A New Way to Think About Your Company Logo

Is it telling customers what they need to know?

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BY STEVE GOODWIN

With corporate logos plastered virtually everywhere we look these days—on billboards, athletes, and every screen we own—your logo needs to work harder than ever before.

Today, it’s not enough to have a logo that’s merely “memorable.” The best and most compelling logos must also be meaningful in order to cut through the clutter and provide a snapshot of your organization’s brand values and culture. Your logo must be the visual trigger that reminds all of your audiences— customers, prospects, employees, partners, competitors, investors, and so on—of the unique space your company occupies in their hearts and minds.

As a result, factors such as font, color, and size are only a piece of the logo puzzle. The bigger picture (and the key to achieving meaningfulness) lies in asking yourself what your logo conveys about your company.

For example, take a look at the multiple-award-winning logo of Federal Express. In the word “FedEx,” the not-so-hidden arrow formed by the negative space between the “E” and the “x” speaks to the company’s overarching mission: to deliver straight to you, fast and reliably. A bonus: while the “Fed” part of the logo is always purple, the company uses different colors for the “Ex” portion to distinguish its different lines of business (e.g., orange = air express, green = ground, red = freight).

That’s the kind of thinking that can turbocharge your logo as well. However, you don’t need legions of marketing staff or a big design budget to create or update a logo. Instead, try these three steps.

1. LOOK INSIDE

Convene a small internal group comprised of—and this is key— employees from a wide range of roles and departments. Going around the room, ask each employee to briefly answer the following questions:

What makes our company a great place to work?

What makes us different from or better than our competitors?

What do our best customers value most about working with us?

Track the answers and you’ll begin to see how this simple brand exercise yields a number of recurring themes. These can be further honed and prioritized to provide a designer with the authentic “corporate DNA” info needed to illuminate and guide the design process. the people who matter most—our loyal customers. Ask:

What do you value most about our product or service?

How would you describe the feeling you get working with us?

The latter question may seem “squishy” at first, but answers such as “confident,” “secure,” “successful” or other succinct notions will also provide rich direction for evaluating your logo.

3. LOOK ALL AROUND

A quick review of the logos of your top competitors will yield a clear picture of the playing field and let you know whether there’s additional room for differentiation in your logo. It’s also the fastest way to understand what your customers and prospects in your market are used to seeing. The answer will help a designer establish parameters for including a variety of on-brand logo options. Taking this brand-first approach and gathering the most authentic and compelling views of your company will go a long way toward building the blueprint for a meaningful logo that can be produced cost-efficiently. Remember: brand drives design, not the other way around.

2. LOOK OUTSIDE

Pick three or four customers who know your organization well and ask them for a short phone call. Describe the challenge: We’re rethinking our logo and want to incorporate the feedback of

Steve Goodwin is a brand architect and strategist who is a principal with Brandstone.