A logo is the personification of your company, which largely determines its corporate identity. Many entrepreneurs (especially beginners) start creating their business with a logo, and this approach is taking place. Only you should always first study the area with which you are dealing for the first time. In this blog, we will talk with you about how not to create your own label, and we will analyze examples of unsuccessful design decisions. The contradictory method works best, so you can knowingly save yourself from mistakes that are most common in people who start their own business.

Logo errors are numerous, and a book volume would not be enough to list them. First, let’s figure out why the quality of the logo is so important:

• The target audience associates with it. We looked at the logo – they remembered your brand. And it is very bad if the association evokes negative or mocking emotions.
• The company’s symbol appears almost everywhere: souvenirs, decoration of work premises, documentation, advertising strategies. It is constantly in sight, so it is very important to make sure that the logo does not distract attention and does not irritate the eyes.
• The logo should not contradict your brand’s activities. The image of a toothbrush representing a car repair shop looks at least inappropriate. Thinking over symbolism must be given a huge amount of attention, and all work should be carried out with the support of a specialist designer.

The above points are just a small part of all the reasons why your heraldry should be of high quality, ideal in all characteristics. Now let’s turn our attention to the top of the most unfortunate logos that have become popular solely because of their absurdity, inappropriateness and unprofessional artists.

Logo mistake # 1: lack of matching elements

Errors in the 2012 Olympics logo

Let’s look at several options that were received with hostility due to certain compositional moments. The first thing I want to talk about is the symbolism that personifies the 2012 Olympic Games. Such a concept as unacceptable logos is fully justified by the design of the symbols that infuriated every connoisseur of sports games and competitions. Professional designers know firsthand that it is better not to play with classics, and the Olympiad is one of the most classic events, which has a long-established logo in the form of 5 rings.

Why did people dislike the 2012 version so much? Firstly, excessive expression. The combination of hardly matching colors, incomprehensible shapes, which many perceived as a broken swastika symbol – all this caused 80 percent of the lowest ratings. Critics said the logo looked childish and was not worthy of representing the London Olympics.

Logo mistake # 2: lack of well-developed fonts

Animal Planet rebranding

Bad logos are sometimes replaced by very good ones, as happened in the case of the popular Animal Planet TV channel. Previously, their logo featured a planet and an elephant pictured below. It immediately became clear that this channel corresponded to topics related to our world, nature and the inhabitants of the planet as a whole. But then the brand’s management decided to rebrand, that is, to move to a new stage of its existence. The result, of course, amazed, but not in a positive sense.

Now the logo is the name of the channel in some kind of incomprehensible font. The letter “M” completely fell on its side, which is why the symbolism raises a lot of doubts among ordinary viewers. The effect is also enhanced by the green color. It would seem that it evokes associations with nature, plants, but in the new version it looks rather ridiculous, given the overall composition of the development.

Logo mistake # 3: neglecting the opinion of the target audience

Tropicana, or target audience riot

Incorrect logos that appear during rebranding do not always change dramatically. An example of this is the world famous Tropicana juice produced under the auspices of PepsiCo. It was decided to create a completely new packaging for the product, and put it on the masses. The reason for this was the desire to move to a substantially new level, more modern and innovative. But the result was not in line with the brand’s plans, because the target audience rebelled sharply.

This riot was due to the fact that customers no longer saw the appetite-inducing packaging they were used to. Now the juice resembled, rather, some kind of second-rate product, and people called the packaging “idiotic” and “ugly”. After months of letters and calls with complaints, PepsiCo quickly retreated, stating that they were immediately returning to their old packaging.

Logo mistake # 4: failing to get your message across

Pepsi, or global failure

Pepsi has changed its logo so many times, but the latest development, which cost a million dollars, left everyone in disbelief. The designer product was simply called pointless despite the price tag. The white stripe in the middle, as the representatives of the brand say, personify a smile, but there are no similarities between the images. As a result, the logo turned out to be very strange, and certainly not the most successful one.

But the label of the Coca Cola company, which has not changed practically from the very beginning of the company’s foundation, is still one of the most successful. It immediately becomes clear whose strategy works much better.

Logo mistake # 5: neglecting current design trends

Wendy’s – Laziness or a Rebranding Strategy?

Wendy’s- the chain of fast food restaurants is one of the most loved in the West, and their cuisine specializes in so-called “homemade burgers”. The original logo seemed to be outdated, so the company decided to carry out a rebranding, which would take the brand to a qualitatively new level. Also, the main idea was to match the old style, but the result was not the best.

