The eleventh, and final, step of Active Marketing’s brand process is designing the logo. The logo design process is perhaps the most time consuming and difficult part of branding. It requires that you communicate the personality of the brand, as well as the mission, in a single icon. Most logos will be both a symbol and a text mark, but they do not have to be. For instance, the active marketing logo is simply a text logo, with an abbreviated version for smaller sizes.
Part of what makes the logo so difficult is the amount of importance that is placed on it. It is frequently believed to be the foundation of your entire brand, and that isn’t totally wrong. The logo will be displayed in more places, more frequently, than any other piece of material you produce.
Importance of the Logo
Logos are a critical aspect of business marketing. They anchor the brand to an image and become the most visible manifestation of the company across all of your marketing media. They are designed to be the face of your company – the physical representation of who you are and what you do – in order to create brand awareness and recognition. They create a shorthand way to refer to your business in marketing materials (which is important when you only have so many words available) and show professionalism.
A common mistake people make when designing logos is inconsistency. They don’t pay attention to the proper sizing, fonts or colors and haphazardly add clipart around the logo, cluttering it and minimizing its impact. That’s why we pay extra close attention to every single detail throughout the design process.
Designing the Logo
Your logo is a culmination of the previous ten branding steps, so every aspect of it – from the image, to the font, to the color – should be a symbolic representation of you and all that your brand stands for.
The most effective logos are:
Simple – Simple logos are easier to recognize and easier to remember.
Memorable – The logo should be relevant to the brand and unique enough that it is recognized when seen. Simplicity will help make the logo memorable, too.
Timeless – Future-proof your logo so that as the business changes, and as trends change, your logo will stay effective.
Personified – The logo should reflect the personality of the brand, but not necessarily the mission or even the name. Your logo does not need to be self-explanatory. “It is only by association with a product, a service, a business, or a corporation that a logo takes any real meaning.” – Paul Rand
Versatile – Make sure that your logo can be displayed in a single color (think black on white) so that it can be printed on any media. A simple logo, without a lot of small details, will also allow for it to be printed on media that has limited resolution.
For each logo we design, we include several variations for rectangular and square proportions, or for horizontal and stacked versions. This will allow the logo to be displayed on more media effectively without us having to go back and re-design one for every new platform we encounter. Each of these logos will come with a specific set of guidelines to follow whenever they’re used.
Logo Guidelines
In order to create consistency throughout the brand, it is important to write a set of guidelines explaining where and how each logo can and cannot be used. For example, we may create a rule that the orientation, size or outline of a logo cannot be changed. Or maybe it isn’t to be beveled, embossed or placed on a certain type of background. We also describe the clear space, color, size and font of each variation and provide clear examples for future reference.
The logo is a defining aspect of the brand, and it is important that it is used properly at all times.
Step Twelve – Cook a Campaign
There you have it – the eleven ingredients in our Branding Process special sauce. Now we put all of those ingredients together and bake up a delicious campaign that will fill your business up with plenty of leads to help you grow into an even more successful piece of the treatment industry.
If you have any other questions, or if you have anything to add, please feel free to comment below or reach out to us. We’d love to hear from you!
