Why Logos Matter More Than You Think

What do you think of when you hear the word “logo?” When most people think about logos, they imagine cool designs that represent companies. They usually see them displayed front and center, on top of buildings or billboards. Products have logos branded on them. If products don’t have the logo, the packaging has the logo somewhere.

What is a logo? A logo is a symbol to identify your company that brings instant public recognition. They are graphic representations meant to connect with a brand, entity or endeavor so that an audience can recognize the connection effectively and consistently.

There are many types of logos because some cater to specific business types. Logos serve many purposes. We won’t get into every kind of logo there is or which one you should choose. Instead, here are explainations why logos are essential for your business and why you should include them on your name tags.

Reasons Why Your Logo Matters

They Catch Viewers’ Eyes First

Logos are the first thing viewers see about a company. You want your logo to be attractive enough to catch people’s eyes. It would draw people in because they are curious about the business behind the logo. You know a logo is excellent when it is memorable and recognizable. It would also be nice to describe your business solely with visual elements, but that’s not always needed.

Take Advantage of Being Unique

You can stand out when you have a unique logo. Have you ever gone inside a store just because they had an exciting logo? You don’t know anything about the company, but you gave it a try because it had a logo that piqued your interest. That’s the goal when you have a unique logo. It speaks for itself. It screams, “We’re a company that cares about how we are perceived, and you should come to see what we’re about.”

Stand Ahead of Competitors

What’s even better about standing out is standing out against the competition. For example, dentist clinics usually have something with the word dental in their name. So how can they stand out against each other? One could have a logo of a tooth with coordinating typography, so it’s more distinctive for them. Again, it makes them memorable and recognizable, so customers and passersby know they are distinctive despite the many other similar clinics worldwide. It will display that your business is one of a kind despite the many similar companies there may be. Standing out is a persuasive method that urges customers to rely only on your business.

Huge Element in Brand Identity

An excellent logo is vital for your company’s brand identity. You want a logo that matches your business’ values and purpose. Elements such as colors and typography are essential as you want them to match the rest of your brand’s identity. Your brand identity involves many aspects of your business, such as your website, social media accounts, blogs, products, services and more. Consistency between all platforms is key to your brand identity, so you want your logo to match the essence of everything in your business.

What You Shouldn’t Do with Your Logo

We’ve covered some of the more significant reasons why logos are important. Now let’s get into some of the mistakes you should avoid with your business’ logo.

It Doesn’t Match with Your Business Brand

A good logo should represent your company’s branding, whereas a lousy logo doesn’t correlate with a company’s values and purpose. You want it to match your company’s message. Your logo needs a change if it doesn’t show those things. You want it to be a proper representation of your business.

Elements That Don’t Harmonize

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to know what looks good. Logos should be appealing to all kinds of people. There are several reasons a logo doesn’t look right. For starters, it seems too busy, the colors are too bright or don’t correlate well. The font doesn’t fit the company’s print, or there isn’t enough contrast between the fonts. An excellent tip to remember is that a good logo is acceptable when it looks appealing on a black and white background.

It’s Boring and Bland

The biggest thing that makes a logo not work is that it isn’t memorable. You can’t expect a business to succeed when it doesn’t have a decent logo. It should be able to start a conversation. It should stir up curiosity for people who haven’t heard of your business yet.

Final Thoughts

Your logo represents your business. You want to ensure it gets special attention and care because that’s one way your company is remembered. Implement a dependable logo your company can rely on.

Once you have a logo you are proud of, you can start using it on your products, clothing, buildings and, most importantly, name tags. When you have your logo on your employee’s name tag, it reminds your customers that they are a representative of your business. We have blogs delving more in detail about why you should include logos on your name tags and other products. Logo name tags are available in both plastic and metal.

Getting Your Brand Noticed

When it comes to a brand, standing out is the primary goal.

