Your logo is generally the most recognizable aspect of your brand. If you are like most business owners you created your logo in the earliest days of your brand and likely spent considerable time, effort, and perhaps even expense, in crafting a memorable logo that would become the face of your business and help you to build solid brand recognition.
If you have reached the stage where you are considering updating or refreshing your brand then your logo has clearly done its job well and your brand has grown and evolved from its original form. That is a good thing. Still, while it is natural for a brand image to change over time, the decision to change, redesign, or even completely reimagine the logo should not be taken lightly.
Let’s explore some of the top reasons that you may want to edit your existing logo and the best ways to go about pulling it off.
Logo Recognition
The first thing you will need to consider is how large of a role your current logo plays in your brand identity. Is your logo the true face of your brand? Do your customers or your target audience know your brand by its logo? Is your brand logo often used in place of your brand name?
If you answered yes to any of these questions you may want to spend a little more time determining if the potential benefits of a logo redesign will offset the risk of undermining your established brand recognition. Answering yes to these questions does not mean that you are stuck with your current logo, it simply means you may want to dig a bit deeper to determine if a change is worth it, what you can change, and what should be retained.
So let’s take a look at some of the compelling reasons that you may want to move forward with a logo redesign.
Significant Business Structure Changes
Many times, brands undertake major logo redesigns when their business or brand has changed in some significant way. This is one of the best times for a logo rebranding as it serves to help draw awareness to the new services, products, or functions of your brand and draws a clear line between the old business and the new in the minds of your customers.
For example, if you are a craft brewer serving customers in your facility and have decided to launch a line of packed brews to be sold in local retail locations, or you have decided to add a wine bar to your existing brewery, a new logo is clearly in order to let customers know about the exciting changes.
A Name Change
This one is a no-brainer. If you have changed the name of your brand or business, then you are definitely going to need a new or redesigned logo. Of course, while major name changes will require a new logo, small changes like dropping a tagline or slogan, may not require a major revamping. In those cases, you may be able to make small edits while retaining your core logo design.
Dated Logo Design
Trends come and go, and sometimes particular design styles, fonts, and colors that may have been ultra-hip a decade ago, have now fallen completely out of favor, and serve as a glaring announcement that your brand is “so last season”.
If you find yourself with a seriously outdated logo it is definitely to your benefit to update your logo sending the message that your brand is still fresh, and relevant.
Negative Sentiment
Not all logo redesigns are undertaken for aesthetic or business expansion reasons. There are times when damage control may be in order, and a brand may be looking for a fresh start after a public faux pas. In this type of scenario, there is generally less concern about retaining brand recognition. Many times, brands dealing with a reputational blow or negative consumer sentiment opt for a complete rebranding and total logo makeover to distance the “new” business from the issues of the past.
However, if the negative sentiment is directed at some aspect of your current logo, or toward your industry as a whole, you may opt for a partial logo redesign to let customers know that you are still a reliable business while addressing the specific issues that are raising a concern or ruffling feathers.
Increased Competition
When you are starting to notice similar brands or strong competition popping up in your market it may be time to up your game with a logo refresh that highlights the value your brand offers and makes sure that you stay at the forefront of your customer’s minds. It is important to note that when you are considering a logo redesign as a response to increased competition you will want to strike a fine balance between preserving brand recognition and standing out from the crowd. You have worked hard to establish your reputation, you do not want to make a drastic change in an effort to stand out and wind up appearing to be just one of the many new companies popping up in the market.
Declining Customer Engagement
Of course, it is one thing to want to ramp up your brand logo in response to a spate of new competitors appearing on the scene, but it is quite another matter if you are experiencing a drop in customer engagement, sales, and revenue as a direct result of a new competitor drawing your client base away from your brand.
If you are noticing a sudden drop in consumer interest you may need to make some dramatic changes to show your audience that you will do what it takes to retain their business and provide a greater value than the “other guys”.
Again, you will need to strike a balance between showing off what’s new and improved about your brand and reminding customers that you are the same trustworthy name that they have already developed a relationship with.
Brand Confusion
There are also instances when an unrelated brand or business has a very similar logo or name causing consumer confusion. This can be particularly vexing if the doppelganger brand is something that your audience finds distasteful or inappropriate, or if the other brand has a more prominent brand identity. Depending on your unique circumstances you could go the legal route and attempt to make the other brand change its design, but most find that it is easier and cheaper to redesign your own brand to differentiate your business from the other.
Now that we have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of undertaking a logo redesign, you should have a pretty firm idea of whether to go ahead with a logo redesign project.
