A Word about Logos

Let's start by providing an example of a poor logo.

Looks pretty nice, doesn't it? In fact, when the client first came to us, they were very proud of it. It was designed by an art agency and had won an award. The logo was untouchable and we just shook shook our heads and worked around it for a couple years.

Apparently the art agency designed this logo for the purpose of winning awards. It sure wasn't practical from a business standpoint. It was EXTREMELY hard to work with and significantly inhibited potential design and marketing creativity. Without getting into technical details, here are some reasons:

1. It cannot be placed on any background other than white. Want to place it on a brochure in such a way that it stencils out the picture of the sky? Forget it!

2. It is next to impossible to change logo colors. Besides the fact that it will always have a white background, it can never be made to match the color of another item in the brochure in such a way that "pulls everything together."

3. Because it is photo-type art, it cannot be scaled to larger sizes without becoming jagged or loosing its quality. Forget using it on a poster much less a billboard.

4. Although it is one color, it is not one shade. This means it cannot be placed on t-shirts, banners, bumper stickers, ink pens, or similar marketing/fundraising materials without using a very expensive four-color process.

5. For the same reason, it is difficult to hand paint. That is significant in this case because the organization has a presence in Kenya where the locals paint the name of the organization on signs and the sides of buildings.

6. Speaking of the name of the organization... where is it?! This piece of art is not a logo at all. It is more accurately called an icon. The organization's name shouldn't be an afterthought, playing second-fiddle to the icon. In this case, while the icon was unchangeable, the name constantly changed sizes, shapes and colors in order fit into the overall design of various pieces and to fit around the set-in-stone icon. There were no consistent visual cues to make the name memorable.

While icons have their place, they should not compete with or overshadow the organization's DBA. We've spent a significant amount of time discussion this organization's so-called logo and still you don't have a clue who it is. So much for name recognition. Outside of contacting us, you have no way to support this organization or buying their product. Their "award-winning" logo has gotten them nowhere so far.

For two years we helped as best we were able while being hamstrung with this picture. Over that time there were administrative changes so we began to deal with another person. One day three significant printing jobs happened to coincide with each other—a fundraising campaign, the need for new stationary, business cards, envelopes, etc. and preparations for an upcoming newsletter. Lilypad jumped! We created a logo that we could be proud enough to sell and we made our pitch to the organization.

We explained the explained the pitfalls of the old icon and we also made the following case that now was the perfect opportunity to give a new logo a shot:

1. Using the new logo is going to grab everyone's attention. There will be no “Ho-hum” factor when they receive it in the mail. They will read the entire contents just to see what the new look is about and if they have missed something. It's not necessary to explain the new look, but if we want to, we can do so in the soon-to-follow newsletter.

2. Introducing the new logo on the fundraiser allows some room for experimentation with colors before we actually put anything “in stone” when we print official stationery, business cards, etc. It gives us a real-life preview. If we are not fully satisfied with the colors, we can try something else...perhaps doing the upcoming newsletter and return envelope in another color scheme will give us two concrete examples from which to choose.

They fell in love with the Lilypad-designed logo. There was no need to explain how it gracefully overcame all the obstacles that the old one was unable to—it was obvious. Also obvious was that the new logo communicated the "soul" of the organization equally well.

Ultimately, the board members and staff were proud of the new image of the organization they represented and they even had cards made for key staff in Kenya, something no one had cared to do before. And that initial post-new-logo fundraiser... it was a huge success! Seems the donors also felt the new-found professionalism of the organization and they proudly contributed.

Has this much thought gone into the artwork that make your organization's first impression? Does that impression stick? Does that impression include an understanding of the soul of your organization? And is that impression just as solid whether displayed in color on a website, in black and white in a newspaper ad, or in a fourth-generation copy of a letterhead? If not, hop over to our pad and let us show you how your frog can be transformed into a prince.