel confident that you will get the perfect brand identity. In some cases, the mood board introduces things that the client has never thought about enabling us to develop the brand even further with more design projects.

Design and Revisions

Behind the scenes I will begin to sketch out lots of ideas taking into account the strategy we discussed and in depth research. From these sketches one concept will be chosen, developed and refined. You will then be shown your new brand identity through a professional in-depth presentation. I will talk you through the process, how I reached this conclusion and why it works so for your brand.

You will be shown each brand element from the Primary and secondary logo design, submark, favicon, brand marks and patterns as well as how to use each of them on different touchpoint. The designs will be presented in relatable mockup scenarios to help you visualise how your brand could look. From here discussion can begin about how we can develop the brand identity further through revisions if needed.

Brand Guidelines

A brand guidelines document, also known as a style guide, is a document or booklet of rules and regulations around your branding. It can remind you, or be presented to printing, advertising and marketing agencies to keep everyone on the same page and maintain the consistency of your brand image.

In my clients' brand guidelines documents, I include your scalable identity system, your brand personality, values and messages that are aligned with your strategy, your personalised brand colour palette and font system. brand imagery, explanation of file types and how to use each of the brand elements.

If you have a logo design or branding project you would like to discuss please do not hesitate to get in contact, you can read more about my brand package in the Work With Me page. You can view my portfolio to see my other client work and find my client reviews at the bottom of the home page.