In our previous blog post we spoke about the importance of having your logo professionally designed so it’s no surprise that a logo redesign should be handled by a professional too. Your logo should be designed by someone with real industry experience, someone who knows the do’s and don’ts of design and marketing. Today we’re sharing the top 3 most common logo redesign mistakes.
1) Top 3 Logo Redesign Mistakes To Avoid
- Copying another company’s logo.
- Imitation may be the highest form of flattery but it’s a huge faux pas in marketing. Copying another company’s logo hints to a lack of imagination or a lack of trust and confidence in your products and services. It tells your customers that you need to piggyback on another company’s success instead of finding your own. One of the greatest examples of this happened in 2019 when Sears re-designed their logo after filing for bankruptcy in 2018, but they were quickly and harshly criticized for having a logo that was eerily similar to AirBnB’s. Aside from public backlash or a drop in customers, copying someone else’s logo can lead to legal repercussions which is just as bad for your business and integrity.
- Being too esoteric and abstract.
- Abstract art is beautiful and moving and bold, however it does better on home or gallery walls that it does inside a fridge or one someone’s shelf. Some companies will use an abstract or esoteric symbol hoping that everyone knows what it means and sees it in the same way that the company does. We see an example of this in 2018 when a food and lifestyle company called Tastemade changed their logo by adding a stylized T to represent the company’s “active and evolving shape”. But when doing some research and asking people what they thought it was some people said it looked like dripping saliva while others thought it was a twisted S. To avoid something like this it’s best to stick to simple, easy-to-spot elements that can be understood by a wider audience. Stick to a simple logo that communicates your company’s message rather than subtle symbolism with too many stories, interpretations or esoteric implications.
- Joining the trend bandwagon.
- Changing your logo to fit in with fleeting trends can be disastrous, we saw this with BMW in 2020 when they changed their iconic logo. They moved from the classic outer black ring to a logo that featured a transparent thick outer ring – they said this was to keep up with the ‘flatter look’ trend so it would look better on social media. But as we know BMW is a car brand, and so their logo will more often have to look aesthetically pleasing (physically) on a car more than it would have to look good on a screen. They sacrificed their strong logo, associated with luxury and elegance, for something that received backlash from their fans and strongest audience (car enthusiasts).
Conclusion
When you have worked in the Marketing industry as long as we have, you learn how people perceive and react to changes from their favorite brands. In this post we shared just a few of the most common marketing mistakes when it comes to logo redesign but there are so many more layers and elements involved in logo redesign. But lucky for us and you, our team knows it all too well! It would drive any one person a little crazy trying to remember it all while keeping up with the technical aspects, industry research and more – but that’s what Don Creative Group is here for! Book your consultation call today and let’s talk your new logo and marketing strategies!