Determining The Scope Of Your Logo Editing Project
If you are still reading, we will assume you have decided a logo refresh is in order. So, now we will need to look at the scope of the changes you are looking to make. Will you be completing a full rebranding designed to give the business a fresh new face, distance your business from a negative event, or announce an exciting new expansion? Or, do you have a solid brand and a loyal following, and you are simply looking to update your brand image and ensure that your business remains relevant and on-trend without sacrificing your established brand identity?
If you are going for a radical rebranding and brand reinvention then you are unlikely to be restrained by concerns about brand consistency. If this is your scenario then you simply need to determine which core aspects of your current logo you want to keep, if any, and what direction you would like to go with the new logo design.
The more common scenario is going to involve a bit more consideration. The majority of logo editing projects are concerned with both refreshing and modernizing the brand while simultaneously maintaining the established brand identity. In this case, you will want to sit down and take a good look at your existing logo design and branding. You will want to make a list of each of the design elements individually and decide what is an integral component of your brand identity, and must therefore remain, and what is less important and can be eliminated or altered without jarring loyal customers.
Here are some of the most common areas that you will want to pay close attention to. Changing just one of these elements can have a big impact on the overall look and feel of your logo, so unless you are going for a whole brand reinvention, it is strongly advised that you choose one or two of these elements to change and leave the remainder as close to their original state as possible to preserve brand recognition.
Text, Wordmarks, & Taglines
Many logo editing projects require some degree of change to the text of the design. Because brands often undertake logo redesigns during periods of transition it makes sense that a change of wording is often a necessary part of most logo editing projects. Depending on the scope of the messaging change, the edits can be as simple as deleting an unwanted slogan or tagline, or they can be as complex as renaming the business.
Typography & Fonts
If you will be changing the text of the design in any way you are likely going to need to make some adjustments to the basic typography design. Depending on the age and complexity of your logo design, your existing typography may be made up of standard fonts or it may be an artistic rendering of an unknown font type. In either case, it is likely that the typography will have been finalized as a graphic rather than an editable text field. This is a common design technique that is employed to ensure that the finished typography stays in position and is not distorted during applications.
This means that changing the typography and font will not be a simple manner of deleting and retyping your desired message. Your design professional will instead delete the existing typography and create a brand new typography using the same font or replicating the original by redesigning a similar font style.
Illustrations & Graphics
It goes without saying that any illustrations, icons, symbols, or graphics will play a huge role in your brand identity. This imagery, more than any other element, is often the most likely to elicit a strong reaction from the audience if changed. Keep this in mind before introducing, removing, or making significant changes to any illustrative design elements in your existing logo.
Colors
Color has a strong psychological effect on viewers as well. If your brand is associated with a unique, and particular color, or palette, you may want to strongly consider leaving these unaltered if you are making significant changes in other areas. That being said, if the colors have become outdated, or if they are not resonating with your larger marketing or rebranding efforts then you could prioritize a color change and forgo making any major typography or design changes until your clients have had the opportunity to adjust.
The key takeaway when editing an existing logo is to aim for incremental change, altering just one or two of the major elements above and allowing some time to gauge your audience’s response to the design change. Humans are often uncomfortable with abrupt and drastic changes in their environment. Well-known brands become a stable, and reliable part of our day-to-day life and it is not uncommon for even the most successful brands to suffer a major market loss after a radical logo design change.
Flocksy Offers The Painless Solution To Logo Editing
While large corporate brands often spend millions on marketing and design firms or employ in-house artists to manage their frequent rebranding and logo redesign projects, this is not a practical option for most small businesses or startups. That usually leaves the option of working with freelance artists. This can be an affordable solution albeit a bit of a gamble. Freelance marketplaces can be best thought of as the wild-west of the design world. There is often no vetting of talent, and there are limited resources available if you are not satisfied with the results. guarantee of satisfaction with the results.
Flocksy’s unlimited creative subscriptions are the ideal solution for completing all your branding, rebranding, and marketing design tasks for one flat rate monthly price. Flocksy has worked hard to cultivate a team of creatives who possess the talent and experience to deliver professional results on every project type, every time. Your unlimited design subscription and user-friendly platform make it easy to request a complete logo redesign and rebranding or create a series of smaller projects editing an existing logo in increments to monitor your customer response as you go.
Updating your logo is as easy as logging into your account, clicking the “Create new project” button, and navigating to the Graphic Design category. You can choose from a wide array of branding and design projects from website graphics to product illustrations to social media marketing assets, and much more. Choose the “Editing an existing logo” option to open up a design brief and provide all the details for your current logo and the elements you would like to change. Your designer will get to work immediately, and you should have your new logo design in as little as 24 to 48 hours. It is that easy, and best of all, because Flocksy offers unlimited services, you can request as many revisions as you need to get your logo exactly right and move on to your next brand asset as soon as you are satisfied. No contracts, no hidden fees, just unlimited design services at an affordable monthly fee.