Logo Design
Your logo is, to most people, the face of your company. Just as the picture of a person's identity is their face, the image associated with a company is their logo. Most times it is what makes the first impression and therefore is a vitally important aspect of a business. It has the ability to conjure up emotions in people in just an instant, and these feelings, whether positive or negative, will be connected with the business that it represents. Your logo should be distinct in its appearance, succinct in its message, and designed with intention.
No matter what kind of business that you have, it's almost certain that you have some sort of competition. And even if by the huge long shot that you do not, your brand still needs to stand out amongst the endless waves of distraction that flood your potential customers each day. The rare attribute of having a truly unique logo can provide this massive advantage for your product or service.
The fact is, most of the icons being churned out for businesses worldwide are ones that you have, in effect, seen before or are in a mold all too familiar. While those with graphic design backgrounds might analyze them for their faults, most consumers will not give them a second look (and, sometimes, not even a first). Sure, attractiveness in a logo is important and will help gather some attention, but it also must stand out amongst all the other pretty eye-candy out there with a distinguishable approach.
The best logos have the ability to leave the viewer with an impression about the product or service that they represent. Presented on it's own, a logo should, effectively, be able to be identified for the type of business that it belongs to. This is something that is clearly constructed by the marketing expert/graphic designer and formed through careful research of the business, industry, competition and audience. This information is then applied in extensive brainstorming that results in multiple finely-tuned concepts that get refined even further into a single graphical solution.
For this logo it was important to be distinct and specific, as their is another "GE" that is a bit more renowned.
Most of the time, logos are delivered in a format where they are either only seen for a brief moment or in a very small size. For this reason, they must be graphically concise. You will see business trademarks that look like they could be a wall of cave paintings with how many elements they include in the "story" they are trying to tell. Yet, a truly effective icon must be just that, a clever idea that represents a business, conjures emotion and leaves an impression all wrapped in a very tight graphical package.
Granted, there are many large corporations perform the marketing research, understand the grand importance of their company's "face" and invest in an A-grade logo by world-class graphic designers. This is partially what sets these "fortune" businesses leaps above the rest of the company's out there. Their company logos are unique, clear & instantaneous, and conjure up intended feelings and impressions in people.
Lastly, as always, the design should reflect and reinforce the message for which the brochure was created.
Logo Redesign
With all of the above elements that are necessary for a successful logo, there are occasions where a business can be on the right track, but not quite have the idea or execution fully-developed. There are also other instances where a company may feel that there is too much history/nostalgia or their icon is too established in their client-base for them to fully abandon that image. I'll be honest, there are certain instances where this is correct and completely revamped approach may be counterintuitive. In these cases, I recommend to my clients that I take them through a logo redesign process.
We sharpened up the Harmony Press logo, by clearing out the superfluous gunk, distinguishing the shapes, updating the color palette and "harmonizing" the layout.
Logo redesign typically involves using imagery or concepts present in a previous trademark and applying them to a fresh and polished design. A virtual makeover, this procedure results in the company feeling more confident in their presentation, the audience taking greater notice of the brand, and the business increasing its perceived credibility in the eyes and heart of the consumer.