" Feedback is the breakfast of the champions "
As Creatives, we take our feedback seriously (very). The journey from a good work to a great work depends on how we take feedback and how we rate our work ourselves. As a creator, we always feel our work is superior but if we can be a judge for a moment and look at our work, we might find some scope for improvements too.
For all the logo designers and the branding experts in the house, we are happy to share our very own “ 5 Logo Standards “ that we look for in every logo we create from our studio. We use these standards consistently to score our works and once we are satisfied with the scores, we deliver our works to the world.
Each logo standard mentioned below carries five points and any logo that scores around 18 to 20 out of 25 can be called as a good logo as per the current trends and standards.
Let us look at the five standards in detail and I am sure this will come in handy when you rate the next logo you create.
i) Adaptability
A logo does not sit on the business cards and website alone. In the modern day, a logo has to be omnipresent across all places and has to be consistent in all forms. Be it a T-Shirt print, a glass emboss, a watermark or a wooden engraving - a logo’s form has to be adaptable. A logo is an imprint of a brand and any object that comes under the brand’s umbrella has to carry the logo to look authentic. So adaptability of a logo on all avenues of usage is an important logo standard for every logo.
ii) Conceptual
Each logo is arrived at after a clearly thought-out process and a designer’s thoughts get transformed into a logo every time. We need to check if the logo has a concept in itself. It may or may not be easily seen and understood by every onlooker but if explained, the concept has to be visualized in the logo by the viewer. This concept is very significant for what a brand stands for. For e.g Amazon’s logo has an arrow going from a to z signifying that everything from a to z is available on Amazon.
iii) Futuristic
A logo has to stand the test of time. This means a logo that you create today has to be relevant in the decades to come. Of course, logos get makeovers but most of them are incremental variations of the original because consumers have always related with the brand colours. A logo has to have the same impact even after years of creation and it should continue to stay relevant in the minds of the audience. The visual treatment, the font and the colours have to be chosen appropriately.
iv) Self Explanatory
We covered a bit of the underlying concept in the second aspect. Here, we will look at how self-explanatory is the logo. Users should be able to understand what the brand stands for by looking at the logo. Combination of letters from the brand name and shapes depicting the core product or service is one way to go about it.
For e.g Windows logo depicts windows and it is self-explanatory even after undergoing many iterations over the years.
v) Uniqueness Quotient
Every time we see something new, we admire it. Every logo we see, our brain starts thinking whether this resembles something that we have seen in the past. A logo for a brand has to be unique. It’s natural for an artist to take inspiration but every artist has his / her own magic creative wand which can make a logo unique. The uniqueness quotient of a logo is an important logo standard as it increases the respect for a brand for its creativity.
To summarize, any logo that you design or create can be ranked on the above five standards - Adaptability, Conceptual, Futuristic, Self Explanatory and Uniqueness Quotient.
Each standard carries 5 points and if a logo achieves around 18 to 20, it can be deemed as a good quality logo. Every logo is a work of art and is extremely close to the heart of a creator but the impact of a logo will be profound when it’s a good logo.
We believe it’s the duty of every branding professional or a designer or an artist to adhere to the five logo standards for better performance. Good luck.