Logo vs. Business Identity
Learn Where to "Place Your Bet"

There seems to be a lot of confusion between logos and business identities. As a small business owner it's important that you identify what your logo or business identity is supposed to do for you, and what result you intend on getting from having it designed. Below are two lists that compare side by side what you can expect from a logo and from a business identity.

This all comes down faith and belief in yourself and your company. Business owners that invest in a business identity know they have a good business model and want to invest in their future success. Conversely, logo-purchasing business owners aren't confident or self-assured that they'll be in business all that long. Business identity clients see their money going towards an investment; logo clients see their project as a risk and an expense.

One last note, logo-purchasing clients who do survive past two years typically end up investing more time and money redoing their business image (and that includes discarding all of the old collateral materials that feature the old logo).

My advice: if you have confidence in your ability to sustain and grow your business, and you intend on being around more than 2 years - make the investment. I promise you that you'll be glad you did. If you aren't sure about how things are going to turn out, consider holding off on a business image until you see it as an investment rather than an expense.

A logo:
1. Quick fix solution so you have something to put on your business card.

2. Logos are pumped out with no thought to the company; it's ideal target market, nice or competitive landscape. In fact, a designer can create a logo without ever having met the client.

3. A typeface, icon and color scheme chosen at random, or just what looked cool that day

4. A symbol that at worst looks like clip art, at best it's passable

5. The logo won't make you feel much different about your company at all. In fact you may find yourself making excuses like, "I am having that redone", "That's just something I threw together", or "I am going to have that redesigned next month".

6. Logos can actually make you more apprehensive about networking, promoting and selling your business since you are not comfortable or confident in your business image. Having a logo, particularly a poor one, adds anxiety to people.

7. Logos add confusion and worry when it comes to reproducing them. Not having standard PMS colors and not the right file formats for professional printers can cost a huge amount of time and stress. Your logo may work on a t-shirt or banner, but then again it may not.

8. Logos separate you from the competition in your mind.

9. Better hope you don't have any questions or concerns, there is no support.


Compare this to the Business Identity in the right column >

Continued from left column...


A Business Identity:
1. Designed to be placed on every marketing and collateral material for as long as you own your business.

2. Based on in-depth questions, and gathering a fair amount of research. Business identities are based on research rather than guesswork.

3, A true reflection of your personality, the message you want to send to clients and your vision.

4. A symbol of yourself that you are proud to share with your family, customers and competitors

5. Makes you feel confident about your business. The business identity will make you feel like you are able to compete with bigger and more established companies.

6. It's been proven time and time again that business owners that have invested in a Business Identity over a logo will lose their apprehension about promoting their business and sell it more effectively and aggressively. This turns into additional clients and revenue.

7. Business identities give you peace of mind knowing that you will have the right file format for every situation. You never have to worry if you have the right format. You'll also get consistent results every time with Pantone colors assigned to every color in your Business Identity.

8. Business identities separate you from the competition in your client's mind.

9. Don't worry; if you have a question or concern, support is always available for you.

Has this cleared things up a little? If you're looking to have a business identity designed for your company, give me a call at 480.391.0704, I'd be happy to sit down with you and discuss how we take take your vision and turn it into an identity.

If you're looking for a logo, well we might not be the right fit, but I know Kinko's can do one for you in about the same time it would take to have a pizza delivered.