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Your Logo Is Not Your Brand
First the scientific definition of a brand.
Brand is the image of the product in the market. Some people distinguish the psychological aspect of a brand from the experiential aspect. The experiential aspect consists of the sum of all points of contact with the brand and is known as the brand experience. The psychological aspect, sometimes referred to as the brand image, is a symbolic construct created within the minds of people and consists of all the information and expectations associated with a product or service.
A brand isn’t a logo. A logo is merely a symbol that represents the brand. Your corporate identity, the stuff found on letterheads and signage, isn’t a brand either. A brand isn’t the product or service that you make. So if a brand isn’t all of these things what is a brand?
A brand is how an individual feels about a company. It’s an individual’s feeling because a brand is defined by how an individual feels about the brand, not what the company wants an individual to feel. Sure companies can’t control how an individual feels, but they certainly can influence the feelings of an individual by properly communicating the qualities that make their brand special.
Have you ever had a client come up to you looking for design work, hoping that you could design them a strong brand? Maybe you thought you could, but you were wrong. Brands can't be designed. They can be planned. They can be maintained. They can be groomed. You just can't design one from scratch because brand isn't design. Design can be part of the brand though.
This is a logo. This isn't a brand. By all means the Coca-Cola logo could be a goat and as long as Coca-Cola made soda that people enjoyed the brand of their company wouldn't change much. The reason for this is because the brand of a company, product or service is the experience that it provides. If you bring up Ford Motor Company to 100 people, I guarantee all 100 of them won't give you the same answer. Some will be indifferent, some will hate the company and some will love it.
The AIG brand isn't a logo. You could put a million smiley faces on the logo and it wouldn't change my perspective. The brand to me is one of greedy executives taking money they didn't earn and I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling this way.
Logos Do Matter Though
By the way I am sounding one would think that logos don't matter when it comes to brand image, but that isn't the case. If you have worked hard to build a strong brand then a great logo can go a long way in helping users maintain a connection with it.
People around the world are well aware of this logo and companies can only dream about creating a logo as memorable as the Nike Swoosh. You would think that it took months of research by a team of designers and brand experts to create it. However, the story tells a different tale (was that a pun or a horrible misuse of the English language?).
In fact, the Swoosh was created by Carolyn Davidson, a graphic design student at Portland State University.
Davidson met Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, at Portland State University in 1971. At the time, Knight was teaching an accounting class at the university to supplement his income from a small sporting goods store he owned. Knight wanted some marketing collateral material designed for his business, and so he hired Davidson to sketch a few logos.
According to Nike's account of the story, Knight wasn't initially that keen on Davidson's graphic design. He adopted the logo anyway, saying "I don't love it, but it will grow on me." Davidson charged Knight $35 for the design.
If that story doesn't give you hope then I don't know one that will.
Is the Drawar brand the computer monitor with a heart? Some of you might recognize the logo and the brand that you associate with it is whatever experiences you have had with Drawar in the past. Every site and blog has a brand attached to it whether the owner knows it or not.
Here are four wildly popular design blogs. I'm aware of all of them and there is a good chance that you know them as well. They receive a good amount of traffic and I'm sure a good deal of revenue as well. However, each of their brands is no different from the next. They all represent the same thing to me. I can only hope that when you think of Drawar, that the feelings and ideas that come up differentiate it from this group.
In no way is that a knock against those sites as they are doing well and I can only hope that one day Drawar reaches the level of success that they have achieved. However, if any of them were to build a service or product and hope that they can push it out by leveraging their brand would do you think it would be effective?
On the opposite end of the spectrum you have Smashing Magazine who recently published a book that has done really well. You have to attribute part of its success due to the brand that Smashing represents. When they started Smashing Magazine I'm sure there was an idea of what they wanted from their site, but over time the brand became something organic that they are now able to utilize. Their logo is recognized across the design community.
So why do I feel that a good logo helps? With so many ways that we interact with companies and their products today, logos are used everywhere and humans still like to see aesthetically pleasing things. The Apple logo looks good on everything. The Google logo? Not so much.
Brand Is Differentiation
Competition on the web is fierce and it seems that to differentiate themselves from the crowd many companies simply add feature X without any regards to their brand. When making any changes/additions to your site, products or services you should always end up asking how will this hurt or help your brand. If it doesn’t help it in anyway why should you proceed with it? It’s very difficult to add a new feature today that your competition can’t add tomorrow. Features aren’t what will separate your company from the crowd, your brand is what will do it.
