A Logo without Your Name… Can Be A Big Branding Pain!
I usually get asked to develop a little business’s logo Design as a symbol-only logo. Except for several little businesses, this is not the proper alternative for a handful of reasons:
Designing a symbol-only logo Design is an additional way more sophisticated (and usually more expensive) process, as a result of the image has to:
• Carry lots a lot of that means — there isn’t any text to assist makes a case for the business. it is vital that your brand has some that means and a job in explaining your business — and that is lots for a little image to try to all by itself.
• Be entirely distinctive all on its’ own. i do not have to be compelled to tell you that there are a unit a full ton of logos out there. Lots of the essential shapes — and even a number of the lot of sophisticated ones — area unit already “owned” by huge companies. However you’ll still use variations or mixtures of these shapes once they are designed into a brand along with your name.
• Communicate to your audience. The lot of obscure the image design that you simply produce, the less seemingly that your customers can perceive it’s that means. Or they’ll interpret it incorrectly. Either approach your purchasers can feel alienated — and that is ne’er sensible.
If you are doing produce a symbol-only brand, you will have a handful of challenges along with your complete identity:
• It can take lots longer and energy to coach your audience regarding your business. Think about all the symbol-only logos that area unit extremely unforgettable, like Nike or Apple. The rationale that those area unit thus unforgettable and well-known is that every of these corporations encompasses a terribly giant advertising budget. They’ll afford to dedicate individuals and time to obtaining the word out. Their deep pockets build visibility and encourage recognition. Little businesses simply haven’t got those forms of resources.
• Trademark infringement is a lot of a tangle — from either side of the fence. It is terribly troublesome for your designer to style a logo Design that will not seem like the other proprietary brand out there, regardless however arduous they struggle.
O First of all, it’s arduous for a designer to comprehensively analysis all of the opposite proprietary logos simply to examine what you are up against. However, the Trademark workplace has a lot of thorough tools and strategies of researching the opposite existing logos out there and that they may realize one that you simply unnoticed.
O Secondly, logos and trademarks is somewhat subjective. Simply because you and your designer assume that the look that you have created does not infringe on different logos, the Trademark workplace may reject your application supported their interpretation of “similarity”
O And you are not simply worrying regarding what the Trademark workplace thinks. The other business with an existing trademark might additionally challenge your application. They’ll even raise you to cease-and-desist mistreatment your brand once it’s been proprietary if they control their trademark to the same logo initial. whereas surrendering may not appear to be such a nasty issue, keep in mind that you’d even have to destroy any existing written collateral, forfeit your trademark (and the trademarking method is not cheap!) and design all of your materials. You can you ma} additionally lose the equity and memorability that you simply will have engineered up in your brand if you are doing got to design.
• If you are doing finally manage to style and trademark a symbol-only brand, you will have to be extra-vigilant regarding ensuring that different corporations do not style a mark that is like yours. You’re ultimately accountable for “policing” your own trademark and can got to keep up-to-date on trademark applications. Alternately, you may rent somebody to stay an eye fixed on new emblems for you however that may be valuable.
You can simply avoid all of those complications by designing a combination logo that has each a logo and your name. Once you’ve got designed your combination logo, you must continually use the elements along. This helps avoid potential legal problems like those mentioned higher than.