8 Characteristics of Successful Logos

Let me start off by saying that having a logo that follows all the “rules” does not guarantee success in business. There are a lot of things that factor into it. Does this mean that a logo does nothing for the brand? Not at all! A logo is of the utmost importance and people remember it after they have associated it with your brand. What I’m trying to say here is that a logo without the organization, its culture, products, services, is nothing. All of these things are what fill the logo with meaning and relevancy.

For example, take the Nike swoosh and the Swastika for example. Both are simple symbols, yet they create opposite feelings based on the associations that they’ve picked up along the way. A professional logo design has the ability to do that. Since it represents a business, it takes on the features of the business. 

So, what does a logo do then?

A logo’s main objective is to be recognizable and associate with the brand. If you use your logo consistently across all channels, people will start associating it with your business. 

Here are the 8 characteristics that can help your logo become instantly recognizable, memorable, and successful:

Simplicity

Look at the most popular logos in the world and you will see that none of them have a lot of forms, symbols, or anything else filled in. They are minimalist logos and carry the minimum amount of elements to convey what their brand is all about. Also, you will notice that companies have actually redesigned or even revamped their logos to be simpler. That is because the heavier or more complex the design is, the more time it will take for the message to get through.

Differentiation

There are literally millions of brands in the market. With each passing day, that number increases. That means every time someone goes online to shop or visits a mall, they are interacting with hundreds of brands. How will you tell your target audience that they should interact with you? How will they recognize you and want to interact with you? That is where differentiation comes into play. You need to make sure that you have a logo that is unlike anything that your competitors have. Most of the time, businesses go for “do it yourself” online logo makers or hire agencies or freelancers that are not worth their salt. They end up with a very generic piece of graphic design that is like a hundred other brands out there.

Relevancy

Simply put, it means that you don’t make a cartoon logo for a law firm and you don’t make a serious logo for a cartoon company. Make sure that the logo that you design or someone else designs for you looks like it belongs in your specific industry.

Memorability

One of the very important aspects of any logo is its memorability. Do people remember your logo when they see it? Do they immediately know what company or brand it belongs to? One thing that you should know is that people remember shapes faster. Just make sure that you don’t overdo it. The colour also plays a huge role in memorability. 

Scalability

There was a time when you could only display your logo on certain mediums. Now, with the advent of social media, there are a plethora of mediums where you have to display your logo. So, make sure that it is scalable. This means that you could print it on your packaging, on the front of your office, on the side of your vehicle, and you can display it on your social media channels and it will not lose any of its characteristics.

Versatility

Sometimes the same logo that worked wonders on one platform might not work on others. That is why you need to have a logo that is versatile enough and can be displayed in different variations. There can be a lot of variants based on the elements of the logo like symbols, watermarks, typography, and more.

Legibility

Is the logo easily comprehensible? Do the consumers know what is going on there? Can they at least read the company name? If the answer is no, then you are in big trouble; time for a redesign. There are some logos that use illegible fonts or have symbols that apparently don’t mean anything or are abstract. These type of logos do not fit well with the brand’s profile and they actually might scare the customers away.

Proportionally Designed

Some of the logos that you might have seen look disproportionate. They look like they were put together in a hurry or with neglect. For a logo to be successful, it has to be well-executed. Everything should have the perfect colour and the perfect shape. Maybe the symbols and the fonts don’t go together. There are a million different things that could go wrong and the designer must always keep it in mind that everything must match.

Bringing It All Together

These are the eight characteristics that every successful logo has. It is simple, unique, memorable, relevant to the target consumers, scalable, legible, and versatile. The more you incorporate these characteristics in your logo, the better people will remember it. The more they will want to interact with your brand.