The Art & Science of Logo Design

In today’s visual world, your brand’s logo design can be all the difference between success and struggle of your brand. A logo is the face of your brand, if I ask you to imagine Nike what is the first thing that came to your mind? Their shoe? No, I’m sure for most of us, it's their iconic swoosh.
Such is the power of a logo!

Picture this. You are driving on a busy street and a series of cafés on either sides of the road are trying to steal your attention. How do you decide which one would you try? In addition to the logo, the larger brand identity - including facade design, café ambience, colours, use of materials, textures, lighting etc. - all should be narrating a unified story. You can make your choice in an instant, and wonder what drew you inside that café. Such is the power of branding. Logo is the face of the brand. But, it needs to be tied

to Brand’s Purpose and DNA. All of it needs to narrate a strong message about your brand. 

A logo is not only a graphical exercise.

There’s a lot of thought and research that goes into creating a logo for your brand with the right colour and your brand story. A logo needs to be simple yet elegant. It could be as small as a favicon or seen in half - it should be memorable and identifiable.

Did you know, in just 400 milliseconds, a logo can trigger emotional & behavioural responses? Neuroscience tells us that logos and brands behind them can activate parts of your brain in a much deeper manner that you may think.

A study conducted by researchers at the Amsterdam University found that logos start playing with your subconscious mind at a very early stage of life, they found that children of 2-3 years of age could easily recall a logo and the product it represents in 67% of cases. 

Have you heard of the golden ratio? The golden ratio is 1:1.16 derived by mathematical principles that is found in nature elements, space matter, and even sound waves. It has a pleasing nature and is used in art, paintings, music, architecture, and design for over thousands of years. Studies have shown that anything that contains the Golden ratio is perceived as beautiful, perfect and harmonious, even if we are unaware of it. 

Not all logos need to be designed as per “Golden Ratio”, but the logos that are, remain timeless and classic. Logo Design process is not as simple as having a team of graphic designers making some sketches or illustrating ideas. It needs to have a meaning, behind every stroke, every pixel, every curve. Meaningful brand identities can inspire trust and association. Let’s do it methodically.

Get help from a professional Branding Agency for your logo design.

Read more about Types of Logos & their uses here.

Article contributed by:

Riya Wadhwa, Brand Artisan - Marketing

How Packaging Design Influences Buying Behaviour

How often does it happen that you are looking for a particular product at the supermarket and you go around the aisle a number of times only failing to find that product? 

A few days back, I visited a supermarket and was looking for my favourite brand of crisps. I walked around the dedicated aisle twice but couldn’t find them so I requested an assistant to help me with it. When we started walking towards the dedicated shelf of crisps and cookies, I wondered how these hundreds of products on the shelves fight with each other for our attention and what actually persuades us to choose one brand over the other. In that brief moment, I thought about the different elements of packaging - colour, typography, visuals and format that affect our buying habits and coming back to reality only to find out that the assistant was nowhere to be seen. Assuming he never found the crisps, I disappointedly started looking for a similar flavour and surprisingly, found my favourite pack of crisps at the corner of the shelf and thought how difficult it was to find something I actually wanted. 

Today, we face an ever increasing number of options available to choose from. A regular supermarket has over 30,000 products, all competing with each other for our attention. In most cases, a brand gets roughly 30 – 45 minutes of a shopping session to attract, excite, and sell their products, proving to the fact that product packaging is considered to be the decisive point of communication in any retail environment. 

It has been estimated that around 60-70% of buying decisions are made in the store. Packaging is considered as the final opportunity for marketers to communicate their brand’s message. Packaging plays a crucial role as it has been proven that 1/3rd of our decision making is based on how the product finally looks. It has a direct impact on how your consumer perceives the product.

Most of the times a consumer leaves home with a definite purpose in mind, but no loyalty towards a brand. The final choice depends on variety of factors. Some consumers go for household brands, some do an extensive research, while the rest of them (which forms the majority) buy on impulse. These decisions are often influenced by knowledge and reputation of a brand, consumer personality, but most importantly having a good and attractive package design that would intrigue and encourage the consumer to try the product.

We are all still guilty of instantly judging a book by its cover but still there’s no way around it.

A product only appeals to us when it looks attractive.
Such is the power of Packaging!

