5 Signs It May Be Time to Redesign Your Logo
Logos aren’t designed with an expiration date, so it can be hard to know just how long yours is going to serve your company. Here are five red flags that your logo may have run its course.
1. You designed the logo yourself
Chances are, if you’re reading this you don’t have formal training in graphic design. Maybe you have a little experience with Adobe Illustrator (or maybe your cousin’s boyfriend’s niece does…) and you wanted to save a little money and knock out a logo yourself (or via your cousin’s boyfriend’s niece).
I hate to break it to you, but if a logo is done by an amateur, it shows. When first impressions are so important, is that really how you want your business to be perceived? Amateurish? Making sure you hire the right graphic designer to create something polished and professional will help you hit the ground running with prospective customers.
2. Your logo looks dated
You know that feeling you get when you walk into a room and you can tell the last time it was updated by its decor? Did you know some logos can be so dated they give off the same vibe? If your logo pulls you back into a different decade for all the wrong reasons, it may be time to refresh your brand. It’s hard to convince customers your products and services are current and top-of-the-line if your logo screams otherwise.
3. Your logo blends in with the competition
If you’re a realtor, you should have a house in your logo, right? Well, not if every other realtor in your area that you’re competing against has a house in theirs. Take time to look at what your competition is doing. If your logo is too similar to the pack, you are watering down your image. Make sure your fonts, colors and icons are carefully selected to differentiate you rather than leave no impression, or even worse—get mistaken for your competition.
4. Your logo lacks flexibility for various media
Once upon a time, a logo wasn’t needed for much more than a sign above the door. These days, your logo needs to be able to handle much more than that. Does your logo work when embroidered on a shirt? Can it fit nicely into a square social media profile picture? What about a pen? Or the top of your web site? If all of these things weren’t taken into consideration when your logo was designed, you may very well find yourself frustrated from time to time. Believe it or not, most singular logos can’t meet all of these needs in the most successful manner. A well-trained graphic designer will design with this in mind and create a full logo suite for you, usually consisting of a wide variety of layouts—and file types—that are all on-brand.
5. Your business shifted its focus
Did your business once offer a very limited set of products or services that has since expanded? Are your company goals starkly different than what they once were? Are you speaking to a new audience than you were when your logo was originally designed? While logos are not all-encompassing, they need to be an accurate reflection of who your business is today, not simply who you were once upon a time. There’s nothing wrong with a little nostalgia, but if your logo confuses your message rather than supports it, it’s doing you a disservice and it’s time to think about a change.
If you’ve gone through this list but you’re still stumped, don’t be afraid to set up a consultation with a skilled graphic designer. They can help you analyze your existing logo and, if it’s determined a redesign is needed, make sure your visual brand is built upon a solid foundation.