THE KISS PRINCIPLE IN LOGO DESIGN
WHY ARE SOME OF THE BEST LOGOS THE MOST SIMPLE AND UNCOMPLICATED?

If you look at some of today’s biggest brands, their logos are often the picture of simplicity; at first glance, they may not even have any connection with the brand but, upon closer inspection we soon learn that even the most simplistic designs are rooted in strategy.
As Paul Rand was known to have said, “A logo derives meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around.” In other words, the Nike swoosh could have been just about anything at the time — the swoosh on the day it was conceived meant absolutely nothing. It has been established and nurtured through effective marketing and brand positioning into what we now recognize as the brand ‘Nike’. Same with the Chase Bank logo, the BMW logo, and the Apple logo. All of them on their own have mean very little without the strategy and decades of brand positioning to back them up.
But, I digress. As a brand identity designer I love logos, and understand their importance. I also understand the importance of using them effectively and implementing them in a way that conveys the message of the business to which it serves. Seem a bit nihilistic? I mean, a brand designer minimizing the importance of a mark? Not so quick now, I’m getting somewhere with this. But first, let’s look at a few reasons why you need your logo to have that unassuming charm.
1. The simpler a logo is, the easier it is to recall.
A logo is effective only if it can easily be remembered. If you can’t recall the logo, than it will be more difficult to recall the message and the brand it is trying to represent. Is it easier to memorize a full paragraph? or a single sentence? Keeping a logo simple means it will likely be easier to remember, and therefor easier for the brand to be recalled.
2. Recognizability.
A good logo should be recognizable from a quick glance, or from the corner of your eye. We are inundated with loads of information, especially in today’s social media age. This means your target customers are given hundreds, if not thousands of choices in the run of the day. Some of those choices are your competition. People respond to, and side with, that which feel the most comfortable to them. The quicker they recognize the logo, the sooner and more likely they are to make that crucial decision on a purchase, a click, or a swipe. Having your logo be recognized before another brand’s means that you are more likely to get the first crack at their business.
3. Convertible across all media.
This one may have less oomph than it did decades ago. Today, printing technology has made what was once impractical years ago, more easily produced today. Even so, keeping your logo simple means easier methods of reproduction when it comes to print time. It’s easier to take a simple 1, 2, or 3 colour logo to a printer and have it reproduced faithfully than it is to print of a logo that is spattered with various levels of gradient, shadowing, and 3D effects. Also to this point, with the prevalence of brands using social media as a viable marketing tool, and the size of some of these banner ads and avatars, having a simple logo means that it will still be recognizable across all media without much alteration.
4. Scalability.
Ever try to make out a really complex logo when it is shrunk down to the size of a business card? How about a social media profile picture? What about the favicon on the tab of your company’s website tab? A complex logo at these sizes is going to look like a muddled mess, and lose any branding power it once had. Conversely, blowing a gaudy logo up to the size of a billboard will more likely leave viewers squinting that wanting to read your copy. Keeping it simple means that it will be more easily used at a variety of sizes and therefor more effective.
Now, back to my earlier comment about how logos are only as effective as the messaging behind them. If it is so important to have a simplistic logo, and a simplistic logo cannot be expected to tell a potential customer everything your company does by sheer virtue of the fact that it is indeed simple, where does this leave you the business owner, when it comes to finding that perfect design? Well, that’s where finding a designer, nay, a brand identity designer that specializes and focuses on strategy is so very important. If you have no strategy behind the design, and the logo itself is simplistic (as it should be), then how is your target demographic going to know a thing about your company? Going back to Mr. Rand’s comment on a logo deriving its meaning from the thing it symbolizes, it’s crucial that the work is put in beforehand to make sure the logo will target the intended market. The only way to do this is through effective strategy.