The new logo turned out to be very simple, as if done in a few hours. This was noticed by almost all visitors to the fast food restaurant. If you are planning a strategy to completely redesign your own corporate identity, you should devote 100 percent of the effort to this process, and not try to squeeze something new out of the old version, hoping for innovative breakthroughs.

Logo mistake # 6: being overconfident in your own idea

GAP: are clothes really cheap?

The GAP brand, like Wendy’s, is more widespread in the West, but their example of changing the corporate logo can also be used as an unfortunate example, which it is better not to follow. The clothing store decided to become more modern, closer to people, after which the rebranding phase began. People quickly noticed the new logo with a well-known name, but almost everyone was shocked at how cheap and ridiculous the new design looked.

It is not known whether the company tried to save money on creating a new logo, or the desire to be simpler influenced such a deplorable result, but now the brand is again using the old version of the logo.

Logo mistake # 7: removing memorable elements

BBC: when criticism didn’t break decisions

Throughout its history, this company has changed its symbols only 5 times. The penultimate version was the letters BBC in gray squares highlighted with multi-colored lines. And the last option became more restrained and minimalistic, since the colors were completely excluded from the composition of this option, and the letters were enclosed in black squares. Outwardly, the option looks very aesthetically pleasing and restrained, but what did the channel viewers dislike?

The changes seemed almost insignificant to the public, and getting rid of the colors made the model somehow nondescript and unmemorable. But the company was not attacked by critics, and this symbolism is still officially used today. This example can hardly be called unsuccessful. Rather, it symbolizes what one can be prepared for when changing visual style.

Logo mistake # 8: frequent design changes

Google: not bad, but why so often?

Google has always been distinguished by its originality, and their legendary logo completely destroys all modern standards for building a composition. The combination of incongruous colors, the use of shadows and a nondescript font ultimately led to the fact that such heraldry is recognized by almost all people inhabiting the planet. But what is the main mistake of the enterprise?

You don’t need to redesign too often. The break between the old and the new brand logo was only a few months, and people simply did not have time to get used to the “outdated” design. Of course, the new design development satisfied everyone – both the brand and the audience of the brand. But this approach is unlikely to be good for a business that is just starting its own development.

Errors of logos in the creation and development of design

The above mentioned mistakes of successful brands are not supposed to ridicule large enterprises that have been leaders in their own fields of activity for decades. Everyone can make a similar mistake, because they are the ones who give us invaluable experience. It is not at all necessary to go through these shortcomings yourself, drawing certain conclusions from the failures of other companies. Let’s separate them into a separate list:

1. Symbols should not be overly expressive. As energetic as a brand you want to appear, aesthetics must be respected throughout. Overkill is quickly felt by your audience and can quickly become an object of ridicule.
2. Having a successful logo, you don’t need to get rid of it if you don’t have even more interesting and potentially successful ideas in your head. Do not try to appear more modern if your company already meets the requirements and expectations of the target audience.
3. Minimalism is a complex art, the pursuit of which often creates an impression of unprofessionalism in the execution of design ideas. A minimum of details without a sense of taste looks like an awkward, cheap composition. It becomes especially embarrassing when the old logo in a minimalistic design looks stupid, incomplete.
4. The label should be fully consistent with what your company does. You should not try to fit absolutely the whole point of your activity into a small drawing. Make sure everything is nice and simple. You also don’t need to be hypocritical by using design hyperboles when drafting a new logo. Negative criticism will not be long in coming.
5. Don’t change the style of your own business too often. People should get used to the corporate identity; create certain associations in their heads. The constant change of logos, color schemes, fonts and slogans will simply prevent the target audience from accepting you as an established brand, unless, of course, you have a status equal to Google, Microsoft or Apple.
6. The work on the logo should be done only with a professional designer, because otherwise, the result will be very cheap, ugly, too simple and not original. Good symbolism needs long and careful thought, so be prepared to spend not only financial resources, but also your own energy, time and stock of creative ideas.

Output

I hope you enjoyed this blog. As you saw in the example, following trends in logo design is very important. In 2022, it is important to stick to minimalism and simplified forms, use beautiful colors, and also not forget about typography in its various forms. In addition, as always creative illustrations remain relevant, the main thing is not to overdo it. Seeking more cute logo and emblem design tips? Create custom logos with the Get Custom Logo logo maker.