When is a Good Time to Redesign Your Company’s Logo?
Is it time for your logo to have an overhaul? Over the past several years there have been a lot of corporate logo redesigns. Some were very successful and some were flops. No matter the success or failure, each company that embarked on the journey of a logo redesign did so for specific reasons. There are solid reasons why a logo update may be necessary for your brand. Let’s examine some of these reasons and give a little guidance of how to go through a redesign successfully.
Four Reasons to Update Your Logo
1. One of the biggest reasons to change your logo is because of a company name change. If your business has merged with another, you’ve added a partner, or you’ve changed business direction altogether so your name is different, it’s time to update your logo. A successful new logo, because of a merger, would be Sprint. When Sprint merged with Nextel, neither logo was strong enough to carry the new brand forward so a logo redesign was a must. The new logo under the Sprint name helped distinguish them from their competition and gave new life to the merged companies and new brand.
2. If your business has evolved so that it no longer offers the same services/products or offers new services/products not represented by your logo it’s time for an update. Domino’s Pizza recently changed their logo for this reason. They evolved their logo to represent the fact they offer many more meal options to customers than pizza. They have dropped “Pizza” from their logo, but retained the domino element with a strong updated font for a successful logo update. Starbucks is another good example of this type of logo update. The siren has been set free of the encompassing circles with the words “Starbucks Coffee” which allows the company to expand its offerings and adapt to changing markets with greater ease.
3. Another reason to consider a logo change is if your business has an updated focus or different target audience. For example, let’s say that Jennifer started a pet sitting service several years ago. Jen’s Pet Sitting started rather small as many businesses do, providing a benefit to many pet owners who cannot always take their pets with them when they travel. As her business grew, she thought of ways to expand her services with custom treats and toys for sale, as well as weekly cleanup tasks. Her business was more than pet sitting.
4. One final reason to consider a logo update is to give your company image new life. Sometimes a logo can begin to look dated and tired. Those inside the company usually grow tired of a logo before the public does so a redesign shouldn’t be taken lightly, but if there are indications that the target audience of your business is losing interest in your brand, a new logo may be one of the ways to inject renewed energy.
What to Consider if a Redesign Is Needed
If you determine that your company logo needs to be updated, here are some points to keep in mind to make it a success.
- Define the reason(s) for the change and keep that in mind throughout the process to keep the new logo on track. Ask yourself often if the new design is accomplishing the goal for the redesign.
- Determine the degree of redesign needed. Decide if your logo is in need of a refresh or is it time to completely start over. Have solid reasons for your decision and make them part of the creative brief for the project.
- Keep important brand elements from the original logo if you aren’t starting over. The goal of a refresh is to do just that – give a new look while remaining true to your brand. So elements such as colors, fonts and graphic style need to be considered and linked to the new logo as needed to retain brand consistency.
- Study the success of others. Take a look at logos that have successfully evolved and make note of what went right. Add this list to the creative brief for your logo redesign and stay true to this throughout the process.
Is it time for your logo to be updated or totally redesigned? If so or if you need help determining if that is the case – give us a call at (608) 519-3070. We’d love to help.