Logos, what not to change

Logos have such a significant impact on a brands visual identity (see my post on visual identity). However, it is important then when using your logo for various promotions and campaigns, the logo can be adapted to suit the design. This doesn’t mean going and redesigning the logo and companies create guidelines around what you can change and what you can’t.

One of the finest examples I have seen of this is the I LOVE NEW YORK logo. In order to stop designers from reinventing the wheel, they established a set of logos that can be used in various circumstances.

This set allows designers to have a creative and unique implementation of the logo and comply to I LOVE NEW YORK’s style guide.

Within their style guide, they also have a ‘Logo usage don’ts’ section with clearly outlines what not to do with their logo, which are as follows:

1. Don’t change the logo’s orientation.
2. Don’t bevel or emboss the logo.
3. Don’t place the logo on a busy photograph or pattern.
4. Don’t change the logo colors.
5. Don’t crop the logo in any way.
6. Don’t add “glow” effects to the logo.
7. Don’t present the logo on “vibrating” colored backgrounds.
8. Don’t present the logo in “outline only” fashion.
9. Don’t place the logo on similarly-colored backgrounds.
10. Don’t outline the logo in any color.
11. Don’t add “drop shadow” effects to the logo.
12. Don’t put a white box around the logo when placed on a dark or busy background.
13. Don’t reconfigure or change the size or placement of any logo elements.
14. Don’t stretch or squeeze the logo to distort proportions.
15. Don’t recreate elements or replace with something else.

The importance of visual identity

Visual identity represents a product, service or organisation in a unique way. Visual branding is displayed by a number of components such as colour, typefaces, symbols, spacing and so on. A visual identity is generally associated with a logo and a name, however, these are commonly combined as one thing. For example, Facebook is the name, but the logo is the ‘f’ component of the name.

Visual identity sometimes becomes complex is large organisations where they have subsections of the company. They might overcome this hurdle by having unique colour palettes for the subsections and various combinations of the same logo.

Visual identity not only effects any printed material for a product, service or organisation, but more importantly, their only presence. It is important to establish a style guide for the visual identity of a product and document all components involved that create it. This ensures wherever the identity is published, it is consistent.

Twitter

A good example where visual identity is applied well is Twitter. The name uses the metaphor of a bird ‘tweeting’ for the general concept of the site. This is reflected in the logo, the function of the site (tweeting different things throughout the day) and also can come down to the old saying “a little birdy told me so”.

Twitter has kept colour to a minimum, blue and white, and the bird logo does not have any gradients or great detail. This design ensures that it is easily rendered across all devices and browsers and is also suitable for print where necessary.

The connection with the name and the symbol helps users become quickly familiar with their visual identity and therefore their site is remembered, and easily accessed.

Lists to do

Lists to-do is an iOS application that helps you organise tasks, lists and reminders. This type of app is found on many peoples phones. In order to be competitive and stand out from the crowd, the visual identity of the application must have a memorable name and meaningful and unique logo. ‘Lists to do’ is not a memorable and catchy name and would be hard for the user to distinguish it from its competitors. Their logo is a simple tick, which is hard for the user to understand its meaning and is similar to many of the applications competitors. This is an example of where the visual identity may be affecting the products ability to sell and compete in a high demand market.

Resources

• https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/lists-to-do/id588226351?mt=8
• http://upcity.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/twitter-logo.png
• https://www.seoclerk.com/pics/trade1833-1ISbzC1395920163.jpg
• https://www.facebook.com/images/fb_icon_325x325.png