What’s the difference between a logo design and a brand?
A great logo helps people recognise your company, its products, and its services. But a logo is just one part of what it takes to build a compelling brand.
What’s the difference between a logo design and a branding?
So, you’ve started a company.
Apart from registering your ABN and nabbing a web address that makes sense, usually, one of the first things people do when starting their company is to create a logo. Your logo will appear everywhere on your website, business card, social media pages, promotional caps – perhaps even on your car.
Logos are important. They may be part of your business life for years, so getting a professional to design them is worth it. (And you often get what you paid for.)
What makes a good logo?
It should be memorable. A good logo will help people quickly identify your organisation.
It should be unique (at least as different as possible from another organisation’s logo, especially if they’re in the same line of work).
It should be simple and easy to reproduce. Make sure it still looks ok, both small and large, in color and black and white.
Your logo should reflect your brand and your organization’s values.
It should also reflect your audience, using imagery they can relate to and understand.
Branding vs logo design – aren’t they the same thing
A logo is one part of your visual branding. An essential part, I’ll admit. But there’s a lot more to branding than just imagery. When defining “what’s your brand,” let’s first look to the marketing experts.
“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.
If the consumer (whether it’s a business, a buyer, a voter or a donor) doesn’t pay a premium, make a selection or spread the word, then no brand value exists for that consumer.”
- Seth Godin (Marketing ‘guru’)
Bernadette Jiwa, bestselling author and voted one of the Top 100 Branding Experts to Follow on Twitter, describes in her book Marketing: A Love Story what she considers are ten things a brand does:
Creates meaning around your product or service.
Determines what you sell, where, and when.
Dictates the price range you can sell it at.
Influences the kind of customers you can sell to.
Changes how people feel about commodities.
Sets expectations.
It affects the kind of stuff you can attract.
Demonstrates your values.
Shapes business models.
Enables loyalty, connection, belonging, and love.
The branding is more than just a logo
According to Jiwa (and many others), branding is about how you make people feel about your offering. It helps you stand out from others. It communicates your value to your audience.
Think about logos like Nike, Apple, and Coca-Cola. These companies have spent millions building their brand and spreading their logo worldwide. As soon as we see those logos, we have a mental image of what to expect in the products and services those companies offer. We ‘get’ how they are different from their competitors. We understand what they’re promising.
And that goes beyond what the product or services do. An effective logo helps people recognise your company/product/service. Still, it’s just one part of a marketing strategy to promote what you do and build a connection with your audience.
To find out more about how to brand your organisation, product, or service, get in touch.