Read more here: 5 Golden Rules of Packaging Design

Article contributed by:

Riya Wadhwa, Brand Artisan - Marketing

4 Important Elements of Packaging Design

Packaging is known to be the identity of a product. It is extremely important for your product to get noticed amongst the hundreds of other products available on the shelf. Packaging is an integral part of any Branding Strategy to glamorise a product in a way that would not only catch the consumer’s attention, but also would be a great source of advertising. Packaging plays an important role educating the customer about the product; it’s also like having a direct interaction with the brand. As said by Martin Neumier “A retail package is the last and best chance to make a sale.”

The four main elements of packaging are Colours, Visuals, Typography and Format. These elements help the consumers to relate to the brand easily and tend to have a high recall.

Colours have great psychological impact and can draw attention to your product. In order to stand out, brands often choose colours that do not belong to their brand colour palette. This disruptive behaviour is good, but may not always work in favour of the brands. Colours are known to be the most important part of packaging because they subconsciously reflect the personality of a brand; also it is the first thing to be noticed and can be visible at a distance as well.

Visuals & Mascots help in associating with the brand and create high recall value. Visuals are graphical representations of the product inside, where one can easily understand what the product is without having to read.Mascots on the other hand are an additional element that may in some cases strengthen the identity of the brand. A mascot is easily relatable by every age group. Brands like Amul still extensively use’s their mascot named Amul girl for all their communication and branding. This over the years has become a part of their identity and is now very relatable by the consumers. Another Indian brand using a mascot is Air India using their mascot named Maharaja, for their communications.

Typography is another powerful part of Brand Identity. Just like colours have meaning; typography represents the values of your brand.  Every typeface has a different set of connotations and hence will create a unique representation of who you are and what you stand for, as a brand. Brands often use bold fonts and serifs to catch attention, as they’re clean, simple, and easily readable. As mentioned, fonts also have a different meaning. The font used for the IBM logo demonstrates power, while Coco-cola and Disney cue fun.

The format of Packaging is designed in such a way that it attracts the attention of the consumer and can be easily spotted on the shelf. Format of packages largely depend on the products, keeping in mind the requirements and convenience of a consumer. For instance, products like shampoos, oils, ketchup, etc come in various sizes as well as in sachets which encourage the consumer to try them.

Read more here: 5 Golden Rules of Packaging Design

Article contributed by:

Riya Wadhwa, Brand Artisan - Marketing

Difference between Logo & Brand Identity

People often use Logo and Brand Identity loosely and interchangeably. Logo is not the same as Brand Identity, although they are very closely linked.

Let us first understand what do these terms mean:

LOGO
A trademark-able symbol, graphic, visual representation of an organisation that reflects beliefs and values of the organisation whilst enabling public recognition.

BRAND IDENTITY
Key identifiers of a brand that includes Word, Sign, Symbol, Colours, and Design Style that makes a rand recognisable. Logo is a subset of Brand Identity.

Building a Brand Identity is an exciting process. It’s a collection of tangibles like a logo, Brand Colours, Typography, Tone of Voice and Communication system. The more specific, distinct and cohesive these elements are, higher would be the likelihood of Brand Recall and Brand Association. And this would allow your customers to distinctly remember your brand differently from the crowd. A consumer is only able to do so when a brand is able to consistently communicate this through its service, packaging, use of media and quality of products.

Brand Identity is divided into Visual and Verbal identity. Visual elements make your brand stronger and have a positive recall. While elements like Tagline, Tone of Voice and the use of media form a brand’s Verbal Identity. For any brand to have an effective and robust Brand Identity, it is mandatory that both, Visual and Verbal Identity of the brand are in sync.

On the other hand, Logo is one of the key elements of Brand Identity.  A logo is known to be the face of the brand, the first impression of your brand. A Logo creates a visual impact and consumers instantly connect with the brand with the sight of a Logo.  For a brand to be successful it is essential to have a well designed, unique, memorable and aesthetically pleasing logo.

Logos can be classified in three types: Typographic logos, Symbolic logos and the Combination of the two. Typographic logos are stylised text of the Brand Name or its initials. For instance, brands like Google, Subway, Sony, Disney use it. Symbolic logos have a symbol representing their brand for instance Audi, Mercedes, Apple, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Most of the brands use a mix of both as their logo like Adidas, Pepsi, Doritos, Burger King. Read more about the types of logos here.

To conclude, a Strong Logo is the key to an effective Brand Identity. Though they are overlapping concepts and both are equally important for the success of a brand. 

