Charity rebranding: Practical logo design
When it comes to charity rebranding the importance of practical logo design can get lost in the list of demands. “We need a new logo that will engage our existing supporters, help us reach new audiences, make us appear trustworthy… and doesn’t look expensive.” With all of these demands, why is a practical logo design important for charity rebranding?
The WWF panda is a classic charity brand. Distinctive, memorable and emotionally engaging. Everything a good logo should be. But it’s practical too. This is what Peter Scott, one of the founders of WWF, said of the logo in 1961: “We wanted an animal that had an impact in black and white to save money on printing costs.”
Fifty years later and printing in black and white is less of an issue. Technology has changed radically. But the need to think about the practicalities of how you communicate is just as relevant today in the digital age.
The development of print technology means it’s (very often) just as easy to put lots of colours on a sheet of paper as it is to put one. Whether it’s a commercial printer with a large digital machine, or a desktop inkjet, we’ve got a rainbow of colours at our finger tips. Despite this there are still circumstances when cost will be an issue. If you’re printing onto certain materials – like balloons or cotton t-shirts – it’s still cheaper to print in a single colour. So you will need a version of your logo that can be reproduced well in one colour.
But in the digital world colour is an unlimited resource – and for many charities online engagement is their most common communication channel with their audience. When it comes to applying your logo online it’s more often an issue of the shape of your logo, rather than the colour. How well does you logo fit into the banner at the top of your website? Long and thin is usually best. (There’s a reason Facebook, Twitter and Amazon have the logos they do). But what about your social media avatar? Does you logo – or some element of it – fit into a square?
The times and the technology may have changed, but the importance of practical logo design in charity rebranding is just as relevant today, in the digital age, as it was in the sixties.
If you would like to have a chat about rebranding your organisation, drop Jonathan an email.
Photo: Flickr – George Lu © Creative Commons