<p>Recently I learned that an old export-import industry customer of mine had decided to have his art-school daughter redesign the logo I had created for him several years back. He loved it at the time but now he loves his daughter more, and who am I to compete with parental affection? Her approach &ndash; to slap together some generic clip art images and a dance-party-ish font &ndash; was amateurish and inappropriate for his industry and clientele, but Daddy was proud and he replaced my design with hers on everything from trucks to checks.<br /><br />I was far from insulted, but I do shake my head when a business owner &ndash; whether my customer or not &ndash; so clearly shoots his brand in the foot.<br /><br />Like a human employee, your logo has a job to perform for your company and this role can be summarized in a handful of requirements. Understanding how your logo should serve you will help you &ldquo;hire&rdquo; the right logo &ndash; the graphic representative of your company.<br /><br />Delivering the essence of your brand<br /><br />Your brand summarizes the story of your business: a combination of who you are (your firm&rsquo;s personality, mission and values), your services or products, the needs you address for your target customers and your uniqueness over your competition. Undoubtedly, you may come up with a long list when mulling over such factors but once you&rsquo;ve summed them up, edit it down to your true essentials. That nutshell version is what should come across in your logo.<br /><br />A quick read<br /><br />Regardless of the final length of your list from this branding exercise, your logo has to sum it all up in an instant. Logos work with how people see and perceive, often more subliminally than literally, and if yours doesn&rsquo;t magically sum you up in a glance, it is falling down on the job. <br /><br />This can be achieved whether your design is a graphic symbol with your name in type, a symbol alone or just type-only. Again, a good designer works his magic on the mind of your market. Think Nike.<br /><br />A distinctive image<br /><br />Your logo should be eye-catching and unique to you. Following a trend of the day &ndash; the swooshmania of the 1990s comes to mind &ndash; may seem like a smart way to look contemporary but it&rsquo;s actually a guarantee you&rsquo;ll blend into the pack and end up looking dated when the fad passes. Care to look like yesteryear? <br /><br />Logos that endure need not acknowledge those of others, nor should your company try to fit the design mold of your competitors. Be bold, be different and be served by your logo for the long haul. There is amazing consistency to the icons of the most long-lived brands of our time,&nbsp; whose current logos are often more a continuation than a redesign of their original early 20th Century look.</p> <p><br />Properly featured on all your marketing and visual materials, a logo that addresses these basic job requirements will &ndash; like a valuable employee &ndash; serve your company with distinction for a very long time.</p> 2009-01-23T04:55:22Z -12.3277 367 2910 true 18 22447 how-to-hire-the-right-logo 2 2009-01-29T05:49:07Z 2009-01-29T05:49:07Z

Understand your logo's job requirements as you would those of a new employee to get the design you need.

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