It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that your company’s logo is the center of attraction for your brand. It is one of the most crucial branding assets that have the capability to either entice or repel your target audience. To put it differently, logo design is the make or break factor that plays importance in placing you at the forefront of your customers. Keeping the significance of the logo in their mind, you need to get your logo design right!. If you don’t, you run the risk of destroying your entire brand persona for which you will pay the price in the long run. In this article, we discuss Why does a Logo Design Fail? Secrets Revealed.
There is a long list of companies that despite investing a fortune on their company logos, ended up creating a disaster logo that served them nothing good, on top of that ended up being listed among ‘logo design fails of all time’.
Some Logo design fails for a number of reasons- there are a few common mistakes that designers make while designing a logo. Those mistakes not only cause a significant loss but also embarrassment to the reputation of a company.
Let’s have a look at 5 common reasons behind logo designs fails.
Table of Contents
Design Too Simple or Too Complex
There is no denying the fact that a modern logo should be as minimalistic as possible. At the same time, it must not lack the powerful features and design aesthetics that make a logo an astounding piece of graphic design. There are so many examples, where a designer succeeds in creating a minimalistic piece but fails to bring something unique and special to the design that communicates visually.
A proficient logo designer will never compromise on the design just for the sake of coming up with a minimal contemporary logo. As a matter of fact, they will never shy away to include the element of diversity in the design. In other words, they do their utmost to come up with a company logo, which is neither too simple nor too intricate- but just in between both of these, i.e. a well-balanced conceptual and unique design. There is a saying within the logo design industry that we ourselves adhere to, and its not what you can add to the logo design it’s rather what you can take away and still remain visually identifiable and communicate the brand’s message and emotions.
Design is a Replication of Famous Logos
Getting inspiration from iconic logo designs such as Apple and Nike is not a bad thing, however, going overboard with imitations is something that could make your company logo a derivative design that has nothing special or unique to offer to its audience. There is a fine line between creativity and imitation. A lot of logo design created to date is somehow an inspiration taken from the remarkable and successful logos.
Logo designers naturally look up to the work of their role models in the industry or competitors to get an idea of what works for them and what doesn’t. However, plagiarism happens when designers copy the crucial elements of logo design. Not to mention, copying makes your business appear as a copycat who lacks the creativity to come up with a unique design. This factor sabotages the trust-building process of potential customers. Ultimately they assume that your business offers less quality and lacks innovation.
On the other hand, sometimes it happens by accident and it’s not intentional that’s fine good designers think alike, this can be due to bright spark moment that just flows, the idea is then committed to due to it being a great idea but the lack of research on competitors, and what has already been done before then causes issues down the line so always be aware of what is around you and learn your logo design history.
Design is Overly Trendy
There is a thing about trends and fashions; they make things attractive but for a small period of time. There is no dearth of logo design trends– almost every couple of months you get to see someone launching a new logo heavily inspired by the freshly introduced trends. It gets difficult sometimes to resist the temptation of designing a trendy logo that looks stunning too but for a certain period of time. Trends in the logo design industry do not last long, ultimately turning your company logo into a clichéd design.
A logo design is supposed to be a timeless and memorable piece of branding that has the ability to serve as your brand’s identity for years and years to come. An overly trendy logo cannot serve as your ultimate identity as after a few months or years, it will start looking dated and rotten. Eventually, you will have to make some tweaks or get it completely redesigned. Frankly speaking, it’s better to be safe than sorry. You already know the possible consequences of designing an overly trendy logo. Therefore it’s better to steer clear of the design attributes that are too flashy and too fashionable.
The logo has Multiple Messages
As we have discussed- successful logo design is not supposed to be filled with intricate details. Overstuffing of multiple elements in your design confuses your audience. Not only this but the audience pays less attention to a logo design that has too many scattered features stuffed here and there. Logo design is the visual representation of your company, just like your mission statement, your logo gives an idea to your customers what your company has to offer.
Therefore, your logo has to be concise and clear with the messages it delivers. The visual images in your logo should have the power to convey the message with minimalistic details. If you need to embed a couple of taglines in your logo, that means it fails to serve the purpose of logo design. Be very careful with your design choices, do not overstuff taglines or other elements. Instead, create a proportionate and legible design that says a lot with fewer details.
Logo Does Not Define Your Brand
No matter how excellent your logo is and what designing finesse it exhibits- if it fails to define your brand or it needs explanations that means it fails to serve as one of the most important brand assets and belongings. That’s the reason it is crucial to speak with your client before starting off with the design process. You need to have a better understanding of the target audience and the nature of the company the logo is supposed to represent and be meaningful logo design. Otherwise, you won’t be able to put the logo design in the right context. Eventually, you will end up designing an irrelevant piece of art that has nothing to do with the brand.
Your logo should be more than just an image- if it is way too generic, it would not be able to stand out from the crowd. However, the core purpose of a logo is to make your identity visible in the crowd and be a visual identifier for your brand that communicates a message and emotion quickly. If it fails to serve the most basic function, then what’s the point of investing a hefty amount in your design.
Key Takeaways
A logo fails for various reasons but it gets successful due to only one reason, i.e. avoidance of all the mistakes that cause a logo design to fail. With logo design tools available online, anyone can design a tool, having said that only a professional logo designer knows how to create a logo that makes you stand out from your competitors.
To many people who don’t understand logos (especially clients) treat having one designed like a fashion show. They think its all about their personal preference…wrong! and not once do they think about the target audience the consumers that buy into the business, those very people that the overall brand is created for if it’s not for them who is it for? Who are you communicating with? Certainly not yourself!
Stop for a second and think to yourself “why do you do what you do?” “Can your brand exist without the clients who buy into it?”
The customers, the clients, the consumers are the ones who need to be at the core of everything you do, they are the ones who will ultimately care about your brand, they are the once interacting with it on a daily basis, and spending their money within your brand!, So think about them when your designing as they are the ones that your brand communicates with, and the ones that buy into it.
In Marty Neumeier’s book, The Brand Gap, he quotes:
“A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or organization.”
He then goes on to quote that a brand is:
“It’s not what you say it is. It’s what they say it is.”
A brand is defined by the tribe it has around it – A brand tribe is regarded as a group of people who collectively identify themselves with the product or service and share similar views and notions about the brand. They are not just consumers of the product, but play a major role in its promotion.
Remember this when you are designing for your brand, put the brand’s audience you are trying to communicate with at the forefront as those are the once that define it!.
If you want to take your branding to the next level and design a logo that is goal orientated, and free from all the mistakes and is capable of boosting the perception of the brand, hire a professional logo designer who knows how it’s done.
We hope this article about Why does a Logo Design Fail? Secrets Revealed has been helpful and if your looking for a logo designer feel free to contact The Logo Creative we are more than happy to help.
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