The logo needs to be BIGGER! BIGGER! BIGGER!

I received a email from a college of mine. In regards to the size of a logo. In this case their client wanted to make the corporate logo bigger. This is often the case with owners and marketing directors. They think their logo should be the showcase piece. They are flat out wrong. Here is my response...

As a Creative Director, your logo on the website is a perfect size. Marketing Directors often feel the need to make their logos over powering. An over powering logo takes away the attention which should be given to the company's products.

The logo has the correct amount of white space around it. Your current site gives me a strong brand feel. When a question like this comes to play, our agency often go to other sites to see how they handle similar requests. In this case I went to aveda.com. Aveda has a strong brand presence and your site made me think Aveda.

I highly encourage you and your business partner to look at that site. One beauty of the site is it stresses their product and keeps their brand message strong. I have never had the opportunity to visit your store in person. However, your current website makes me want to. I'd be more than happy to chat with you and your business partner.

Making your logo larger will take away attention from your products and image. Let the viewer digest the imagery. They will notice the logo, remember it is on every page. That alone will give it the attention it deserves.

Hopefully this will help you make a better decision before doing something which I believe will hurt your brand.

Matt

File Types and File Names

file types

• eps

Native Adobe Illustrator file

Sometimes referred to as Vector image

Typically CMYK format

Spot colors can be specified

Designers use this type of file

Most people cannot open this type of file on a PC

Higher quality image (300 dpi minimum)

• tif/tiff

Will open in any photo editor program

Most people can open this type of file

Lower quality image

Used primarily for black and white images

• jpg/jpeg

Will open in any photo editor program

Lower quality image - not suitable for commercial printing

Can be used in office applications and web applications

Always RGB format

file names

• CMYK

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black

Used by everyday color printers

• RGB

Red, Green, Blue

Viewed on a computer screen

• PMS

Exact Pantone color

Used as a special color for exact brand matching

Common for logos in your Corporate ID

Color - how does it make you feel?

Black: The color of authority and power. It is also stylish and timeless. Black can also be overpowering.

Red: The most emotionally intense color, red stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing. It is also the color of love.

Red is usually used as an accent. The most romantic color, pink, is more tranquilizing.

Blue: One of the most popular colors. It causes the opposite reaction as red. Peaceful, tranquil blue causes the body to

produce calming chemicals. Blue can also be cold and depressing. It is a productive color.

Green: Currently the most popular color, green symbolizes nature. It is the easiest color on the eye and can improve vision.

It is a calming, refreshing color. Dark green is masculine, conservative, and implies wealth.

Yellow: An attention getter. While it is considered an optimistic color, people lose their tempers more often with yellow.

Hence its use for legal pads. It also speeds metabolism.

Orange: Vibrant. It’s a combination of red and yellow so it shares some common attributes with those colors. It denotes

energy, warmth, and the sun. But orange has a bit less intensity or aggression than red, calmed by the cheerfulness of yellow.

Purple: The color of royalty, purple connotes luxury, wealth, and sophistication. It is also feminine and romantic.

Brown: Solid, reliable color of earth and is abundant in nature. Light brown implies genuineness, while dark brown is

similar to wood or leather. Brown can also be sad and wistful. Men are more apt to say brown is one of their favorite colors.

Original Piece written by David Johnson - Source: Infoplease.com - Edited by Chatter Creative

What makes a great logo?

A great logo should:

1. Distinguish your company from your competition:
Don't try to emulate another company. Be your own brand. Less than a decade after Coca-Cola was born, Pepsi quickly became successful by setting themselves apart rather than trying to emulate the leaders.

2. Use meaningful colors:
Different colors and shades can have different effects on people because of color association. Green is associated with the environment and is an appropriate logo for a company like the Sierra Club or Greenpeace. However, green is also associated with motion sickness so would be a poor choice for the interior of a car.

3. Use an appropriate font:
You may generally gravitate to bold, exciting fonts, or feminine curvy fonts but if you are a ballet company, you should probably avoid harsh, clunky lettering, and if you are a football team, you should probably avoid graceful, delicate lettering, even if it's more attractive to you.

4. Be simple:
Your logo can have some elaborate features but it should be simple enough to make a quick statement.

5. Be memorable:
Your logo should make a statement about your company. The next time a customer needs your kind of business, he'll choose you just because of brand recognition.

6. Avoid distracting elements:
Your logo does not need, LLC, Inc, and other details. That type of detail can be saved for documentation about your company. The next time you are driving past businesses, take a look at the logos around you and see how other successful logos are handled.

7. Avoid taglines if possible:
Taglines can be an important part of a company's image but should be separate from a logo. The size of the text in a tagline is so much smaller that it often forces the logo to be bigger in order to accommodate the text.