Credibility: Redesigning Logo Design
Traditional design processes dictate that logo design be undertaken in a pure, pared-down visual form — creating a logo in black and white. I was taught to design identities in black on white to ensure the mark communicated successfully at its core. Traditional thinking has it that the mark has to work in black and white first. Also, clients may be unduly swayed to or from a logo if we showed them initial designs in color. If a client hates orange, then that logo, which might be the best at communicating the personality of their brand, has died an early, perhaps unnecessary, death. So, at Go East we continue to start all identity projects working with black on white.
However, I am beginning to question the wisdom of this approach.
Forty years ago, when identity design processes were taking shape, television and film may have featured a company’s logo, but primarily logos were designed for print. Today, digital media is stealing the eyeballs of consumers and businesses, and a logo must leverage the advantages of online media.
Also, a logo — as the visual embodiment of the brand’s identity — had better convey credibility, especially online.
Bill Haig, on Brandweek, found that “a logo that conveys credibility will increase conversion rates over four times compared to those that consumers do not consider credible.” He finds that the logo carries the weight of a brand’s trustworthiness and expertise. Hence, conveying credibility online had better be a key component of the design process and something that we consider at the onset for any identity project.
I am not suggesting all logos spin, but perhaps we ought to begin designing for online at the onset. Designing in black and white is inherently limiting and is too limiting for today’s rich media. Letting go of black and white and embracing RGB earlier in the creative process will incorporate a new level of depth, flexibility and expansiveness to identity design and really create logos that instantly convey the credibility a brand needs in the digital space.
