Does your logo size up?

For years, SME company logos evolved from the artistic doodles of the company's founder, only to be left unchanged for fear of losing 'brand awareness'. Even professionally-created graphic logo-types are often maintained past their technological sell-by date. In years gone by, the graphic specs were defined by the business - sizes, colours and detail - were measured against the company's need to advertise. readability and understanding from glancing at billboards, page advertising, delivery van graphics, letterheads, calling cards. The scaling factor was important then, but it is even more important now. 

True, we no longer have to worry about a black and white rendition for the purpose of faxing a letterhead, although a prudent designer will still check all is well in that department. A recent experience of ours, marketing an international conference with over 30 companies providing sponsorship, highlighted a problem in stark sihouette. Promoting the support of the sponsors by using their logo initially seemed a simple task. Yes, the larger corporations sent the logo in different scalable forms of graphic, and some even appended the relevant section of their Corporate Identity Manual which left us in no doubt about how and where the logo may be used. 

The majority failed the first hurdle of supplying anything at all. When chased, they provided an image from their website (much too low resolution for posters, banners, flags or even for use in the printed brochure). After much cajoling, it was only when the logos were collated onto one large banner, did the real issue present itself. When scaling logos to the same 'equivalent area', some logos hit the viewer between the eyes, whereas others were lost completely. Spidery text logos look great running down the side of a letterhead in a subtle shade of colour, but what about when viewed on a website? And what about the favicon? 

We all know favicons, but probably not by the name. It's that little tiny icon that appears on the extreme left of the URL address of the company website, as displayed in the navigation bar of a browser. When considering the adaptability of your company logo, this is the far end of the size universe. With an area of just 16 x 16 pixels, you need a style that works here too. So when considering a new or updated logo, take into account all aspects of marketing, and start with just 16x16 pixels and doodle upwards from that.