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There are 5 characteristics of successful logos that big brands have in common, do you know them? You will find them detailed below. Be prepared for a super interesting article.
Logos are abstract designs until they represent the image of a company. Right after, the logos become much more. A huge transformation take place.
The power of a logo and a brand
Millions of people are super happy to wear a t-shirt with the BMW or Mercedes logo, and with many other brands. Employees of different brands are willing to spend good money to buy all kind of clothes and equipment that have the logo of the company they work for. They are not just happy; they are excited to be seen by others wearing some particular brands.
When you put the logo of a successful company on a product that is not so good, it still sells extremely well. Why? Because the logo is the guarantee that they buyers need.
They say, if BMW built that car, for sure it will be awesome. This is how this particular brand is selling cars with small engines, soft suspensions, and which are slow. BMW represents at its base the very opposite: big, powerful and lousy engines (or exhausts), firm suspensions and a stacked driver’s seat.
Don’t get me wrong, I love BMW cars and motorcycles. I have a retro BMW motorcycles right now in my left, in my office which is at the second floor of my house. It was super complicated to get the BMW motorcycle inside. How does it look? It is fantastic.
You need to understand the power of a logo and of a brand. If the logo has enough power, you can almost do whatever you want.
When Apple and Mercedes let their logos fight
I remember a super discussion in the press. There were some rumors that Mercedes might start developing their own mobile phone and compete Apple. That is why reporters asked Apple what is their opinion on this. Their response was brilliant: Mercedes should ask themselves, what will happen if Apple will launch their own car? And after they were silent. It was brilliant.
How can you achieve all of these with your logo? Is a matter of respecting some rules when you create the logo? Or there are these 5 characteristics of successful logos that I mentioned?
Let’s find out together.
5 Characteristics of Successful 5 Characteristics Of Successful Logos That Big Brands Have In Common
Me and my colleagues, we analyzed close to 100 successful logos and find out what all of them have in common. The process was super exciting as we found out not only the 5 characteristics of successful logos, but also much more.
“Many people believe the BMW logo is a stylized propeller,” says Fred Jakobs of BMW Group Classic. “But the truth is a little different.” Full story here if you are interested to read it. It is the most complete, accurate, and detailed story of the BMW logo, written by the company itself.
Simple and easy to remember
The primary role of the logo is the identification. So, the logo should be simple and easy to remember.
What means simple? The logo should contain only the necessary and only 1 idea. What is that 1 idea that defines the company?
People like simple things and they remember them.
Apple logo is simple to remember and to describe. You can explain it even to a 3-4 old year kid. That is amazing.
Can your logo be described and explained to a kid?
The logo should have 1-2 colors. There are brands that have several colors and their logos are still awesome (Google is the first to come in mind) but remember that we discuss about the masses of successful logos.
An unforgettable logo is great but don’t do a design that is complicated and crowded. Keep it simple.
Differentiation
There are over 1 million significant brands in the world, this is an amazing number.
Spend good research when you are creating your logo design. The logo you build should not be inspired from another design.
Be original and keep in mind that the logo should be simple. It is not complicated to do a unique design. Research is the number 1 word here.
How are logo generators and builders handle the differentiation characteristic of a successful logo? I leave this here.
Versatility
Successful logos are versatile, that translate into looking perfectly on all mediums (online, print, and so on).
If your company gets big, your logo will be used worldwide by online and print publications, newspapers, and even by your customers.
Be sure that your logo is versatile and works excellent in all conditions.
Legibility
Some of the most successful logos in the world are text logos.
Facebook, IKEA, Coca-Cola and many others are using text logos. All these successful logos can easily be read by anybody, kid or 100 years old person.
Many times, I seen complicated designed letters. Don’t do it, it doesn’t help you. Usually the designer is overdesigning it.
Use a font that is easy to read. The internet is filled with such fonts.
If you find such a font somewhere on the internet and you want to quickly identify it, take a picture of the font and upload it to WhatFontIs, this is the best font finder on the web. And it is 100% free to use.
Loaded with over 600k fonts and being the only system that identifies both free and paid fonts, WhatFontIs will help you find out all the info you need regarding the font you like.
After you upload the picture, in less than 60 seconds, you will get all the info – the name of the font, the price (maybe you are lucky and it is free), the download link, and over 60 free and paid alternatives.
Quality of execution
Your logo should be perfect in terms of quality execution.
This is your company image and be sure that customers and everybody else will take a look at your logo. Everybody watch and analyze logos.
My recommendation is to get help from a talented and serious graphic designer. Awesome logos cost money and cannot be built with by logo generators or for $200. For $200, a graphic designer will not spend many hours for research, and for creating something that is truly unique. Keep this in your mind.
Conclusion
We should create things that aim to be perfect, big, and highly engineered. This is the method to become better from all points of view – personal and business.
If you launch your company right now, or a new product, or you just prepare a new blog, take your time and do everything perfect. This is difficult but it pays huge on the long run.
In terms of logos, the temptation is to get your logo cheap and invest your money in other things. There are so many options on the market that is hard for us to pay much more.
I suggest you to note these 5 characteristics of successful logos that big brands have in common and think for how your next logo will look like.
