Why Stupid Simple Logos Are Always Better
In my last article, I mentioned that logos are not that important. Given the controversial nature of that title, let me qualify. If you take a logo out of its context, you lose value and overall functional impact. It’s imperative to understand a brand’s story is that context.
Resultant, it should be an authentic representation of its business’s mission, vision, and values. So essentially, logos are only as good as the products and/or organizations that steward them. Read full article here.
However (and to be sure I’m not working myself out of a job here), to add value to your brand, you can’t just have a great story. You also need an exceptional logo to create a strong connection to that story.
Yes, I said it. The purpose of your logo is not to explain or define what your business does. It’s primarily meant to create consistent emotional engagement. This is where simple logos excel, as the calling card for your brand’s image; the first and last way your brand connects with the hearts and minds of its users.
Since Google unveiled its new brand identity system last September, I’ve been reading a lot about how they are following the current logo design trend of “simplicity”. Frankly, I’m having a hard time with that. Primarily because, simplicity is not the latest fad.
Simplification is a timeless principle of exceptional graphic design. Objectively, it’s the primary method used in logo design for creating memorability and in fostering brand affinity. No matter what critics tell
you about the immutable laws of a good logo, simplicity is transcendent above all the others.
Yes Mr. Marketing Director, that means it’s time to let the designers do what they do best. And no, this is not the time to pull from the in-house team. Creating simplicity is complex design work. It requires perspective and demands a veteran agency with a stellar logo design process.
This is where you have the opportunity to reflect the quality of your product in the quality of the logo you put out there.
Since the 1970s, advertisers have used psychographics to discover how consumers connect with visual design. Now, I’m no psychologist, but let me try and break it down. When a user is confronted with a logo, her brain fires neurons, creating pathways that help to store memories.
It’s this process of how they are encoded and stored that influences how they are retrieved through the interests, attitudes, and opinions of each user. That’s why it’s called “IAO”.
This means that the logo or “mark” and symbols associated with it can actually contribute to behavioral change. Or at the very least, they can result in better recollection of associated memories.
In other words, the shapes, symbols, letterforms, color, volume, and negative space in a logo can “form links or associations among memories to help later retrieval” (source). Yes, if your logo is well-designed and well-managed it can impact how users relate to your brand. For instance, quickly glance at the animated GIF below. What are the first companies that come to mind? Don’t think too hard.
Numerous studies have conclusively shown that simplified logos are more legible and improve overall memorability, if they’re applied consistently. As mentioned above, this helps ensure better emotional connection with your brand and subsequent marketing campaigns.
I’m not saying I particularly like the T-mobile or Google logos, but when we are repeatedly presented with a simple and readable logo, that “connection is strengthened and the memory soon becomes entrenched in our minds” (source).
This results in a need to put a huge emphasis on simplicity.
When a well-designed logo is well-applied to a piece of marketing collateral, each subsequent viewing may create increasingly loyal attitudes towards a particular brand. As a result, brand affinity is built.
as shown here. See full evolution here.
If logos are crucial in making a lasting connection with users, memorable logos must be powerfully simple to be simply powerful.
“In fact, the art of logo design illustrates the design concept “less is more” better than any other graphic form.” (source)
Simplification is the beating heart of quality logo design. It has been the lingua franca for what resonates with users for decades, and should be for the next millennium! But if simplification is so ingrained in the language of design, why are we seeing more and more of this method as if it’s a new discovery? Because it’s needed now more than ever. “Over the last century, our lifestyles gradually became more complex. Conversely, the design of logos became simpler for ease and speed of recognition in a faster world.” (source).
Technology drives simplification, and technology is not going away. Since the technological revolution and dawn of social, the use of simplicity in logo design has increased exponentially. If you believe that branding for a digital world is a vital aspect to adding value to your organization, then be smart and simplify when it comes to your logo. Simplification will make it more usable, legible, modular, memorable and engaging. I’m glad Levi’s did it.
Last November, Levi’s announced an evolutionary rebrand. The primary brand mark in the new family of logos is the “Batwing” mark (as seen above). It’s a perfect example of how simplicity is essential to effective logo design and how your logo can become transcendent, or even iconic!
Does the new Levi’s mark do that? Whether or not it does, one thing stands out. It’s simple. The only two elements it uses (wings and cropped Registration mark “®”) are both authentic icons taken from the brand’s story and rich history of developing quality apparel products. The mark supports the story. The story points to the mark. Beautiful, isn’t it?
Levi’s new mark along with Google’s new identity system are not a trend, but clear indicators that simplicity in logo design is here to stay.
Simplification continues to be the underlying principle governing classic logo design for the past fifty years. But don’t take my word for it. I’ve compiled a list of rebranding efforts by sixty well-known brands. After taking the time to browse the list below, it quickly becomes apparent that simplicity is one of the only constants across this wide range of notable rebrands.
When it comes to corporate identity design or rebranding your business, I will close with the overused but perfectly stated adage, keep-it-simple-stupid. And if I just offended you because you’re proud of your logo and think it can’t get any simpler, I’m sorry, but you’re wrong. Now hush. Let’s KISS and make-up.
La Visual’s Simplification Index of 60 Brand Marks, Logotypes and Signatures: In the index below, our goal was to compile a list that shows some well-designed executions of the principle of simplicity. The index is intentionally diverse in tone and range of business category and segment.
