For most people, the logo of a company can immediately connect our minds to the business in question, without the need to see the name. The world’s largest companies take very good care of their logos, from Nike’s “swoosh” symbol, to Starbuck’s twin-tailed mermaid. This type of instant recognition is the holy grail for a business.

The world’s multinational companies spend millions on their logos – UK oil group BP spent £136m back in 2000 on it’s current sunflower design. Similar sized firms can spend hundreds of thousands on just a change of font or colour to logos that spell out their names.

But how easy is it for a business to pick a good logo, and how important is it at the end of the day?

If you are presented with a design for your company logo that is immediately likeable and resonates with your values, you might be wise to take a long hard look at it, bin it, and start again. Many of the world’s most successful logos were not liked on first viewing. A good logo, a good trademark, will gain meaning and power over time.

Deciding on whether or not to change a logo can be a difficult decision. Clothing giant Gap unveiled it’s new logo in 2010, having switched from writing its name in capital letters, to lower case letters, and adding a small blue square behind the letter “p”. Such was the public outcry that a week later Gap did an about turn and scrapped the change.

One business which has successfully changed its logo is fast-growing London publishing company Ink. The current logo was designed approximately seven years ago to coincide with the growth of the firm, and incorporating digital work in to the business, not just concentrating on physical print.

The word “publishing” was dropped from the old logo and the ring of colour that surrounds the word Ink was tweaked to add the tones of the RGB colour wheel that is the basis of digital printing.

While Ink cannot quantify the impact of the logo change, over the past seven years the firm has expanded overseas, adding offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, Melbourne, New York, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore. The new logo certainly didn’t hinder the business.

It’s common sense to spend time on your logo – it’s the first thing that people see, it’s the look of your company, and it’s going to reflect what you do. A good logo will successfully express a company’s values. Your logo is how people recognise you, and it helps express how you’re different from your rivals

People need an image to look at. As Aristotle said, ‘the soul cannot think without an image’. But at the same time, people assess you not on the strength of your logo, but on the quality of your product or service, no matter how good a logo’s design is, it will only be successful if the company itself is trusted.

A logo is a simple and functional signpost to help people find and identify your business. But for a logo to be successful, the company behind it must be a respected and trusted brand. A logo won’t allow a company to build a respected brand on its own.

If you are looking for a logo redesign to reflect changes and growth in your company, get in touch with graphic designers in Inverness to see how they can help.