I'm not going to comment on whether these are good or not (at least not in this blog entry), but it got me thinking about how a company determines when and and how to update a logo.
At Razor, we have had the opportunity to update two logos recently - one for a tool and die company and the other for a trucking company. In the first case the logo was created internally and the company has grown and prospered and they wanted a more professional look. In the second example, the company is expanding their operations and they wanted a more national looking brand, one that would stand-up agaisnt the competition.
Given that "you should never ask a barber if you need a haircut", here's a guide you can use to help determine whether it's time for your company logo to be updated, changed or tweaked.
1) Homemade: If you made the logo yourself from clip art ... no brainer - it's time to change.
2) Not world-class: If you put your logo beside that of your competition and it doesn't look or feel as good, you might want to consider updating it.
3) Old and Dated - look: If your logo is older than you are, you might want to consider tweaking it as chances are it's starting to look a bit tired. It's important for your customers to see that you are keeping up with the times and not stuck in the past.
4) Old and Dated - icon: Sometimes logos contain icons that become dated as technology changes. It makes your company seem out of touch. A good example computer-related comanies that show old designs for a computer, mouse or monitor as part of the logo.
5) New focus: If your business has changed focus or direction and you feel the logo (or name) no longer reflects what you are all about. Like what Apple did recently when they went from Apple Computers to just Apple.
6) It's just time for a change. Some times you just feel that it's time for a freshening up. It's just a gut feeling that the time is right to evolve.
So if you find yourself in any of these situations, you might want to consider an update.
Remember change is good... especially if you look at the big picture.
The most frequent roadblock to change is when someone says something like: "we can't change our logo - our customers won't know who we are" or "we have so much equity in our existing logo, we can't change it now" I point to other well known brands and what they have done over the years to keep themselves fresh and relevant:
I'm sure there are additional points (and counter points) let me know and leave a comment if you can think of anything.
For more logo evolutions, check out Best-ad blog or the results of logo evolution on Google image search
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