When the University of California tried to update its 144 year old too busy and too stuffy logo, things almost went down the drain. Pun intended. The new logo was likened to an omelet swirling at the bottom of a toilet. The incident went so far as to inspire a whole signature campaign to stop the toilet logo from being adopted.
In this The Build Network article in Inc. magazine, great points are made about what to avoid when you’re trying to come up with your logo.
1. Even a Good Logo Cannot Create Cohesion. The UC system tried to encapsulate a loose collection of unique and sometimes rivaling universities–the hippies of Santa Cruz, the preppies of Westwood, and the astrophysicist nerds of Berkeley–under a single visual identity.
2. Invite Users to Contribute–Or Invite Disaster. Had the university used social media to engage students and alumni from the outset, involve them in the branding conversation, and communicate its motives for undertaking the project, the end result may have been quite different.
3. Not Everything Is a Job for Design. Want to communicate a new mission, initiative, or brand? Logos are no longer the solution. Other media can better show (vs. tell) your constituents how you can change their lives.
Once you determine your company’s vision, brand character and ideal customer, then and only then can you avoid having a logo that looks like a toilet. But then again, I suppose there are worse things to look like in this world.
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Related articles
- A logo is worth a thousand words…and even more dollars! (mediasourcemidland.wordpress.com)
- 7 Warning Signs that Your Logo Design Sucks (business2community.com)
