Has your logo been updated in the past five years or so? If the answer is no, maybe it’s time for a redesign. These are the top five signs your company’s logo should be updated, and soon.
Sign 1: Your Company Brand Has Changed
Some logos stay true to the brand their company has built even as technology continues to grow and advance. However, even the biggest and most long-lasting companies tweak their brand over time, and that means their logo has to change too.
An outdated logo that doesn’t gel with the brand a company has in mind makes the business itself look bad. If your logo doesn’t look up to date, customers will rightly guess that your business itself has not caught up with the times either.
If your logo was designed over 10 years ago, it’s likely it was developed less with a website in mind. Maybe it looks okay in flyers and printed materials, but when you put it live on your website (more on that later) or social media, the logo seems less sharp.
Sign 2: Your Website Hasn’t Changed (And It Should)
Just like your company, your website should also be caught up with today’s standards of what makes a good quality website worth visiting. Good design, appealing menus and browsing experience, fast loading times, content worth revisiting—if none of this exists on your website, you’re going to have a tough time earning your customers’ trust. Add a logo that appears as out of date as your website, and you have one of the worst websites ever built (for humour’s sake, here’s how to actually build the worst website ever!).
What’s even worse than a bad logo on a bad website you ask? Easy—a bad logo on a good website. A logo that appears pixelated or blurred around the edges that look as if it was thrown onto a brand new website last minute is also a recipe for disaster in terms of design and development. Just don’t do it. Get a redesign of your logo instead.
Sign 3: You Made It Yourself (or Bob Next Door Did)
Did you develop your logo yourself back when your company was just starting out? If so, and your business has a bigger budget than before, you may want to ask a professional graphic designer for a redesign.
Usually business owners who are on a tight budget are forced into DIY logo design. It’s doable but not recommended because unless you’re a graphic designer by trade, it’s very likely you used a computer program like Microsoft Paint or Word to design your logo. Neither of these programs are even remotely professional, and the quality (or lack thereof, in this case) will be very obvious to customers.
Also, we’re sorry for picking on Bob, but if he designed the logo for you at a discount or for free and he’s not a graphic designer either, that’s another bad sign a redux of your logo is needed. Badly. Sorry again, Bob.
Sign 4: Your Competition Has Changed
If you think your competitors haven’t changed in the past ten years, then boy, we have some bad news for you: they have. Sometimes it seems like they’re two steps ahead of everyone else in terms of moving their business forward, but that’s only because they’re more aware of the effect change can have, whether it’s from the technology we use every day or the kind of content we not only need to find, but want to.
They’re also ahead in terms of branding. If it looks like your fiercest competitor has not only updated their website but also their physical building, chances are pretty high their logo was remastered as well. And if your logo hasn’t changed, but theirs has, people are more likely to tell and they may choose your competition over you for that reason, if not more. So, if that is really the case, it’s about time you changed with the times too and gotten a logo redesign.
Sign 5: Your Audience Has Changed Too
Along with everything else changing (i.e. exactly what we’ve outlined in this article), your audience may have changed over the past couple of decades too. Maybe you’d rather target younger people for a change; if so, do you know anything about the social media platforms they’re using regularly? That’s another area where your logo may need to be redesigned, because if it doesn’t look good on your website, odds are pretty high it won’t look good on social media either.
People online are also increasingly hyperaware of business brands, gravitating more towards authenticity more so than what you have to sell. Keep that in mind when redesigning your logo, and let your brand shine through it!
A logo is one of your business’s cornerstones; don’t let it be the reason why your website and business is failing! Logo design and redesign is one of our services at V3 Media, so give us a call. If you want a more in-depth conversation as to how we can help best improve your logo, let’s iron out the details in a one-on-one consultation. Having a second pair of eyes always helps, and we can come to you if for some reason you can’t come to us—just ask!