The use of logos to identify corporate brands is an effort that is not given the attention necessary to drive the success all companies are searching for. It is the process of identifying the best way to present a company to their consumer base by visual recognition. Everyone is familiar with the golden arches of McDonald’s and the swoosh of Nike Corp., but when these companies were first introduced, not everyone understood the message they were trying to convey to consumers.
McDonald’s, for instance, was a single restaurant opened by brothers, Maurice and Richard McDonald. It was former employee, Ray Kroc, who purchased the rights to franchise the burger joint, came up with the golden arches as the logo and went on to make millions. There is no “M” in Kroc, yet he still realized the visual appeal that it presented to the food purchasing public and stuck with it. The golden arches will long be the signature logo of the iconic fast food chain.
In the 1960s, Bill Bowman was a track coach working on developing running shoes for his track athletes at the University of Oregon. He teamed up with his friend, Phil Knight, in an effort to make sneakers not only more efficient, but also more of a fashion statement. The name Nike was taken from the Greek goddess of winged victory. They then set out to pick a logo that would portray exactly what they wanted their shoes to personify. Together, they came up with the iconic swoosh representing a wing at lift-off and introduced it on a sneaker for the first time at the 1972 Olympic games. It wasn’t until then that the logo came to represent all that they had hoped for. The company exploded onto the scene and has been growing strong ever since.
What your logo should represent is something we at SSMCreative consider seriously with every design that we do. We ask a lot of questions including:
- What consumer base are you trying to reach?
- What is the product you are looking to sell?
- What does your company stand for and what are the beliefs that it was built on?
These questions afford us the opportunity to focus on exactly which direction our clients are trying to head in order to continue to grow and succeed in an ever evolving business environment.
We recently partnered with a commercial and residential construction company that was looking to set itself apart from its competition in a variety of ways. Along with developing a new website, our client was exploring the idea of changing the name and logo that had long been used to represent their company. Our client was about to make a major change to the manufacturing capabilities that they offered and weren’t sure exactly what process should be used to determine the direction they would follow moving towards the future.
SSMCreative conducted several interviews with key members of the client team. In addition, we discussed a number of things with the principals involved in the restructuring of the company to understand exactly what they were trying to achieve as a result of the possible name change and logo update. It was determined that new technologies would be implemented that would allow the company to change its target audience to include a wider variety of industries that they would be able to work with. However, the longstanding values and core principals that the business was built on would not be changing. As a result, it was decided that a name change would not be necessary, but that a logo change would be needed to bring better focus to the direction the company was moving towards while retaining those things that have already made it successful.
Our client was looking for a logo that portrayed stability and strength, yet wanted to reflect its desire to be the industry leader as they prepared for the future. After numerous discussions and reflections, this logo was selected to be used universally by our client:
This logo reflects the core values while adding an updated look and feel to the design. We were able to incorporate the original color scheme in the sideways play button and in turn project a “K” in the negative space caused by the separation.
Klover saw the logo and instantly fell in love with the design. They thought the overall look of the logo clearly represented the construction aspect of the company while showing the forward thinking the company is currently striving to maintain. Klover is a clear leader in their industry and the logo is being used on all of their marketing items including the website, hats, shirts, sweatshirts, work items and printed materials.
The process can be long and tedious, but when the outcome achieves the goal our clients are trying to reach, it is definitely worth it. Our focus is to help satisfy all of the needs our clients present to us for their long-term success. Feel free to contact us at any time to assist you with all of your creative needs.