Logos. Not as important as you think.

A logo is only as good as its brand. As a designer who has spent over 20 years perfecting the art of brand identity design, it’s hard for me to say it. But I did. So if a logo is only as good as its brand, what does that mean?

Essentially brand is about experience right? I would answer with a resounding, yes! And most pundits and customers agree. But what I’ve learned over the years is those experiences are only consistent if the employees of a particular brand behave in such away that align with the brand’s promise, attributes, essence and so on.

Whether you like it or not, your logo and its identity system become the cover to a really epic story…or a poorly told one.

But it’s told nonetheless. Told through your employees, and how they behave. Your goal. Tell a story through your people. Empower them with the right language, the right actions and behaviors. Not robots, but a beautiful ballet of unified touch-points. This will create a story of authenticity, cultural poignancy and emotional punch. And the clarion call -the banner- under which all of this sits. Your logo.

But, if you don’t have the meat in the middle, the really fresh, relevant and juicy kind, you can’t have a “good” logo. Yes, possibly well designed. But a mark that resonates with your audience. Definitely not. No matter how many awards it wins, it just won’t perform the way it could without the brand supporting it. A good friend of mine once said, meaning only happens in the context of story. Your brand is the story. Your logo now has a context in which it can live, move, breathe and have meaning! Without that, the logo above just looks like another monogram, instead of a story about a kid named Marc Nunez who pulled himself up from his bootstraps to offer LA well-built danish-style furniture. Consequently, a logo is only as good as its brand. And yes, its designer too. But that’s another topic.

- Braven is CoFounder and CEO of La Visual, a digital branding agency in Los Angeles.