Logo size is a real sticking point for lots of clients when having a website built or re-designed. It’s a classic problem, something I’ve experienced (in one way or another) with almost every single client I have ever worked with.
I share my design work, having spent hours finalising every pixel, defining the perfect colour scheme and the most effective layout, only for the client to then spend most of the time focussing on the size of the logo. When I try to explain other elements of the design, they just can’t help it, suddenly we’re back on the logo discussion again, ‘it’s just too small!’
Brand Presence
The biggest reason I have come across is that clients feel the size of their logo has a direct relation to their brand presence on the web. They feel that by making the logo bigger, people are more likely to recognise their brand and remember it again in the future.
Emotional attachment to their logo
Another reason is that clients are emotional attached to their logos and branding. To be honest, that’s perfectly fair and I completely empathise with this. A logo can represent all the hard work a client has put into a business. They’re proud of their business and want to advertise it as much as they can.
Control
Finally a slightly controversial one, I sometimes feel that clients use the logo as a way to gain some control on a project that is otherwise completely out of their control. My point here is that often a website is completely foreign to the client, they do not understand it. But this is their business and they feel like they need make decisions and take part in the process. One way they can do this is with the logo.
I’m sure there are many other reason’s but the above are some of the ones I feel I come across most often. I totally get why clients genuinely worry about their logos, it’s the one thing they can relate to and visually feel it’s one of the most important parts of marketing their business. However, good designers aren’t trying to sabotage your website. The chances are there’s a good reason the logo is a certain size. Here’s some reasons why you should worry less about your logo.
Each page needs to have some visual hierarchy
Basic design theory suggests that each web page should have a visual hierarchy. This means making the most important elements of a page more prominent. Take the example below, the logo in this case “37 Signals” is out-of-the-way, letting users get straight into the ‘meat’ of the website. This is because the content is far more important than the logo. People don’t gain anything from the logo but they will gain something from finding out that ‘millions’ of people are already using this product.
People don’t buy based on a logo
Think about the times when you have hired an electrician or hired an accountant, ‘Did you hire them because of their logo?’ I suspect you didn’t. You probably hired them because of a recommendation or because of some marketing material that told you exactly what they could do and the benefits this would give you. This is what was most important to you. Take this thought process into your own website and consider what’s really important to articulate to your users.
Users don’t visit your website to marvel at your logo
No matter how good your logo is the fact is that users do not visit your website to marvel at the logo. The most likely reason they’re there is to find out information, enquire about a service or browse/buy products that might be for sale. With this is mind, users may actually be distracted by a large logo, stopping them from completing the core activities you want them to.
Your brand is much more than just a logo
As much as I can understand that clients believe making the logo bigger will make their brand more recognisable, the fact is that getting people to remember your brand is much more than just having a nice big logo. Take a look at the apple advert example below. They don’t care about peppering you with their name and logo, they want to focus you on their brand, this is what you will remember.
So to finish, next time a designer shows you some designs, avoid focussing your attention on that ‘small’ logo. In most cases, making it bigger won’t offer you anything extra, if anything, it will be detrimental to the overall design.
Feel free to share your thoughts, let me know as a client why you worry about logo size? And let me know as a designer how you try to stop your clients worrying about logo size?
My name is Jonathan Clift and I started Web Adaption in May 2011. Having spent several years developing and desinging websites, I decided it was a good time to go ahead and do my own thing.
My aim is to serve as a single point of contact for all your online needs, covering Website Design, eCommerce, Content Management, Custom Development, S.E.O and website hosting.
I'm an easy, reliable and fun person to work with and there really is no nonsense.
Telephone: 07749 983 582
Email: hello@webadaption.com
All rights reserved. Web design and development by Web Adaption
Statistics show that users will wait only 4 seconds to begin to see a page loading when they first visit a website. Any longer than that and they will hit the back button in the browser and leave, probably for good
Fair points. I think it comes from the idea of branding – they want to ensure everything is tied to the single brand. The logo is the most constant part of the brand.
But I like the way Apple use the logo, it fits in quietly with their message, just sitting there. You can always tell an Apple site, or ad, it has a certain feel – and the logo just always works with that feel.
Sometimes companies have a logo that doesn’t work with the design – I see this a lot, and I think perhaps that is partly the fault of the designer, and partly because the client was unwilling to ‘embed’ their logo into the design of the page, and rather just place it there at odds with everything else, and as big as they can get away with.
So I think my point is actually that the logo size is not really the issue – rather it is how the logo flows with the rest of the design. If that flow works well, the logo size is an irrelevant issue.
Where’s the next blog then? I thought you were doing one every week?