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The Domino Effect of Changing Your Logo
| Guest post by: Erin Ferree |
Article Overview: What does redesigning really mean? Think back to the first time you designed your logo-the work, time, expense, and thought you had to put into the project. Just because this is a redesign doesn't mean that it will be any easier than the first time around. In fact, it may be more difficult since you're more invested in your business and brand than you were when you first launched it.
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The Domino Effect of Changing Your Logo
It's a rainy afternoon and you've got a hot cup of tea and a box of dominoes. You set them up on end, one next to the other in a snaking line across your dining room table. Then you bump the first domino and watch as the rest fall down, one after the other.
Redesigning your logo is more than just fun and games
Changing your logo is a lot like playing dominoes—once you start, you have to keep knocking over project after project until you've got all of your marketing pieces set up again.
Once you decide to create a new logo, you'll instantly find a whole new list of to-dos. This would include setting up the brand definition, expressing it in a logo, and then making sure that all of the rest of the pieces flow from those
Knocking down those to-dos takes more effort than the simple little bump that topples over the row of dominos.
What does redesigning really mean?
Think back to the first time you designed your logo—the work, time, expense, and thought you had to put into the project. Just because this is a redesign doesn't mean that it will be any easier than the first time around. In fact, it may be more difficult since you're more invested in your business and brand than you were when you first launched it.
1. Having a good reason.
You need to have a reason that makes sense from a business perspective. If you're redesigning your logo because you're bored, this might not be the best use of your resources. But if you've made a major change in your services, target audience, or the benefits you provide, a redesign may be justified.
If you don't have a solid reason to redesign your logo, reconsider whether a redesign is the right path to take.
2. Hiring a designer.
Finding a designer to create just the right logo for your company takes time, attention to detail and the patience to really look into the designer's expertise. You may be lucky enough to already have a designer that you work with. In that case you just have to make sure that they have the time and inclination to work on your project. If you don't have a designer, you can see my tips on hiring a designer to learn more about the topic.
3. Re-examining your Brand Definition.
If you're going to redesign your logo, you might as well dig deeper into your brand and make sure that it's as polished and complete as possible. Going back over your business's personality, service offerings, product plans, and differentiation will help make sure you're developing a logo that will help you connect with your best customers. Clearly define who your target audience is and what they want to see in a logo.
4. Redesigning the logo is a big investment.
If you're going to change your logo, you'll be investing time, thought and money into the redesign. Make sure that you have the bandwidth and budget to give the project the attention it deserves.
5. Trashing and revising all of your existing marketing materials.
Once your new logo is complete you'll have to recycle your business cards, letterhead, brochures and other printed materials—and pay to have the new ones printed. Then there's redesigning your website (and the editing and rewriting that you should do along with that). And don't forget about changing the digital design templates on your computer—your branded email footer, newsletter templates, Word letterheads, and Quickbooks invoices.
Go through your marketing pieces and just think about what it would take to re-create those. The writing, editing, design, coding, printing... Do you really want to redo all that work? And will the redesign of all of those materials pay off?
6. Making the transition make sense for your clients.
Your clients get attached to your logo. They identify with it as the face of your business. If you just change your logo without saying anything to your clients, it can make them feel disoriented and disenfranchised—like their feelings about your business don't matter. Changing the way your materials look can make clients wonder if your business has been bought out, or if you've raised your prices or changed your level of service.
If you do create a new logo, be sure to inform your current and past clients about the change and to explain the reasoning behind the redesign. This simple act can help you keep their trust and keep them onboard with your business through the transition.
Making sure that you're prepared to address these 6 steps in your logo redesign will ensure that a needed redesign goes smoothly—just like knocking over those dominos.
Related Articles
The Dough Starts Flying: Domino’s Takes Off
Why Entrepreneurs Divorce Their Logos (And Why It's A Bad Idea)
The Importance of a Logo Design for a Company
Logo Use in an Ad Campaign
9 Keys to an Effective Logo
Software Programs for Logo Design
Trademark a Name and Logo: Together or Separate?
Lesson #3: Dare to Take a Chance and Be the First
Get a Custom Logo Design and watch your Business Grow
Ready for a Fresh Image?
