Why size doesn’t matter and how that’s ok.
“The design is perfect, but just one thing, could we make the logo a little bigger please?”
This is one of those client feedback responses you dread as a designer. Its right up there with “please could you make the font more ‘fun’” “we like it, but we aren’t sure how it’s going to work so can we see a few options?” And the always fun, never appreciated “well I just have to run it past my manager/immediate superior/significant other/parent/dog.”
And you know what, as a client it isn’t your fault. It’s an adage that has carried over from the advertising days of yore, where space was limited (and not to mention pricey.)
It’s an old methodology that has yet to be pushed away
The best examples of this rhetoric are the old iconic billboards; huge logos, huge imagery. If you only have seconds to sell your product or your services to a potential customer then what else is there to do but try and grab as much attention as possible and hope for the best.
It’s short, it’s snappy, its outdated by about 60 years.
But even with that, times have changed and so should you.
This is fast becoming an outdated trend, instead of making it all about “the logo” or “the brand” it’s about “the service.” What’s more important to generating a lead? The logo for your business, or what your business can do for someone?
If all else fails, emulate the best
Take McDonalds for example, they long abandoned the “golden arches” as a mainstay on their advertising. Pretty much everyone (apart from Hulk Hogan) associates the red and yellow branding, the typography, and the imagery with McDonalds. It screams “McDonalds” on its own so they don’t have to scream it at you. One of their most recent advertisements (right) illustrates this perfectly. If that formula was reversed would it be as effective?
And here’s why all this matters.
Your users are coming to you because of a service you are offering, whether that is through using your natural SEO rankings, Facebook Advertising, PPC campaigns or just straight up pot luck. Either way, before they even land on your site they have already decided what they want and how they want it, having a huge logo doesn’t actually do anything other than take up valuable space on your website, in many cases it can actually put users off a site. Why you ask?
In fact, studies have been based around this since 2013 and showed that only 6.77% of logos are more than 100px in height and 12% are more than 250px in width. In fact the same study also shows that the average size of a logo is 168px long by 54px high.
Is your logo bigger than that? If so, it’s probably time to consider shrinking it down, your website isn’t for you, it’s for your clients. And (as hard as this is to hear) clients don’t care about your logo as much as you do.
But can’t you ”just make it bigger?”
Do you know what, we can, we’ll do it begrudgingly (of course) but as it’s your website, we can “make it a big bigger.” And then in the next round of revisions it’ll be “just a big bigger” and then “just a tiny bit more.” And as a client you’ll be happy as Larry that your logo is the size you want it. And if that’s why you want, that’s what we’ll do – we’re all about delivering a solid client service.
But by that point you’ve taken up 300 pixels of a standard monitor size if you include a navigation menu and some contact information in your header. Or to put this in perspective;
And regardless of personal preference (I myself, prefer smaller logos with engaging content), you can’t argue that that statistic is pretty damning when you’re only giving yourself 60% worth of visible content just so your company logo “can be a little bigger.”
The difference between your “logo” and your “brand”
Your logo is how you identify your business; your brand is what you are as a business. Take us at Identify for example, our logo is barely 50px tall (and I fought to make it that compact, hi Liam) and the reason for this is – if you need a website designing, or an app building, do you care (honestly) what our logo looks like? Or do you want information on the service we provide and how quickly we can assist your needs.
Our logo is orange and black, our site is orange and black. That simple synchronicity is enough to associate your logo with your website.
Again, why not emulate the best
Apple have an apple as an icon, Amazon have some stylised font. Beyond that I have no idea what they look like. Because if I go to Amazon I’m there to buy a product and get it conveniently shipped to my door, not once have I gone to the Amazon site and though “what am I doing here again?”
I know why I’m on the Amazon site (again, their logo is barely 50 pixels tall) because I know the Amazon brand. Facebook is the same, and twitter, the BBC website has a tiny logo in comparison to the information they have available to them.
A user is more likely to convert if they can see what you have to offer, rather than who you are.
And really, that’s all your site should be, a means in which to convert those who land from users into clients.
- You want to showcase your work? We can do that.
- You want to advertise your services or products? Easily done.
- Do you have a USP that gives you the edge on the competition? Well we’ll make sure that’s the first thing that engages a user.
Do you know what matters the least in all of this? Having a giant logo that undoes all those points listed above. Content is more valuable than who you are.
Or maybe you just want your logo bigger because you really like your logo, who knows.