Looking to Redesign Your Logo? Here’s What You Need to Know

Building recognition and familiarity for your brand can be a lengthy and difficult process.

Not only do you have to create your visual brand, including your logo, but you also have to ensure that you’re putting those various elements in the right places where your ideal customers will see them.

Depending on what products or services you sell, how you sell them, where you’re located, or what industry you’re operating in, this can be much easier said than done.

That being said, once you’ve put in all the work that’s required for creating a company logo, why would you want to redesign your logo and risk diluting or destroying all the awareness you’ve earned?

Well, truth be told, there are many legitimate reasons for wanting to redesign your logo, but there are just as many, if not more, reasons why you might want to reconsider.

At the end of the day, your brand has the potential to tell a powerful story, and you don’t want to ruin that by breaking something that doesn’t need fixing.

So, if you’ve been wanting to redesign your logo, but you’re not quite sure if it’s necessary, then you’re going to want to keep reading.

Because in this article, I’m going to explore the reasons why you should redesign your logo, and why you might want to reconsider.

The Right Reasons to Redesign Your Logo

Over the years, our logo has gone through one redesign after another, as we fine-tuned our branding.

But why the penguin?

Well, it all started after Daniel and I watched March of the Penguins and realized that the behavior of these majestic birds symbolizes many of our values, including commitment, dependability, loyalty, pride, and nurturing.

The various iterations of our logo, including the original version, which was actually hand-drawn by Daniel’s mom.

At this point, you’re probably wondering why we chose to redesign our logo so many times.

Well, first and foremost, our logo was looking pretty dated, and we were trying to appeal to some new demographics, including micro-business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs leaving the corporate world, and we felt that modernizing our imagery would help us to do that.

And aside from the dated look of our logo, it was also proving to be quite confusing.

You see, the whole idea of our logo is that the adult penguin is nurturing the baby, much like the way we nurture the success of our clients and the relationships we build with them, but unfortunately, this concept was lost on most people.

Moreover, some people couldn’t even tell that these were penguins featured in the logo, so we wanted to make sure that was made obvious as soon as you look at it.

Also, as you can see, the subtext under our logo changed with each new version, as well, in order to accurately reflect what we were trying to convey to potential clients.

I wanted to start this section off by looking at our logo redesign process, as it offers several great examples of some of the right reasons to redesign your logo.

With that in mind, below I’ve explored several other reasons why you’d want to do a logo redesign, so you can figure out if it’s actually a good idea to redesign your logo.

Rebranding

If you’re thinking about rebranding, or are in the process of doing so right now, a logo redesign may be necessary to reflect the new direction, vision, and values of your organization.

Typically, when clients ask us to do a rebrand, the first thing we start with is the logo design, and all the other aspects of their visual brand follow from there.

There are instances where you wouldn’t want to mess with a logo because it’s so recognizable, but if you’re thinking about rebranding, you should probably redesign your logo, as well.

Mergers and Acquisitions

When companies merge or one company purchases another, a logo redesign can offer a great way to reflect the new identity of the company, or combine the values and imagery of the companies into one.

For example, when United and Continental Airlines merged, so did their logo. As you can see below, the word UNITED has been combined with the globe that came from Continental Airlines.

Differentiation

Depending on the situation, you may need to revamp your logo in order to differentiate your brand, as your colors, fonts, and/or imagery may be too similar to that of your competitors.

If it’s much too similar to another company’s logo, this might also pose legal problems, meaning you may get sued and be forced to change your logo due to trademark and/or copyright infringement issues, so make sure to keep that in mind.

Expansion

If you’re thinking about expanding into new markets or introducing new products or services, or have already done so, you might want to redesign your logo to reflect your company’s new focus.

Your existing logo might work perfectly based on your current clientele and product and/or service offerings, but if you start to expand too far into other areas, it might not make sense anymore.

The Wrong Reasons to Redesign Your Logo

As I said above, while there are many good reasons to redesign your logo, there are just as many, and probably many more reasons why you should avoid a logo redesign.

A logo is not the be-all and end-all of your brand, but it’s arguably the most recognizable aspect of a business’s visual brand, so making any kind of change to it should not be taken lightly.

Historically, when big, well-known brands have tried to change their logos, or otherwise rebrand, often, it hasn’t gone particularly well, and sometimes, it’s been absolutely disastrous and embarrassing.

So, if you’re seriously considering revamping your logo, then stay with me here, because below, I’ve explored several situations where redesigning your logo might be a bad idea.

Frivolity

Under no circumstances should you be redesigning your logo for frivolous reasons.

This includes things like being bored of the colors, fonts, or imagery in your logo, or just wanting something new.

So, if you’re thinking about revamping your logo just for the sake of changing it, then it’s probably not a good idea, and at the very least, you should take a long hard look at your motivations for doing so.

Cost

Redesigning a logo can be very expensive, and time-consuming.

Especially in the case of a small business with a limited budget, if you don’t have a pressing need to redesign your logo, then it may not be worth your time or money.

So, if you want to redesign your logo, make sure to do a proper cost-benefit analysis, so you can be confident you’re making the right decision, or stop yourself from making the wrong one.

Confusion

Sometimes business owners feel like potential customers are having a tough time understanding what their business does, and they often think that a logo redesign can help them to solve this problem.

But your brand is so much more than just your logo and other visual aspects. It also includes things like the copy on your website, and all your other written marketing materials.

So, before you pull the trigger on redesigning your logo, you might want to evaluate all of the textual aspects of your branding, and see if you can refine your messaging to make it a bit clearer.

At the same time, if a logo redesign is not properly communicated to customers, it could lead to confusion, alienate loyal customers, or even have them demand that you revert back to the original.

As you can see below, a perfect example of this is when Gap tried to redesign its logo back in 2010.

The negative feedback from customers was so overwhelming that Gap soon reverted back to the classic one, but not without wasting a ton of time and money, and a significant amount of embarrassment.
 

Brand Equity

Redesigning your logo can have a decidedly negative effect on your brand equity, which is just marketing speak for the recognition and familiarity I discussed earlier.

That being said, if you redesign your logo for the wrong reasons, you could end up diluting all the equity you’ve built up over the years.

So, before you hastily revamp your logo, make sure that any proposed changes are in line with your company’s values, mission, target audience(s), and the rest of your visual brand.

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(Featured image by StartupStockPhotos via Pixabay)

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