Beneath All the Toppings: How Monaghan Grew Domino’s into a Pizza Empire
Designing LOGOS Creatively
Why you should Select a Good Logo Designer
Logo-ology
Keeping Printability in Mind with Your Logo
So Much Can be in a Logo Design
Leggo My Logo
Use Custom Signs For Outdoor Publicity Purpose
3 Reasons Why You Should Use Social Co-Creation To Develop Better Products
3 Benefits a Logo Gives to your Brand
Article Tags:
brand,
branding,
characteristics,
design,
effective,
graphic design,
how to,
identity,
logo,
marketing,
small business
About the Author: Erin Ferree
RSS for Erin's articles - Visit Erin's website
Erin Ferree is a branding coach, design genius and strategic thinker. She's been told that her right-brain, left-brain combination of creativity and logic is hard to come by... and that it's what small business owners need to be successful. She loves connecting the dots between passion and profit, mixing strategy and inspiration and shaking things up.
She deeply enjoys working with entrepreneurs who want to help more people and look good doing it. Who want all of their branding and marketing to make sense and speak to their ideal clients. And who want an open, honest, inviting brand with integrity - instead of using icky, pushy, sleazy marketing tactics and trickery.
She's branded over 450 small businesses in the last 10 years. She's been published in so many books and periodicals that she stopped counting. She's shared stages with some awesome people - like Michele PW, Linda Hollander, Lisa Cherney, Sheri McConnell and Kelly O'neil.
In the rare moments when she's not obsessing about branding or design, she can be found hugging her corgi-dog Stanley, going for long walks, cooking improvisationally, or throwing parties so her friends can enjoy them.
Click here to visit Erin's website
More from Erin Ferree
How To Brand Your Livestream
Related Forum Posts
Re: Search Engine Optimization
- A lot of SEO in terms of on-page optimization is trial and error. Changing just one word can have a huge impact on your rankings.
Re: Inspiration for Logos
- [quote:n4xowjxl]When you want a client to think of your Logo may this not be an example of what he thinks. Let its all be positive and with hope of something better coming.[/quote:n4xowjxl]
Huh?
Can you you say this a different way? I'm confused and curious... cause I like messing around with logos...
Inspiration for Logos
- When a Buddhist looks at a Tibetan flag one of the first thing that pops in their mind is admiration respect. After assimilating that they keep thinking and repression might come next. Living as part of a communist nation may bring lots of feelings. Chastity, prayer, humility all these virtues are all mixed.
When you want a client to think of your Logo may this not be an example of what he thinks. Let its all be positive and with hope of something better coming.
How She Does It
- Interesting to see what are the most popular threads in this folder, judging by how many hits each thread gets.
There must be a lot of moms out there who want to start businesses.
I'm currently reading How She Does It: How Women Entrepreneurs are Changing the Rules of Business Success, by Margaret Heffernan.
Some interesting statistics:
Between 1997 and 2006, privately held businesses owned by women grew at 3 times the rate of all American privately owned firms, women's companies are creating jobs and growing profits at twice the rate of all firms and are responsible for more payroll than all of the Fortune 500 companies combined.
This book tells the stories of a few women who have made it big...recommended reading so you know that "you can do it, too."
Re: Inspiration for Logos
- [quote="RussellWebb":3c1ri7h5][quote:3c1ri7h5]When you want a client to think of your Logo. May this not be an example of what he thinks. Let its all be positive and with hope of something better coming.[/quote:3c1ri7h5]
Huh?
Can you you say this a different way? I'm confused and curious... cause I like messing around with logos...[/quote:3c1ri7h5]
I am simply stating: let your product stand out as a star. Don't let it become as complex, Infernal and a blur image as the state of this extraordinary country. In simple terms, let you not be bound or chained to anything that might affect your project. It’s a very round concept it’s more like a metaphor.
Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.
Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva.
Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.
1. Having a good reason.
You need to have a reason that makes sense from a business perspective. If you're redesigning your logo because you're bored, this might not be the best use of your resources. But if you've made a major change in your services, target audience, or the benefits you provide, a redesign may be justified.
If you don't have a solid reason to redesign your logo, reconsider whether a redesign is the right path to take.
2. Hiring a designer.
Finding a designer to create just the right logo for your company takes time, attention to detail and the patience to really look into the designer's expertise. You may be lucky enough to already have a designer that you work with. In that case you just have to make sure that they have the time and inclination to work on your project. If you don't have a designer, you can see my tips on hiring a designer to learn more about the topic.
3. Re-examining your Brand Definition.
If you're going to redesign your logo, you might as well dig deeper into your brand and make sure that it's as polished and complete as possible. Going back over your business's personality, service offerings, product plans, and differentiation will help make sure you're developing a logo that will help you connect with your best customers. Clearly define who your target audience is and what they want to see in a logo.
4. Redesigning the logo is a big investment.
If you're going to change your logo, you'll be investing time, thought and money into the redesign. Make sure that you have the bandwidth and budget to give the project the attention it deserves.
