by Jessica Kane
An effective logo design can ensure potential customers are immediately able to recognize a brand or business.
A common mistake for many businesses is to assume that logos only play a role in the recolonization of a business, ignoring the potential role that psychology may play in the design and implementation of a logo.
According to the Harvard Business Review, the intersection of branding and design is more important now than ever before. Well-crafted logos can play a key role in ensuring that a business is able to equate itself with a particular concept, philosophy or image.
Logos are Brand Identity
A well-designed logo can play a key role in business marketing by ensuring customers are more likely to associate a business with its reputation or identity. The right graphic, image or logo design makes it much easier to establish a more prominent and recognizable business identity as well as to ensure potential customers and future clients are more easily able to associate a company with its chosen philosophy or established reputation.
The Apple logo is a perfect example of a logo design that immediately calls to mind sleek easy-to-use electronic devices. An effective logo can be an invaluable resource when it comes to establishing and maintaining the right brand or business identity.
Logo Shapes and Styles
Shape is of paramount importance in terms of effective logo design. The human brain is hard-wired to recognize shapes and patterns, and changing even the most minor details of a logo design can elicit a very different response or interpretation.
Curved lines, used in either abstract images or more practical designs, tend to produce a more comforting and positive response. Straight vertical lines may suggest balance or strength while circles, particularly overlapping or interlocking circles, are often used to represent partnership or endurance.
Squares and rectangles, such as the square featured in the National Geographic logo, are typically seen as expressing respectability and endurance by creating a balance between horizontal and vertical lines. Businesses that are seeking a logo that expresses power or that may be catering to a more masculine client base would do well to create a logo that features a triangle, a shape that expresses dynamism as seen with the Adidas or Citgo logo. The shapes and style of a logo is one of the most important aspects of design.
Color Scheme and Tone
Color scheme and tone are also important aspects of logo psychology. Different colors typically produce a different emotional response or association, and selecting colors that do not fit the intended image or identity of a business can drastically reduce the effectiveness of a logo.
A black color scheme is often ideal for suggesting mystery or sophistication while a white design may be more suitable for businesses who wish to be associated with simplicity or purity. The most effective logo designs are often those that feature only one or two colors in order to ensure a stronger emotional association.
More colorful logos can be used to elicit a variety of emotional responses. The red color scheme of the Coca-Cola logo is intended to associate the brand with energy and passion while the more stately purple scheme of the Yahoo! logo is strongly associated with royalty, wisdom or luxury.
While choosing the right color or group of colors is very important, logos also need to work in black and white as some media channels and advertising opportunities may not be able to utilize a full color palate. Trying out many different shades of color during the design phase can help to ensure that logos are able to be as attractive as possible as well as to ensure they trigger the right cognitive and emotional associations.
Creating a Logo Better Suited to Your Brand or Business
Lacking a logo entirely or utilizing one that has been poorly designed can be a more costly oversight than many businesses might realize. Lacking a logo makes it far more difficult for customers and clients to form an emotional impression of a business and poor designs may contribute to a brand or corporate identity that is seen as less than professional.
Determining what sort of impression or association businesses wish to elicit is often the first step in creating a new logo or assessing the effectiveness of an existing one. Selecting the right style, choosing the best shapes and images and determining the right color scheme can all help organizations to create a logo that will be better suited to their brand and identity. Logos and Marketing Campaigns
From Fortune 500 companies to the smallest new startups, the right logo can play a critical role during any marketing strategy or advertising campaign. Logos allow businesses to provide a great deal of information regarding their identity and philosophy in a graphic format that can be quickly and readily digested and understood.
Displaying logos on websites, emails, print advertising and even clothing can allow businesses to more easily attract the volume of new customers and clients they need to enjoy success in today's increasingly competitive marketplace.
Jessica Kane is a professional writer who has an interest in graphic design, marketing, and printing. She currently writes for 777 Sign, her go to place for banner signs, custom flags and custom signs printing.
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