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!’

Why do clients worry about logo size?

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.

Why clients should stop worrying about their logo size

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.

Conclusion

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?

Nothing really mysterious about the way the company started. Just one guy and his desire to do something on his own to get away from the daily politics of working within other companies. That one guy is me, Jonathan Clift (picture on the right!)

I’ve dabbled with web technologies ever since I got my first “unlimited” dial up connection with Freeserve back in the 90′s. Although I spent most of my time clocking up huge phone bills playing Grand Theft Auto online, I did actually spend some time learning the basics of HTML; I built a few sites, read some books and cut and pasted some random applets I found dotted over the web.

Since then, I have gained a huge amount of exposure to various web technologies through previous jobs and my own spare time. I love to work with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Jquery, PHP and MySQL and I spend a large amount of time designing various things in Adobe Fireworks and illustrator. I also have a new found love for WordPress, which is of course powering this site as we speak. So equipped with the skills above, I founded Web Adaption in June 2011, a company dedicated to making websites better.

The highs and lows of starting your own company

It’s certainly not for everyone. It can be incredibly lonely, often with no one to turn to when things are getting tough. It’s also a strange feeling knowing that you’re not guaranteed a salary at the end of the month. But if you can see past this, the benefits can certainly outweigh the pitfalls.  The big thing for me is working for myself, making sure that every single day I’m doing things in the best interest for all my clients and any employees/contractors that work for me.  This is what drives me and inspires me to work harder and harder each day with the dream of building up my business.

What next

So far, things have been great. I’ve worked with some fantastic clients already who have been thrilled with the work I’ve done. At the moment my main focus has been on small web projects whether it be a website re-design for a client, a new online shop for a client looking to market their projects or just a brand new website for a company just starting out.

My next step is to build my first web application. I plan to host a whole suite of mini web apps, focused on helping small businesses like me with their day to day business tasks. I’m working on some stuff right now, so stay tuned and I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

Final thoughts

This will hopefully be the first of many more posts to come. I plan to document my progress as the company advances and I hope it will help others who may be thinking of doing something similar. I welcome any comments and hope that you continue to return to our blog. Thanks for reading!

Jonathan