Your Logo Represents Your Company. Is It Doing A Good Job?

The word ‘logo’ is derived from the Greek word ‘logos,’ which directly translates to ‘word’. In the world of marketing and design, creating a logo is like creating a visual word that will be used to identify your brand. Your logo should be treated as the foundation for messages coming from your company as it sets the stage for all branding efforts.

In the quest to design a masterpiece of a logo, there is always the potential that you end up portraying the wrong message, one with unintended meaning. If your message is too complex, it can overcomplicate the whole process. Creating a vague, ambiguous logo will set you down the wrong road. The logo process, and branding in general, should be kept as simple as possible to give your message the best chance of being absorbed successfully by its intended viewers.

What Your Logo Should Be

Your logo should accurately emulate your company’s culture and value, the essence of your company and appeal to the audience you wish to target. Color, shape, line structure, symbolism, and font are all components that you need to research to effectively convey your brand’s values and the services/products you want to sell.

When you brand your website and marketing materials with a poorly designed logo, you are deterring viewers from looking into doing business with you.

Unfortunately, we see it all too often with MSP’s that don’t have it in their marketing budget to dedicate thousands of dollars into designing the perfect logo. They spend the least amount of time, money and effort as possible and go with their first pick. You do not need to settle for a mediocre, poor quality logo that sends the wrong message! Below we have provided some tips and guidelines to ensure you get the most out of your logo whether you are starting from scratch or have an existing logo.

Types of Logos

Generally speaking, there are three categories of logos; Iconic, Typographical, and Combination Marks.

Iconic Logos

Historically, these are what come to mind when we think “ logo;” an icon representing a specific company. These are some of the most recognizable logos in the world such as Twitter’s little bird or the bright red bullseye that is immediately associated with Target. The success of these logos are largely in part by the simplicity and versatility of the mark. While Iconic logos have a proven track record for success, they are not for every company. The big decision if you build an Iconic logo is what image to choose. This should be treated like a tattoo, as it will be permanently tied to your company. 

*Bonus type: Abstract Logo

Similar to the above iconic logos in that they are a simple image that is forever tied to you, however differing in relative meaning. Unlike an Iconic logo, an abstract logo has nothing to do with the name or offering of your company and is simply an abstract geometric form that represents your business. Examples of this would be; Adidas’ flower or Pepsi’s circle.

Typographical

These are font-based logos that focus on a business’ name alone. You can say a lot about your purpose and culture through the typography choices you make. Think about a successful security company’s logo. It is most likely straight lines and thick lettering with darker colors...now visualize a toy company's logo. Vastly different, right? That is because typography, just like any aspect of your logo, will help give your brand a certain voice. What typography characteristics best represent your company?

Combination Mark

Just as you would assume, combination mark logos are those that comprise an iconic element as well as the name of the company. The image element and copy can be side-by-side, stacked on top of each other, or integrated together to create an integrated mark. This is the most common form of logos due to the benefit of having a symbol directly associated with the name of the company. Combination marks are a good way to build brand awareness and as the company grows, there is often potential to have the elements separated and utilized individually. (you can see examples of this with the PUMA brand).

Logo Styles

After determining what type of logo you have (or want to design), you should consider how to style it to maximize your chances at standing out as the superior MSP of your service area.

Color

You will need to determine the major colors that you use in it so you can match your branding with your logo. You may want to look into the psychology of color and what sort of feelings and emotions particular colors and color combinations can evoke in people when choosing what color(s) to use in your logo.

When dealing with any digital design, you should be using the RGB color system. When you are dealing with any printed designs, use the CMYK color system. When designing your logo (or, anything for that matter) from scratch, design experts recommend designing print assets first with the CMYK color system and then designing for the web using the RGB color system. You will have a closer match in colors this way because RGB has a wider range of colors.

By this time you will have spent a lot of time, money and effort to get the logo just how you want it. When you have locked down color codes, fonts, and element usage - make sure to create your own branding guide so that you can keep all your marketing materials consistent. Make sure to stick to the guidelines outlined in your branding guide with little exceptions.

Common Logo-Related Fumbles

Could you be sending the wrong message? Even if you have a logo already you can still improve on its functionality.

Source

We can’t tell you how many MSPs we’ve come across that have taken a “Clip-Art” icon they found on the Internet, added their company name to it, then called it their logo. It’s okay to draw some inspiration from the internet, but it’s best to have an original idea for your company logo to avoid any copyright issues.

File Formats

It’s usually best to have multiple file formats saved of your logo for quick, easy use. The master logo should be a vector file (AI or eps) because they don't use pixels. This means that you can put it on a business card or the side of a building, and it would retain the same quality. If you don’t have that option due to the software limitations, the next best option is a very high resolution file (at least 300 psi).

Size

Make sure you have plenty of size options saved of your logo file. Don’t stretch your logo when you are implementing it into marketing materials in order to “make it fit.” Instead, save the source file to the dimensions you need for the given project to keep the integrity intact.

Transparency

We wouldn’t recommend incorporating a solid background color into your logo. Your marketing materials aren’t going to look very professional if they all have a white square background on them. Make sure at least one of your files has a transparent background- not just a white background. You don’t want to be fiddling with removing the background every time you want to use your logo on something without white background.

Options

If you only have one singular format of your logo in use, you’re limiting its potential. For example, let’s imagine your logo is dark blue. What if you wanted to put your logo on a dark blue postcard? Because of this, we recommend having a white and/or black version of your logo to give your brand more flexibility with your marketing materials.

Take a look at the three versions of the JoomConnect logo that we have to see what we mean. 

Do you question your logo’s success or if you are sending the right message with it? Maybe you are a managed service provider that is just getting started and don’t know where to begin. Do not hesitate to reach out to our marketing team for help, we are happy to answer any of your questions.