We’ve all seen the ads on Google or the websites that proclaim a full logo design service for a surprisingly small fee. Evidently there are a lot of proficient stylists and illustrators out there creating aesthetically pleasing vector graphics, and doing so in such an efficient manner that they can churn them out so fast that they can charge next to nothing by comparison to branding agencies.
But this process is to branding as a go-cart is to a Ferrari Enzo.
Four wheels – yes. A seat and a steering wheel – yes. A mode of transport – just. The world’s best supercar – no.
Just as the go-cart has things in common with the Ferrari, the $50 logo has some things in common with the fully defined and developed brand. But the fully defined and developed brand is bigger, slicker, more polished, more capable and more valuable.
The reasons for this are many-fold, and to understand them we need to have a look at the branding process and the way a skilled designer develops a brand… and the starting point is most definitely not the logo.
Creating the logo is just one part of the development of a truly unique and recognizable brand across all communications and media; an overall design language that communicates what the company is about, how it does business and how it behaves toward its customers, employees and other stakeholders.
We can all define the identities of the world’s largest organisations clearly in our heads not just because of what the logo and the website look like but because know what to expect from them – we understand their respective identities.
Examples that come to mind include:
Apple – Cool and desirable. Creating products that consumers are prepared to pay more for because they want to be cool and desirable too. Aspirational and creative rather than functional and corporate.
Mercedes – High quality brand with an exciting product range that continues to build upon its racing and luxury heritage. Luxury and performance that is within the grasp of ordinary consumers. Premium but popular.
Be There – Passionate people that have used their knowledge of the internet to create something that they are personally proud of. Young, adventurous and personable.
Microsoft – A brand that connects with both enterprise and home users. A far reaching can-do attitude to both business productivity and consumer technology. The provider of solutions for all.
Google – Enriching lives and enabling businesses by providing and sorting information. A progressive employer of progressive thinkers. The centre of the information economy.
Take Be There as an example from that list and compare it with BT. They are two very different companies, but why do we know that? Their logos are different, yes, but its more than that. Both companies provide domestic broadband internet in the UK, but that same service is delivered with such different personalities that we as consumers expect different things from each company. We therefore know that the companies are different on a fundamental level. It is their respective brands that have informed us of that and reinforce it at every opportunity.
The way a company behaves, the approach it takes to doing business, what it aspires to be, the way it communicates and the way it treats others are the fundamentals of its brand. The way it appears and the way it communicates is an outward expression of the brand known as a brand identity, of which the logo is a part, along with colours, typefaces, writing style, photography and/or illustration. Even music and audio elements can be important to a brand (Nokia or Intel spring to mind).
Virgin is a perfect example of a brand that embodies everything the company stands for. A company moulded in the image of its founder; the Virgin brand has been carefully created and developed to reflect that and embody it, so that as consumers we effortlessly associate the Virgin brand with ideas of lifestyle, freedom, adventure and imagination. The brand and its identity are completely aligned and have become more powerful for it.
So why is a $50 logo absolutely not a brand? Because in essence the designer of the brand needs to understand what makes their client unique, in order that the resulting brand identity embodies it. And no designer in their right mind would carry out peer group research, trends orientation, brainstorming, visual language development, artwork and templates preparation – all the stages you need to go through to properly understand your client and build their brand around them, fully aligned to them and unique to them – for such a small fee.
As I’m sure you can tell, we’re not a $50 logo design company. But we’re not a huge branding leviathon either. We can develop a real brand for your business, including all the steps outlined above if required. And we will charge you a lot less than those big agencies. You’ll get value for money and an engaging brand that your company will benefit from for years; something that is valuable and unique; something aligned to your company’s ethos. Something worth many, many times more than $50.
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Interesting you should use Google in your examples – in my view, they’re an example of an anti-brand if ever there was one… I think they used a $10 logo generator like cooltext when they were just starting!
i guess the point is that its not the logo that drives the brand, its the other way round.
Google is a great example of a brand which has grown organically and an initially worthless logo design that have become priceless.
Nice post. As an attorney who works with branding consultants, the other thing that comes to mind is the distinctiveness of the trademarks used by each of your example companies. Each has taken steps to ensure that their marks, including their logos, are unique. The value of even a well designed logo is vastly reduced if it is similar to those used by other people, and it can be reduced to zero if it is confusingly similar to consumers. These companies recognized this and have valuable brands because of it.