Some logos are great and some can be awful. A logo should help define a company, it’s values and just be memorable. This is why a successful logo helps to define a brand, but there is so much more to a brand than just a logo. As a graphic designer, I would love to take credit for the success of a company’s brand just by creating their logo, but I am not able to do so. I just help to create the face of one. A brand is everything that helps identify your company or organization’s voice. This includes a company’s design, quality of work, customer service, values and so on. A brand should set a company or organization apart from its competitors.
As a designer, let’s dive into the design side of a brand. It should show people what you are and what you are not. Yes, a logo is a major part of the face of a brand, but a company’s use of fonts, colors, typography, use of white space or lack thereof and consistency is just as important. Let me emphasize that again—consistency is very important. For example, a company should have a dedicated set of fonts to use for their marketing materials. Switching between fonts in different advertisements will have a company pitching a different brand every time. The font that a company chooses and how it uses it is just as important as the choice of a logo. Ideally, you almost want to be able to remove a company’s logo from a marketing piece and still have a recognizable and memorable brand.
Colors also play a crucial role and should be thought about before designing a logo. Colors like darker blues and blacks look more corporate and tenser. Lighter colors look more fun and relaxed. Consistent color usage, before and after a logo’s development, provides emotional and educational aid to expressing a company or organization’s values.
Design trends come and go, so when developing a brand, it is important to take that into consideration. How you treat your customers, what a company or organization looks like, what people have to say and how recognizable the face of a brand is, in general, is what truly helps develop a brand.
