Why your logo should cost more than your lunch

A logo is the very first impression people get of your company. Before a potential client even walks through your door, your logo is a representation of your company.  It can make a company appear large, small (whether it really is or not) fun, serious, professional or amateur.

A logo needs longevity. Once a logo is designed it will represent your company for many years. It needs to be clean and professional without any "trendy" elements.

A logo needs to be original. A logo should be designed specifically for your company. A cheap “generic logo” may not reflect your company’s values. A cheap logo may also use clip art which usually ends up being used by another company.

A logo should look professional. You wouldn’t take a potential new client to McDonalds for lunch and expect to make a good first impression. In effect this is what is being done with a cheap logo. A logo should give your company a professional image, appropriate to its needs and individual style.

A logo should reflect the time and thought gone in to designing it. One of the problems here is that clients don’t always realize the amount work that goes into a professionally designed logo:

• The research - even if the budget is quite small I would at the very least find out who the company’s main competitors are and how they present themselves.
  
• The brainstorming of ideas.
  
• The rough sketches.
• The 4 or 5 logo options worked up on the computer.
• The amendments, tweaking and further amendments.

A logo is the starting point of your whole corporate image. The colors, typography and style of a logo will often dictate the corporate look for the rest of a company’s literature.