A company brand is past, present and future. It is what they are now, what they want to be in the future, and what they are representing to potential and devoted clients currently. Properly branding a company helps them to not only stand out from competitors but also helps them realize their potential. It also lets the consumer know what to expect from that company. Branding can be a promise of quality, trust or service.

Brand Identity: Recognition and knowledge of a logo or business based on the customer’s experience.

Brand Meaning: Defining the company beyond just an image to include product or business features, reliability, value and expertise.

Consumer Relationship: Helping to shape the ultimate attitude of a customer toward a company.

Making Your Brand Promising

By defining what your brand is up front, you help establish your company as an industry leader and key influencer. And making sure that your logo balances your brand at the top can be quite the process. Many businesses use networking as a key factor in their marketing plan. It helps to develop a strong feeling of trust between those involved and plays a big part in raising the profile and brand of a company.

From Nike to you, using your brand is what makes you stand out.

And, in the name tag world, a personal brand comes when you wear a name tag with your name to identify yourself as an individual and to stand out in a crowd. By wearing personal identification products, one makes themselves more visible to others and opens the door to better experiences at large events. Most often you can see this type of brand at large corporate meetings or conventions where the individual needs to stand out from others.

Logos and Branding

Branding only works when you use your name tags and other personal identification correctly with logos, titles and names. Make sure that your logo is the same for everything you use. A common mistake is not sticking to a particular color. If you’re using blue, make sure it stays the same shade on all of your products.

While this may seem like a no-brainer, blues often print out with a purple look to them. Not only do these colors pertain to your company’s printed materials but it is something actively considered in personal identification. Utilize name tags, name plates and other products by using the same colors, logos and styles on everything.

Your name tag reflects who you are and humanizes you to others. Most people tend to judge on first impressions, especially when everyone in the room is a stranger. But, if you have a way to make yourself stand out, your brand will become recognizable. And, it helps to make others more at ease around you.

10 Logo Tips for Name Tags

What makes a good logo? And how do you use it in your company branding? Many customers struggle with their company’s branding when making their name tags. A logo designed for use on the internet or printed media doesn’t typically look as well when you try to fit it onto a name tag.

Consider these few things assuming you already decided to use your company logo on your name tags.

What process will you be using to create them? A full color printed name tag can hold more colors and detail than a hot stamped one. Laser Engraving will limit possibilities even further.

Keep the size of the tag in mind. In most cases, logos will be much smaller than what you usually see, and little details won’t be as visible.

Remember that you may have to be flexible in the colors associated with logos. If you choose a yellow tag and your logo is yellow, consider changing it to black, so it shows up. If you select a hot stamped logo, colors are very limited. You may have to compromise with a basic shade of your colors.

When placing a logo to fill the allowable area on a name tag, the smaller the logo, the larger it can be. Consider using one or the other for logos that incorporate an image and text.

Remember that a name tag’s primary purpose is to convey a person’s name. So don’t make the names harder to read in favor of a bigger, fancier logo.

There are additional ways you can help logos look their best on name tags:

Try to limit the amount of detail in logos. Smaller sizes will not be visible. And many processes will have a hard time duplicating it. But, on the other hand, you only need enough detail to make logos recognizable.

Even if you generally use logos on the internet or printed materials, single color logos are best for name tags. Laser engraving and one color hot stamping need an image that is black and white. You can convert most logos into a single color image. But some will require extra effort to maintain the visibility of all logo elements.

Short and wide logos, such as a company name spelled out in fancy lettering, generally look best at the top or bottom center of the tag. Logos that are square or taller than they are wide will occasionally look good on the left or right side.

Another option you can consider to make your logo look its best on your name tag is to try a custom shape. Design your name tag with a shape that follows your logo, with an extra area to hold names and titles. Custom shapes are only available for laser engraved or hot stamped logos, but they can make any name tag stand out!

Hopefully, these tips can help you design your company name tags. In addition, they should give you a big forward step on the road to brand recognition!

These tips and graphics are provided by guest author Melanie Bunch, Graphic Artist at Coller Industries.