What is a logo?

It may come to you as a surprise but this is really so: many business leaders when they order the development of their company’s logo do not know what it is! Some think that a logo is just a nice little picture. Others believe that a logotype and a trademark are the same. Finally, there are those who say that a logo is just a symbol that anyone can draw. To answer the question about what a logo is and why developing truly quality logos costs a lot, let us sort out the notion and the functions of a logotype.

A logo is an individual graphical symbol (a picture) or a writing of a brand name with a certain font or a combination of the graphical symbol and the writing. The purpose of a logo is to get the company’s message or idea across to its focus audience.

Key Functions of a Logo

Distinctive, associative function. Quality logos distinguish the goods and the company behind them, from out of the motley environment of its competitors. This gives birth to the second logo function, the protective one.

Protective function. The logo is a property of the company it represents. It protects its goods and services. If a company recurs to using other’s logo for this or that selfish purpose, by law it can be made answerable for this.

Guarantee function. By attaching our logo onto a piece of merchandise we guarantee its quality. Note that not all the companies use logos. Yet, those companies which are self-confident and have a long history of working in the market, practically do not release their products unless these bear the logo.

Esthetic function. You will have noticed more than once company logos on clothes. This is the first example that comes to mind when talking about a nice logo increasing the esthetics of the goods, simultaneously guaranteeing the quality and protecting the product from counterfeiting. The best logos are not just pictures but important esthetic components of the presentation of goods.

Advertising function. This is actually the function that becomes the reason for most of the companies to go and ask for a logo. A logo creates a certain image, an appearance of the firm, helping the potential clientele to single out its goods and associate it with a certain level of quality, company reputation and other advertising parameters.

A quality logo then is an important contributor to the image. Alongside with the functions listed above a logo completes the task of informing and has a psychological component as well. It informs the buyer of the producer that has created the goods and it nurtures a positive attitude towards the company.

It is precisely because so much sense has to go into such a small symbol that developing a logo costs so much. The best logos known in the market today have been developed for dozens of thousands of dollars. Now do you still believe that working under an emblem worth just a few dollars you can earn much?