When you think about the brands you know and love the most, chances are the first thing you imagine is the logo. Likewise, when building your own brand, your logo is almost always at the forefront of your mind, whether you're working on advertising, designing, manufacturing, or branding. But what is it about logos that make them so prevalent to businesses and consumers alike? And more importantly, how can we use the power of logos to our advantage? That's what we'll be looking into today as we dive into everything your logo says about your company.

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Before we can understand how to use our logos effectively, we first have to understand exactly what makes them so important. Logos are, by definition, just a simple graphic design. So how does this icon come to represent our entire company? Well, the simplicity of the logo is exactly where its power resides. Humans primarily experience the world visually, and as such, rely heavily on images to take in information. The difference between a logo and a block of text is in the lack of effort required to understand the logo. With words, you need to actually try and read what everything says, and then put it into context to try to interpret it. This is great for educational purposes, but when it comes to a highly competitive economy where consumers make decisions in mere seconds, reading just isn't practical. Images, on the other hand, get the message across infinitely faster. A picture is worth a thousand words, after all.

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We know that images are great ways to build interest in consumers and convey information faster than words. But now we have to dig deeper. A logo isn't just some random image, after all. It's a specifically crafted design that sets your brand apart from any others. So now, we have to look at exactly what makes a logo such a unique type of image, and what it really boils down to is it's intent. Not to harp on the same point once again, but a logo truly has to be rather simple to be truly effective. We don't mean simple as in unsophisticated, of course. Rather, it has to be easily applied to literally any piece of work, if possible. Think of some of the most iconic logos that exist in the world. You may picture Pepsi's red and blue circle, or Target's bullseye, or Apple's, well, apple. These logos work so well because A) they can easily be pasted onto any product, from pop cans to plastic bags to phones, and B) they can be easily recalled or recognized by anyone who sees them. Logos need to be versatile and memorable to truly impact a consumer and spread your company's brand further. An overly complicated logo can be hard to replicate on branding, and can be confusing to a customer, and that defeats the entire purpose of the logo.

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Logos need to be easily recognized by customers, sure, but to actually accomplish this feat is much easier said than done. To pull it off, we feel there are two major points you need to hit to really nail your logo's public recognition. First, it needs to actually tell the story of your company and your brand. Look back at some of the examples we gave earlier, and you'll start to see how some famous success stories really work. Target's logo is literally a target, and it actually has a meaning to it. The store is marked with a bullseye, telling you that this is the goal you're searching for, while also literally painting the name of the business into the logo without using any words. Apple works in the exact same way. Their logo is literally an apple, so your mind automatically associates the logo with the common word, which associates further with the name of the business. We here at Digifox used the same strategy when we made our logo a fox. Having your logo be some symbol that can represent the name of your business can be really effective in this way. But even if this isn't possible, there are still ways to make your logo represent your ideals. Pepsi uses a red, white, and blue circle as their logo. Immediately your mind likely thinks of the American flag, and the design of the colors resembles the filling of a glass with soda. Thus, Pepsi has used their logo to illustrate exactly what they are: an American beverage company. When designing or updating your logo, using clever thinking like this can really set your logo apart.

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Now that you've designed a clever logo that represents your brand well, we need to use it effectively, and that's the second major key in your public recognition. Your logo may look nice, but now we need to let people actually see it, and the best way to do that is to put it out there in any way that you can. If your company sells produced goods, slap that logo on as many of the products you make as you can. If your products come in packaging, put the logo on the box or the bag. Push the logo out on your social media pages and any advertising you have. The goal in all of this is to start ingraining that logo in your customer's minds. When they buy something from your company, they need to see your logo, and assuming that you made it memorable and interesting enough, they'll start to commit it to memory. Then, the next time they see your logo anywhere else, they'll start to remember all of their experiences with your company. Just like that, thanks to a simple little graphic design, you've put your business right back into the minds of your customers. We like to think of logos like a sort of memory bookmark or trigger. It's a small, simple symbol that has the power to completely dominate a consumer's memory and strengthen your advertising tenfold. After all, having a customer remember your company and brand is the biggest step to making them return to you for more business.

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Overall, we can see that despite its simple nature, a logo can have massive advertising power for your company. In fact, the simplicity of a logo may in fact be its biggest strength! So when you're working on your company's branding or rebranding, pay extra attention to your logo design. It may turn out to be the best tool you have at your disposal for keeping your clients thinking of you.