It’s Monday morning, and you’re sitting around the conference table waiting for the designer in front of you to unveil your new logo design. The moment is finally here, after months of preparation and back and forth, and he or she presents the new concepts. But before they even open their mouth to explain their process and the reason behind the concept, an opinion forms and invades your mind. You don’t like it. You prefer the second version, but you’re not even sure that you really love that one either.
On one hand, it’s a natural reaction. On the other, you need to completely ignore those thoughts and try a little harder to focus on what your designer or strategist is telling you. Let me tell you why.
It doesn’t matter if you love your logo or not.
Let’s be clear: you can’t hate it, either. If you roll your eyes every time you look at it, you’ll end up getting so frustrated that you’ll get it redesigned too quickly, and that’s obviously not good for your brand nor your budget. But whether it appeals to you or not is irrelevant. Because the person it has to speak to is your customer. Now, it’s important to work with an agency or a designer/strategist that knows what they’re doing. There has to be a strategy behind the design, and there has to be a valid explanation for pretty much every curve and every colour in the logo as well as your branding. And, if that’s done correctly and you’re working with an experienced and qualified team, then your customer will be attracted to the new image—it should also represent your company perfectly—and that’s the end goal.
"But this is the image that represents me, since it's my company!"
You also have to keep in mind that your branding represents your company, but not you. Unless this is your personal branding and you and your company are the same person (for example: a business coach, a conference speaker, an influencer…) then you want to keep in mind that a branding done for a person vs. a business is very different. That even goes is you’re a freelancer or you’re self-employed. For example, maybe you’re a fun, careless person in real-life, but you want to appear polished, serious and professional in your accounting business. And, even if you feel like you’re the face of your company, your company has its own unique personality, and therefore should have its own image.
Now, if you’re really unsure it’s the right direction to take…
Have faith in your team’s expertise, especially if their creative decisions are based on facts, and if they can walk you through each step of the design process clearly and thoroughly. As a last resort, you can handpick a few key clients—try to pinpoint the ones that best represent the client personas from your brand strategy—and invite them to give their honest opinion and initial feedback on the new branding. Keep in mind that for anyone who’s used to associating a certain branding to a company, there’s a period of adjustment needed to assimilate the new image (that goes for you too!) Remember when Google changed their logo’s font? People went crazy initially, but looking back at their old logo, we can all agree it was a major step up. It was simply the shock of novelty (in case you don’t already know this, humans are averse to change!)
All in all, try to stay as objective as you can and keep an open mind. More importantly, hire a team you trust, and then, trust them.
