What is a Logo?

As a business owner, you’re always being told that you need a strong brand identity and the first step to defining it, is to create a logo.

Logos are the face of your company, and the heart of visual branding. Your business has the power to create instant recognition among your audience with one image alone; your logo. It is often said that customers form an opinion about a company with in seconds.This is because quite often,your logo is the first thing that a potential customer will notice about your business. With a well-designed logo, you can easily convince people that your business not only provides quality goods and/or services,is professional, and trust worthy, but ultimately offers a better experience than your competition.Yet, it is a challenge to measure the real importance of a logo and its impact on your business.

Keep in mind when you create or ask someone to make a logo for you that…

A good logo should be distinct enough to be easily recognized and simple enough to work across multiple mediasources. You want the logo to be memorable and make a great first impression. One should be able to remember the logo,or at least its shape,from their first look. It should be effective at any size, whether it’s placed on a billboard or made in to a small sticker. Shape is not the only thing to focus on in the creation of your logo, color also plays an important role.

At the end of the day, your logo should be a clear representation of your brand and more importantly a representation of the concept behind your brand and the history that it tells.

Let’s analyze Amazon’s logo for example. Their logo is easy to read and remember. You can even recognize it when it is minimized.

Amazon Logo

But what is the concept behind Amazon's logo?

Amazon is a power house when it comes to online shopping, and their logo reflects that. The arrow in their logo begins at the letter “A” and ends at the letter “Z”. This implies that they sell everything from A to Z. The arrow also represents a smile, with the arrowhead stylized as a dimple or smile line, indicating the happiness people feel when they shop with Amazon. Their color choice also has a psychological meaning. It represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.