To end I would like to provide you with a definition of brand from my friend Mark.
Boiled down to its ultimate simplicity, a brand is really nothing more than a promise.
Fulfill that promise consistently, the brand remains strong and gets stronger. Break it, or have one that’s too vague in meaning and you’re either heading for trouble or going to have a real hard time of getting started.
That isn't a logo, that is everything you or your company represent.
This article was a bit different than what you usually see right? That is what Drawar is all about. It's not about being different, it's about helping all of us dig deeper into what web design really represents. It thrives off its members contributions so if you like what you see consider becoming a Plus Member or Drawar Friend.
11 Comments
Starbucks is a great example indeed and also a great example of what happens if you happen to oversaturate your brand. Now to many people Starbucks represents corporations trying to overtake the little guy.
On the web it is definitely harder to invoke all of the human senses, but I would be surprised not to see more audio/video being used as you rarely see it in use today on websites. The whole Flash debate might also put a hamper on things for a while.
AnonymousGreat post and happy to have discovered your site via Smashing Magazine - will be adding it to my feed reader. So important to understand both the experiential/product integration and psychological/symbolic aspects of brand.
In the land of Silicon Valley/Northern California where I am based, too often many (startup) tech cos think of brand identity as merely "decoration" and miss the whole point of how brand identity needs to go far beyond logo and tagline (although those are important components) and be completely linked to "product truth." Products (including websites) naturally and deeply infused with brand identity innately convey differences that are immediately experienced and observable (no product data sheet required). They are noticed even when you’re not looking for them.
Everything in the brand ecosystem – from what it says to what it does - should be thought of as a potential medium upon which brand identity is insistently and consistently embedded. It’s core to the DNA. Brand identity remains constant, while a particular medium and its implications may change with time and place.If you are interested in more on this a model and post here: http://www.thinkingoutloud.com/eg_ventures/2009/07/brand-identity-its-more-than-a-logo-and-a-tagline.html
AnonymousThis is an interesting article that I would love to show clients. To make them understand, I would just title it 'Apples Aren't Oranges' lol Bookmarked for future reference.
AnonymousNice read. It's really good that we learn to differentiate the two. Sometimes, I catch myself calling a logo a brand and that is a total mistake, and this article is a great reminder.
It's actually funny because we have an article about BRAND that is set for publishing next week, but it does approach it on a little bit of a different perspective.
That's right! Besides the importance of a logo is critical, establishing your brand goes far beyond a single design related task.
Same happens with terms such as corporate identity or image. It is not just about a single "image" or graphic element, but all about what you seem to be for everybody out there.
You will be establishing your brand through all your actions. And an excellent presentation of all your corporate elements (mainly using your logo) is a great way to be remembered.
But wall people will remember is up to you: your message, your behaviour and your acts.
AnonymousI love the definition given by your friend Mark! It is so true that I think every business owner should have it pasted somewhere on his/her desk!
As for the brand experience, I totally agree with you. Very often I would ask myself the same question : I've had a great experience with this company and if I had to buy the same kind of product, I'd probs go back to them. But what if their logo was different? Well, what then, it wouldn't change my experience with them, would it?
The important point for every business is customer experience, not solely some nice-looking logo. The logo is there to remind the customer of their positive experience and make them want to buy there again. It won't incite a customer to return if his/her experience has been bad!
AnonymousBrand: "It's what people think of you"-Ted Matthews. Read the book: http://www.instinctbrandequity.com/emails/BookExcerpt.pdf
AnonymousAMEN! finally there is discussion and commentary about this.
i subscribe to the principle that brand=experience, and has so many "touchpoints" already established and myriad more left to be discovered.
this article makes me giddy. brilliant!
go post about it at http://yocmo.com/
pram99
AnonymousGreat points in the article Greater points in Naomi Klein's book-NO LOGO
YOUR logo certainly isn't YOUR brand, and that makes it a poor logo. My point is, it goes both ways. If your brand isn't living up to it's mark, or the mark isn't living up to the brand, something has to change.
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One company that always seems to come up in these conversations is Starbucks. They built the “brand is an experience” model and used all five senses in doing so. With a web project you don’t have quite as many chances to create that experience in comparison to a brick and mortar, so it’s even more vital you think about how to bring the brand to life.
Good article!