5. Trashing and revising all of your existing marketing materials.
Once your new logo is complete you'll have to recycle your business cards, letterhead, brochures and other printed materials—and pay to have the new ones printed. Then there's redesigning your website (and the editing and rewriting that you should do along with that). And don't forget about changing the digital design templates on your computer—your branded email footer, newsletter templates, Word letterheads, and Quickbooks invoices.
Go through your marketing pieces and just think about what it would take to re-create those. The writing, editing, design, coding, printing... Do you really want to redo all that work? And will the redesign of all of those materials pay off?
6. Making the transition make sense for your clients.
Your clients get attached to your logo. They identify with it as the face of your business. If you just change your logo without saying anything to your clients, it can make them feel disoriented and disenfranchised—like their feelings about your business don't matter. Changing the way your materials look can make clients wonder if your business has been bought out, or if you've raised your prices or changed your level of service.
If you do create a new logo, be sure to inform your current and past clients about the change and to explain the reasoning behind the redesign. This simple act can help you keep their trust and keep them onboard with your business through the transition.
Making sure that you're prepared to address these 6 steps in your logo redesign will ensure that a needed redesign goes smoothly—just like knocking over those dominos.
Related Articles
The Dough Starts Flying: Domino’s Takes Off
Why Entrepreneurs Divorce Their Logos (And Why It's A Bad Idea)
The Importance of a Logo Design for a Company
Logo Use in an Ad Campaign
9 Keys to an Effective Logo
Software Programs for Logo Design
Trademark a Name and Logo: Together or Separate?
Lesson #3: Dare to Take a Chance and Be the First
Get a Custom Logo Design and watch your Business Grow
Ready for a Fresh Image?
Beneath All the Toppings: How Monaghan Grew Domino’s into a Pizza Empire
Designing LOGOS Creatively
Why you should Select a Good Logo Designer
Logo-ology
Keeping Printability in Mind with Your Logo
So Much Can be in a Logo Design
Leggo My Logo
Use Custom Signs For Outdoor Publicity Purpose
3 Reasons Why You Should Use Social Co-Creation To Develop Better Products
3 Benefits a Logo Gives to your Brand
Article Tags: brand, branding, characteristics, design, effective, graphic design, how to, identity, logo, marketing, small business
|
About the Author: Erin Ferree RSS for Erin's articles - Visit Erin's website Click here to visit Erin's website How To Brand Your Livestream |
Related Forum Posts
Re: Search Engine Optimization
- A lot of SEO in terms of on-page optimization is trial and error. Changing just one word can have a huge impact on your rankings.
Re: Inspiration for Logos
- [quote:n4xowjxl]When you want a client to think of your Logo may this not be an example of what he thinks. Let its all be positive and with hope of something better coming.[/quote:n4xowjxl]
Huh?
Can you you say this a different way? I'm confused and curious... cause I like messing around with logos...
Inspiration for Logos
- When a Buddhist looks at a Tibetan flag one of the first thing that pops in their mind is admiration respect. After assimilating that they keep thinking and repression might come next. Living as part of a communist nation may bring lots of feelings. Chastity, prayer, humility all these virtues are all mixed.
When you want a client to think of your Logo may this not be an example of what he thinks. Let its all be positive and with hope of something better coming.
How She Does It
- Interesting to see what are the most popular threads in this folder, judging by how many hits each thread gets.
There must be a lot of moms out there who want to start businesses.
I'm currently reading How She Does It: How Women Entrepreneurs are Changing the Rules of Business Success, by Margaret Heffernan.
Some interesting statistics:
Between 1997 and 2006, privately held businesses owned by women grew at 3 times the rate of all American privately owned firms, women's companies are creating jobs and growing profits at twice the rate of all firms and are responsible for more payroll than all of the Fortune 500 companies combined.
This book tells the stories of a few women who have made it big...recommended reading so you know that "you can do it, too."
Re: Inspiration for Logos
- [quote="RussellWebb":3c1ri7h5][quote:3c1ri7h5]When you want a client to think of your Logo. May this not be an example of what he thinks. Let its all be positive and with hope of something better coming.[/quote:3c1ri7h5]
Huh?
Can you you say this a different way? I'm confused and curious... cause I like messing around with logos...[/quote:3c1ri7h5]
I am simply stating: let your product stand out as a star. Don't let it become as complex, Infernal and a blur image as the state of this extraordinary country. In simple terms, let you not be bound or chained to anything that might affect your project. It’s a very round concept it’s more like a metaphor.
Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.
Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.
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