CREATING A LOGO vs CREATING BRANDING – Explaining A Misconception

by Louis Tanguay - April 29, 2013

We would like to take a look at something many small business owners talk about, and really hone in on something we think is very important. You can create a “Logo” … or … you can create Branding. Ideally, you want the logo to be an extension of the brand. Let’s dive right in…

BRANDING Explained (Briefly)
When you create BRANDING, you’re creating an identity and messaging style. You’re also creating a sub-conscious feeling when people look at your materials. What colors will you use? Are they appropriate to your business model, business style, and products/services? What fonts do you use? Are they appropriate to communicate your business to potential customers?

If you saw a Lawyer who used an orange Comic Sans font for all their type then you wouldn’t care much about their logo being the Scales of Justice. Your logo, and brand start with the first question, “What am I selling, to whom, and in what way will this identity be best communicated visually and in the written word?”

LOGOS Explained (Very Briefly)
Now that you have established your brand identity, now developing your “logo” is much easier and the end result will be much better and much more effective. Your logo now knows what it wants to be, and what it’s supposed to communicate.

Now, the lawyer client in our example will most likely use a serif font, with strong grounding colors and maybe the scales are incorporated into the words somehow or there are visual keys to communicate the particular brand of law, whether they are prosecutors or defendants, and what kind of sub-section of law they practice. The “logo” may now include a more targeted and aspirational tag line, too. Like, “Smith, Rosenbloom & Gold” … “We Are On Your Side” or “We Win After YOU Win”…

But now we’re entering into the next stage of branding….messaging…more on that in another post…