Your Logo is not your Brand

Keywords: Billboards, Blog Design, Brand Building, Brochures, Business Card Design, Email Marketing, Logo Design, Magazine Ads, Pamphlets, Social Media Marketing, Stationery Design, Website Design and Development

It is merely the foundation on which the Brand is built. Even the best Logo in the world does not automatically result in the best Brand in the world, regardless of how much you pay for it. The Designer you hire to design your Logo, forms the foundation of the Brand for you. Your Logo is merely a mark that people can identify you by.

Your Logo stands alone to begin with, before you have your Corporate Identity or your Brand. In most cases.

Please note: the below scenario does not mean that you should run your Business for the next 2 to 5 years without a professionally designed Logo and Identity. Read on to see why.

Some Businesses have a Brand before they have a Logo. Some Businesses are well established Brands in Communities. A Brand is the perception of the public. A Business can be operating for a long time with a Logo that is simply a typed out word. It doesn’t affect the value of the Brand of the Business, because they have a well established reputation. Reputation is Brand. People associate the Company with certain things like: “Trustworthy, Reliable, Efficient and Friendly”. That describes the Brand. It doesn’t say anything about what the Company does. It simply tells people how the Company goes about conducting what they do. The Company’s Brand is solid. Word of mouth has created a positive perception of the Business.

Let’s take that same Business and put them on a Business Card and leave a pile at the local Grocery Store. A few people that have had dealings with the Company will recognize the name and associate their reputation (Brand) with it. People who have not and would like to make use of their service, will question why a Company with no Logo has operated for more than a few months. Long established Companies surely have made enough profit to hire a Graphic Designer to give them a professional image? The card simply says Jimmy’s Electrical, it doesn’t say anything about their reputation/Brand. Your Logo is the connection between Identity and Brand, the symbol of your entire Identity and Brand.

Now that we’ve covered Brand, let’s give Jimmy’s Electrical a Logo. Some Business Owners are under the impression that their Logo needs to describe exactly what the Business does. Jimmy might commission me to design his Logo and insist that it has a picture of a plug, some electrical cord and a circuit board. I would then have to spend some time explaining to Jimmy why that’s not advisable. Not only does the name already contain the word ‘Electrical’ which makes it unnecessary, but all those elements aren’t Logo marks, they’re pictures and you can leave those for advertising and rather use something memorable (to begin with) and more importantly instantly recognizable. There are many, many things I could write about the do’s and don’ts of Logos and what they are and what they’re not, but all I would say to Jimmy is, “Let me give you a Design that people will instantly associate with your Business and one that will work on a pen or a Billboard.”

Now we’ve covered Logo and Brand. So what is Identity then?

Identity/Identify. Your Identity are the elements that people Indentify you by, all the visual elements and auditory if you have a radio ad. Your Logo, colours, fonts and shapes and how they are presented on Stationery (letterhead, business card and envelopes etc), Marketing material (brochures, flyers, your Website etc), Products and Packaging, Apparel, Signage (Interior and Exterior), your Messages and anything Visual that represents your Business. All the above make up your Identity. They are all the elements people use to identify you by.

Let’s summarize.

Your Logo is your symbol/mark. It identifies your Business in it’s most simplest form.

Your Identity is all the visual elements that people associate with your Business, from your Business Card to your Website.

Your Brand is the public perception that people have of your Business. It’s your Reputation.

If you’re fast and reliable (Brand) you can put it in your tagline (Logo) and print it on your Business Card (Identity)