So you've conducted a brand audit, now what?
So you’ve conducted a brand audit, now what?
You probably fall into one of three categories.
Group One: Satisfied
Most of the companies we work with find themselves in one of three groups, the first group being those lucky people who are super happy with their logo and are ready to focus on what else they need.
If you are someone who happens to find yourself in this position, that is great! Moving forward, here are a couple things you want to make sure you do have:
All the correct logo file formats.
The type of file you use online and digitally is going to be different than what you use for print. So for social media, emails, and any element that lives on screens, you're going to want a JPEG and a PNG of your logo.
One of the benefits of having a PNG is that it can support a transparent background. Have ever been in a situation where your logo has a white background and when you go to put it on a dark background, that white background drives you crazy? This is when having PNG with a transparent background is useful.
For print you're going to need what's called a vector file.
A vector file is one that can be scaled down extremely tiny or be huge on a billboard without appearing pixelated.
These special file types are PDF, EPS, or AI which is an illustrator file. SVG files are also an option but are these aren't as common.
Bottom line, with vector files you want to make sure that you have one of those versions of your logo because you can make a JPEG or PNG out of a vector file but you can't do the reverse.
I’d highly recommend making sure you have a vector version your files somewhere.
Secondly, if you're in the group that loves your logo, you want to make sure that you have several different versions of that logo so that you can make it look good on every application.
For example, when we created logo variations for one of our clients, Lydia Menzies, we realized by the end of it that she really needed seven different iterations of her logo.
The horizontal version was the main logo we crafted, but we wanted to make sure we had a vertical orientation of that as well.
To provide some variety, we then decided on having just the crest in some designs. In other instances, we wanted to create a badge that gave her options based on different places she could use her logo.
One thing that's an emerging need, but not a traditional thing you would think of when you get your branding done, is how your logo looks in a teeny tiny application.
A favicon is quite literally a small thing that when branded really ties your online presence together and shows how deep your cohesiveness runs.
It's something branded that needs to be legible in that teeny tiniest location.
Group 2: Refresh
So if you are not in the ‘I love my logo’ category, that’s totally fine. A lot of companies we work with like their logo but feel like it needs a bit of a refresh.
We find this to be especially prevalent in companies that are either family businesses or have been around for a long time and are successful.
Another example of those who may fall in this category are companies that are attracting their target market but want to ensure they maintain their target market’s attention. Maybe they have a goal to expand that target market or want to get more of the market share for a particular demographic. In all of these cases, a refresh is in order.
Refreshing your brand must be strategic. An example of an unsuccessful brand refresh is Tropicana.
They updated their logo, and found that their sales dropped 20%, which equaled a $30 million loss.
Pizza Hut’s new logo is an example of a refresh done well. The new logo kept the font and beloved slanted roof from their previous logo while shifting to a more modern design. This redesign is a testament that businesses can maintain their brand identity while improving their visual appeal.
Making sure the core of your brand continues despite changes is essential, and while you might not be out of pocket $30 million, there is a possibility for loyal customers to take their business elsewhere if they feel the brand and essence they know is changing too much from what they love.
In addition to updating a logo, brands that have been around a long time can suddenly realize they don’t have any brand standards — especially those companies that have experienced fast growth!
Ask yourself, outside of your logo, do you have a guide or reference for the rest of your brand pieces (social media graphics, ads, email signatures etc.)?
Do you have an established color palette with exact color values?
What about established fonts?
If you’ve got a lot of moving pieces, it’s a lot easier for you (and your team) to work off of an established brand guidelines document so you don’t have to constantly review things to decide if they’re “on brand” for you.
Here’s a very simple example of a brand guidelines document. If this isn’t something you have, definitely ask for it if you’re going to go through the process of updating your logo (or even if you’re getting a new logo altogether)!
Group 3: Redo
So if you find yourself in group 3, whether you are a brand new business or you've been in business for a while and you just want to completely start over with your branding, that can be a little scary and daunting.
… But it's actually one of the most fun spots to be in because your options are just endless! So if you do find yourself in that spot don't feel overwhelmed. There are some easy concrete steps you can start with.
If you’re a new business definitely do some research // if you're an existing business maybe do some soul-searching….
When I say research I don't mean research your competitors. I mean research the heck out of your target market.
Gain inspiration -- once you got them nailed down, make a Pinterest board and invite some people you trust to contribute to it. Have that going for a while and you'll start to see some themes developed
Again figure out your ‘why' in your differentiators and then once you've done all that you can, really just start out with committing to a color or two and a word mark.
Interested in a brand refresh or redo? Contact us and we’d be happy to come along beside in that journey to make your brand the best it can be.
https://www.thebrandingjournal.com/2015/05/what-to-learn-from-tropicanas-packaging-redesign-failure/
https://www.companyfolders.com/blog/best-worst-logo-redesigns-ever
