A logo might not seem like a big deal. After all, it’s just an image used to represent your business, and aren’t all logos basically the same?
But where a lot of businesses falter is not placing nearly enough importance on their logo, and what it says about their business.
They decide to have it designed in-house by one of the staff, or they outsource it to a designer who knows nothing about their business, its values, its culture or what message they want to send to the general public.
And this can result in confusing, and sometimes embarrassing, results. It can also lead to you having to take the expensive step of rebranding your business, something which is always best avoided.
It’s not just a mistake made by small businesses – huge corporations are just as capable of sabotaging their public image.
Here are five logos that show you how not to do things.
Business Logos You Won’t Believe Exist
1. Starbucks
Here’s a brand name that’s synonymous with coffee. Okay, somewhat expensive coffee, but everyone knows that Starbucks equals coffee.
But the logo features what is allegedly a mermaid.
Why?
Because, according to the founder of the business, their coffee is as seductive as the siren song of the mermaid. That’s a neat idea, but what has a mermaid got to do with selling coffee? Nothing.
2. London Olympics 2012
The Olympics are meant to represent international togetherness and unity through competitive sporting events.
But the logo for the 2012 Olympics is disjointed, an odd colour, and features an odd typeface.The entire effect is not only jarring but there’s no message behind it. The reason why is because the designers wanted to “create something spiky”.
Yes, really.
3. Rising Sun Sushi
Pareidolia – where your mind sees something that’s not there…but that doesn’t stop you seeing it.
The logo for this business is meant to be a temple set against the backdrop of a setting sun. The problem is that it also looks like a skyscraper with a 60s disco perm. There are other less polite interpretations of this logo, but we’re not going there.
If your logo causes this level of visual confusion, then you’ve missed the mark.
4. AOL
Just no. No. AOL was one of the most iconic brands of the 1990s. At one stage they had over 25 million customers dotted all over the world. But their fortunes changed for the worse in the early 2000s.
And when you see this logo you might have some idea why that was the case.
5. Highlight
We have a winner!
Yes, this logo is painful to look at from both a design and physical point of view. Everything from the choice of typeface to the colour palette is wrong.
Combining these colours in an offset pattern like this can cause eye strain, and even headaches in some people. There is quite literally nothing positive you can say about this logo. It has no redeeming features, and is possibly the worst logo we’ve ever encountered.
So, as you can see, professionally designed logos are important for businesses of all sizes. It’s not something you should leave to chance, a friend, your neighbour who “knows Photoshop” or anyone else that might leave you with a logo you’ll have years to regret.
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