Article contributed by:

Riya Wadhwa, Brand Artisan - Marketing

Evolution of Colours and their role in Brand Identity

It is believed artists invented pigments using a combination of soil, animal fat, burnt charcoal, and chalk as long as 40,000 years ago. Initially, artists only invented a basic palette that consisted of red, yellow, brown, black, and white. Later, through scientific progress and advancement, colours like blue, green and violet were invented. Since then, there have been numerous discoveries of new and colours simply by mixing and experimenting.

Today, colours are present all around us and are associated with every aspect of our lives. They influence the way we think, cause actions and reactions. They can irritate or soothe your eyes. Some colours are calm and give us a feeling of serenity while some can cause anxiety. Every colour has its unique meaning and associations. In today’s society, colours have become a very powerful form of communication and are irreplaceable. The study of human behaviour towards colours is known as ‘Colour Psychology’ and this is a widely used concept in Marketing and Branding. Here, we will see how our mind perceives certain colours:

Red: Red is known to be a very strong, noticeable and an emotionally intense colour.  Red is most associated with energy, youth, courage, strength, warmth, desire, passion and excitement. While on the other hand, it is also associated with war, danger and aggression. Red has the ability to enhance metabolism, raise blood pressure and increase our respiration rate. Red colour also makes objects appear much closer than they actually are and thus, grabs more attention this is why danger signs, traffic signals are in red.

Yellow: Being the colour of sunshine, yellow puts a smile on the dial. The most visible colour from a distance, it communicates cheerfulness, friendliness, energy, reflects joy, optimism, confidence, happiness and creativity. However, at the same time, yellow is the colour of caution and associates with fear, depression and anxiety. Yellow also arouses hunger and hence most of the fast food and ready to eat products are packed in yellow.

Brown: Brown is seen as a serious and very down to earth, warm, with properties like stability, structure, support and sophistication. It is among the oldest colours and is associated with wholesome, natural and organic produce and anything related to the great outdoors, agriculture and farming. Hence, most organic products use brown in their packaging.

Black: The colour black relates to hidden, secretive, unknown, and as a result it creates an air of mystery. It is associated with elegance, glamour, luxury, power, exclusivity. Black is bold, classic and to be taken seriously. Black on the other hand also has a negative side to it like evil, oppression, grief, and insecurity.

White: White represents purity, simplicity, hygiene, innocence, clarity, transparency. It is known to be the colour of perfection. If we had to identify one brand that has uses white to convey its brand message to perfection it would have to be Apple, white represents the simplicity of the products in both their form and function. White can also be associated with emptiness, coldness, unfriendliness, isolation and emptiness. The colour white also depicts peace, cleanliness and calmness; thus hospitals are generally painted in white.

Blue: Blue is a universally preferred colour, having versatile qualities. Blue is widely used and appreciated for its calmness and serenity. Brands using the colour blue in logos give a sense of reliability, trustworthiness and authority. Thus brands like Dell, Intel, Facebook, Twitter, Samsung have their logos in blue. However, being associated with feelings, also expresses sadness or depression.

Green: Green has two very common meanings - one being nature and environment, and the other being finance and wealth. It signifies harmony, balance, freshness, awareness, growth, restoration, and stability. Though, it can also be significant to boredom, blandness. Green representing nature is also considered to be beneficial for Mind and Body and is also said to have amazing healing powers.

Violet: In ancient times, violet was termed as ‘the colour of atmosphere’. It is known to be a soft colour with calming effects that convey creativity and wisdom. Violet is also associated with spiritual awareness, vision, luxury, truth, and quality. Violet also has negative associations like introversion, suppression, and inferiority. 

Colours and Brand Identity:

Colours are known to have effects on a person’s psychological, physiological and sociological behaviour. Thus, colour is an important aspect while considering the Brand Identity System. As every colour has a unique identity, it is important for brands to select the right colour. Using colours that go with your brand personality and consistently using brand colours, has been proven advantages and create a stronger Brand Identity and has higher brand recall. Few examples are Coca-Cola is known for its bright red labelling on bottles; Dairy milk uses their patent violet for all its chocolates, Christian Louboutin is known or its red bottom pumps and Barbie uses the typical pink for all its packaging. Colours are thus an important element in a brand’s visual identity and needs to be based on logic, meaning and purpose.

Article contributed by:

Riya Wadhwa, Brand Artisan - Marketing