Basic refreshing tips

If you’re going to be performing a simply refresh of your logo, you first need to ask yourself a few questions.

• For one, is your logo going to retain the same shape? Or, are you going to change the shape, make it flow better, have smoother curves, etc.
• Is the color scheme going to be changing? Sometimes updating a logo is a simple as changing, removing, or adding a color.
• Are you planning on completely changing the look and feel of the logo?

In the next section, I’ll expand on the previous three tips.

To reuse or redo, that is the question

Are you going to be changing the shape and design of your logo completely? While this might be a good idea if your old logo is really out of date, but in other situations it might be better to simply do a refresh. Remember, your logo is what people identify your brand with, so if you make too much of a change, your brand may become unidentifiable for a few months after the redesign - this is why I only recommend a complete redesign if all other avenues fail.

One thing you could do would be to refine your logo over a series of changes over a year or so. The first time, change or update the colors, the next time, update the the shape, and the final time, finish making your updates, so you ease everyone into your redesign, instead of making the shift stark and quick.

As well, try removing any unnecessary items from your logo. For example, Business Week removed the blue bar from the bottom of their logo, and it made a huge difference in contributing the cleanliness of it.

Finally, if your logo has any text in it, try changing it to a Sans-Serif Font, so the font itself looks cleaner. Once again, I go back to the Business Week logo, they went from a serif to a sans-serif, and it looks much cleaner.

Color scheme, use it or loose it?

Simply changing the colors of your logo can make a huge difference, so try this first. Some of the most successful redesigns and refreshes have been as simple as re-coloring or re-shading an existing logo. Remember, in most cases, simple is better, so try not to use too many different colors. As well, using fewer colors means your logo will be easy to print on t-shirts, and other silk-screened items if the need arises.

Going Green

Another recent trend in logo design is to design a “green”, or environmental item into your logo. This can make your logo seem more natural, and “welcoming” to people seeing it for the first time - which can be important if you want a good impression. People usually associate more natural and warm logos with smaller companies, while more industrial logos generally give the impression of a larger corporation.

I’m not saying you need to actually make the logo green, but include “green” element, like flowers or grass, if it fits. You obviously don’t need to go adding natural elements to your logo if it isn’t a fit, but it can be a nice touch.

Neat redesign examples

Here are some cool redesign examples from across the web.

(I’ll hide this down here as a bit of a note. I’ve been terribly busy over the past week and a bit, and haven’t really had much time to work on any articles. Things should be back to normal now… I hope)