Out With the Old, In With the New: Top Signs It's Time for a Logo Redesign

Is it time to redesign your logo? How can you tell? Read on to learn the top signs it's time for a logo redesign.

Have you been looking for a way to freshen up your business and engage new customers? When's the last time you took a serious look at your logo?

If you haven't given your logo much thought since you got it, it may not be pulling its weight.

Your logo communicates a lot of information about your company to potential customers in a fraction of a second! If that information is inaccurate, that could be costing you business. You want to make sure your logo and brand are communicating what you want them to.

But how do you know if your logo isn't up to snuff? Have no fear. We've compiled a list of things to look for to know whether or not you should consider reworking that old logo into something new.

Read on to discover some key signs that it's time for a logo redesign.

1. Your Logo Has an Old or Outdated Look

Trends are always changing. Color palettes and design motifs shift in popularity over time. Certain aesthetics often become associated with the decade in which they were popular.

Imagine the 80's. What do you see? Neon pink triangles? Green circles? some wavy black squiggles? Can you see how dated it is? Times change...

Having an old or outdated logo design communicates to your consumers that your company is behind the times. This may motivate customers to go for a competitor with a more contemporary logo.

A more contemporary logo communicates that the company gives thought to the "here and now." It communicates that the brand is keeping up with modern trends and is relevant to today.

Imagine if you walked into a car dealership to buy a new car and everyone there was wearing 1970's fashions. At first, you might think, "Oh cool, is there some retro sales event promotion going on?" But after you looked around and realized that the uniforms and suits have just never been updated, you may begin to wonder what these people could possibly know about the 2020 cars they are attempting to sell you.

2. Your Logo is Too Complicated

If your logo is overly complicated, it's going to hurt you in the long run. You want your logo to be versatile so that you can easily use it for a ton of different applications.

If your logo is complicated, when you make it small, it will be hard to make out what it is. If people can't make out what it is, then it will fail to perform its most basic function and tell them anything about your brand.

Simple logos are more memorable. Something with just a few shapes really sticks in the mind. Think of the McDonald's golden arches, it's, in essence, a yellow "M" and it's recognized across the globe.

The Mastercard logo is another good example, all it is is two overlapping circles. When you see two circles of those specific colors overlapping, the word Mastercard isn't even necessary for you to recognize what it is.

So remember the golden rule: "K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, stupid!"

3. Your Logo Wasn't Designed by a Professional

It's expensive to get a business off the ground! There are so many expenses before you ever open up your doors that it can be daunting. Unfortunately, sometimes branding is an afterthought or viewed as a necessary evil.

You need a sign, you need invoices, you need business cards, so you come up with a logo.

Maybe you designed it yourself or paid a design student to do it. Maybe you have a nephew who is kind of ok with photoshop... Your unprofessional logo may have served you for a time, but if your business has taken off since then, you may have outgrown it. A redesign will show that to your customers.

An unprofessional logo communicates to the consumer that the business is unprofessional. You want your logo to inspire confidence in your customers and potential customers.

Your logo is your first touchpoint with many people, and if it screams 'unprofessional,' many of them won't give you a second look. Your product might be great, but if they never make it past your logo, they will never know that. Like it or not, people do judge books by their covers. 

4. Your Logo Isn't Optimized for Mobile

If your logo was designed before mobile technology became prevalent, chances are it needs updating. In 2018, 52.2% of all website views came from mobile phones. The way consumers access your brand is changing at a rapid pace, and if your logo predates the ways in which they are doing so, it may cost you.

Designers craft contemporary logos with all these new applications in mind. From mobile technology to social media, there are many ways we use logos today that we didn't 20 years ago. So if it's been a while since your companies last logo redesign, that fact alone may be enough reason to look into it.

5. Your Logo Isn't Consistent with Your Brand

Companies evolve and change over time, and your logo should keep pace. If your brand has changed but your logo has stayed the same, your logo might communicate something the company no longer stands for. It's also possible that your current logo limits your brand because it doesn't include some key aspects of it.

Let's look at an example. In 2012, Domino's changed its logo to reflect its new direction. Its logo originally looked like a square pizza box that incorporated a domino. It also included two words; "Domino's Pizza."

Since its original inception in 1960, the company has evolved to focus not just on pizza alone. They now offer sandwiches, buffalo wings, pasta, and many other types of food alongside the pizza that started the brand.

The logo redesign captured this new, broader focus by doing two things: ditching the pizza-box-esque look of the old logo in favor of a sleeker domino look and dropping the word "pizza" from the logo altogether.

"But my company offers the same goods and services it always has," you may say. Well, there are other reasons why your logo may not be consistent with your brand. Maybe your company speaks to a new audience these days. If your logo still speaks to an audience that your company is no longer geared towards, it's not doing you any favors.

Additionally, your company values or mission may have changed in the time since your last logo redesign. Redesigning your logo to reflect that change may help you draw in new customers who are looking to connect with brands that share their core ideals.

6. Your Competitors Have Better Logos

One of the main goals of your logo is to stand out. In the sea of visual stimuli that consumers are assaulted with on a daily basis, it's easy for an unremarkable logo to get lost. If your competitor's logo does a better job at appealing to the customers and clients that you are trying to attract, then you will lose business to them.

What's Next after Logo Redesign?

So you've taken a look at your old logo and determined that it needs to go. What's next? You've got a few steps on the road to refreshing that old logo.

Step 1. Hiring a Professional

The first step is finding someone to design your new logo. Luckily, there are a lot of designers out there to choose from. Be sure to ask for a portfolio and take a look at the previous work they've done, and then choose the best fit for your brand.

Step 2. New Marketing Materials

This is a hard step. You have to say goodbye to all the materials with your old logo. From employee uniforms to stationery to business cards and everything in between, your old logo has to go to make way for the new one. The good news is, that your old logo wasn't doing the job. Your new logo will help bring in more business!

Step 3. Rolling Out the New Logo

Once you've got your new materials, it's time to introduce the world to your new logo! Whether you roll it out slowly over time, or all at once and never look back is up to you!

Getting Your Logo Out There

So now that you know the signs to look for, does your old logo hold up, or is it time for a logo redesign? If even one of these signs has set off any flags about your current logo, consider a redesign. It could be just what you need to breathe new life into your business!

Once you've got your new logo, one of the easiest ways to make it official is by printing new business cards. We would love to help you with that! We offer some great discounts for business card printing, so contact us today!