What You Can Learn From World Famous Brands?
Branding is amongst the most important first impressions that any company makes. Branding acts as an introduction, informing the customer as to what your company stands for, what it offers, and how it deals with customers. It is, therefore, incredibly important to choose the right design.
But, knowing how important branding is really is only half the battle. The bigger part of the battle is finding the branding that is right for your company. A good place to start is looking at globally renowned branding, understanding what works about it, and applying the same principles to your own design choices.
Apple
Looking at the history of the Apple logo is fascinating, and about as clear a lesson as could be asked for. The original logo, released in 1976, is beautiful. It is a pencil sketch of an Apple in a tree, the words Apple Computer Co artfully inserted onto fluttering banners. Beautiful, yes, but not easily identifiable, not easy to recreate, and certainly not in any way communicating that the company sold computers.
The next iteration was far better; the silhouetted apple that still exists to this day. Only, this original apple was boldly colored, striped from top to bottom with a rainbow. The design lasted until 1995, at which point the colors were dropped and replaced with blue chrome. Today the same logo is used, only it is entirely black. Virtually everyone on earth recognizes the silhouetted apple alone, and it didn’t take long for marketers to understand this. Once again, The Apple is simply a visual cue that allows customers to fill in the blanks. Plus, yes, the bite from the silhouette is the smartest byte pun.
Target
If your customer is looking for roulette for real money, you want your logo to be a Roulette wheel, right? Yes, and no. An online casino can benefit from having a straightforward logo, but how would a set of dice, for example, differentiate your company from the hundreds of other casinos? It isn’t the logo, but what the logo stands for.
If you look at Target, represented by a literal red ring around a red circle, the reality of branding becomes a bit clearer. The Target brand is recognized globally yet is about as simple as could be asked for. The minimalist design approach stands as a symbol for the company, with the consumer filling in the blanks based on the visual cue alone.
LG
Last, we have the LG logo, which really does speak for itself. Once again the design has nothing to do with the products the company sells, the artwork is minimalist, and anyone with a pen and paper can recreate it. The biggest difference here is that, yes, there is a winking face hidden in the letters.
The LG logo has been around since 1995 and has since remained almost entirely unchanged.
Clearly, the lesson is that simplicity is king, and association is more important than the design itself.