Tips on how to refresh your logo

Every now and again I get clients wanting to give their logo a bit of a refresh. Sometimes it’s because their business is changing and sometimes it’s just because they’re bored with it and fancy a change. Below is my guide to what you should consider when refreshing your logo.

DOES IT REALLY NEED A REFRESH?
This may sound an odd one to start with but before you invest time and money in giving your logo a facelift ask yourself, “Why am I doing it?”. Making changes to your established logo isn’t something to be taken lightly. If you’re unsure, ask others what they think of it. Ideally don’t ask friends, family or employees as you want someone who will give you an honest opinion. You never know, the overall feedback may be that there’s actually nothing wrong with your current logo and as the saying goes, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”!

WHERE TO START?
So you’ve decided that you do want to change your logo but where do you start? First thing to do is look at your current logo and decide what isn’t working for you. Is it too bland? Is it too busy? Are the colours not right for you? Try and be honest with yourself as to what’s wrong with it. If in doubt ask the opinion of others. Remember, the point of the logo is to quickly and effectively represent your business.

REVIEW EACH ELEMENT
Most logos are made up of three or four elements. They are the font, colour palette, icon and strap-line. Take each element and decide if that element needs to stay, go or be changed. Sometimes all you need is a subtle change of colour or a new font to make you logo a new lease of life. You don’t always need to start from scratch.

KEEP SOME ELEMENTS FROM YOUR OLD LOGO
As I’ve stated above, you don’t need to change every element in your logo and in most cases, it’s good to keep some echoes of your old logo in there to keep some consistency (See my blog post about brand constancy here). Keeping the colours or maybe the font of your current logo will help existing customers associate the new look with the business.

TAKE YOUR TIME
Lastly, don’t rush the process. Unlike deciding on a new logo, when you’re changing one that’s already there you don’t usually have to rush. Don’t repeat mistakes made with your current logo and once you’ve decided on your new one, live with it for a few weeks before rolling it out in your business. Make sure you’re completely happy with it so it will be a long while before you need to do another refresh.