When is just a logo a good idea?

I am sure you have heard many designers say over and over 'a brand is not a logo'. And it's true there is so so much more to a brand and a brand's identity than the logo. A logo is simply a mark. Just like there is so much more to you as a person than your name.

But that doesn't mean hiring out a full brand design is always the best option. While it is the long term goal to create a strong brand identity that considers all elements of the brand, sometimes just a logo is just the right starting point. So when is that?

WHEN TO HIRE A DESIGNER FOR JUST A LOGO

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What's the first thing you think of when you think of branding? It is probably the logo.

Logos are a really integral and stand out part of a brand, but you probably also heard a lot of designers say that a brand is not a logo and it isn't. And a logo is not the only part of a brand and it is not the most important thing necessarily either.

There's so much that goes into branding and the logo is just a mark something that represents your brand in today's video. I'm going to talk about when at hiring out just the logo is a good idea. But getting a whole brand suite done. As I said, you probably heard a lot of designers saying that a logo isn't a brand and they're right there.

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Let's discuss it when it's appropriate to only outsource logo design.

Now there's a reason why a lot of designers say a logo, isn't a brand. And that's because for a lot of people the first thing they think of when they think of a brand is a logo.

So when they think, 'Oh, I've got to get my branding done', they'll probably go to a designer and say, 'Can you design my logo?' They don't realize that there's so much more to branding than simply a logo. There's so much more that is involved in creating a brand identity. Designers are simply trying to educate people on what really makes a strong brand identity and how that goes far beyond a logo.

The trouble is that outsourcing a full brand identity isn't always going to work or be the right move for everyone, at the current stage they are at. Here's a few reasons why:

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1. You are a Brand new Brand or Lack Clarity

If you're absolutely brand new and just starting out a new business or if you don't have full brand clarity, then doing a full brand identity, you could leave you spending a lot of time and money creating a beautiful and well thought out brand identity only to realize that you want to do things differently.

You may want to take things in different direction as you start to do more market research, or you realize that maybe the direction you've gone is just not working out or even wanting to completely change. You may decide to change your audience or even the brand name.

So jumping right in from the get go and going all in on a full brand identity when you're not ready yet or you don't have that clarity, is going to be a huge waste of time and money.

Now that doesn't mean if you've got a brand new business that you can't go and do that brand identity straight off the bat, but make sure that you do have clarity about what you're doing and the direction you're going, that you've done your research, that you are clear on your market, your offers, your audience and have clear messaging.

If you're unsure and you're trying to test the waters and figure things out as you go, and see how people react to things then you'll want to keep your initial branding simple.

You're not going to want to go all out and create a full brand identity. This is where outsourcing just the logo could be a good idea. You might be able to pick out some colors and fonts and other bits and pieces yourself, but you want to uplevel just a little bit and get that logo looking really nice.

It might be suitable to just outsource that logo so you can elevate things a little bit and make it look really professional so that you're presenting yourself well. It allows you to have a good looking brand without committing too heavily in case you might want to change things down the line.

If you decide it is going well, you can later expand out from that logo. But if you decide to change things, you only invested in that logo and it doesn't feel like you are throwing away a full brand identity. You may even keep the logo but simply making some tweaks to it to adjust to the pivots you make in your business.

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2. You are Creating a Sub-Brand

The other reason you might want to hire out just a logo is if you have a sub-brand. You might already have a full brand identity for your main primary umbrella brand, but maybe you're creating a new product or line of things and you have a sub brand, basically a brand that sits under that umbrella brand.

This means of lot of brand elements and identity is based on that primary brand. So you're not having to create everything new from scratch. For that sub brand, you might still be using the same colours and fonts. It still has the same feeling about it because it's still the same audience, but maybe you just want to create a logo for that sub brand.

So maybe you want to create a product logo, something that just sets that thing apart.

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3.You want to Invest in your Brand but Haven't Grown Enough to Justify a Full Identity

I feel like there is a lot of shaming around this and so people don't talk about it much. Everyone is telling you you need to invest in your business, and you know you need to look professional if you want to grow. But if your business isn't yet bringing in enough profit to justify a big investment it may feel risky or just not be possible for you just yet.

But that of course leaves you wondering how you can make your business look good and begin to build a brand identity to position your brand and attract the right people while you try to reach that point that you are ready to invest.

This is where a smaller investment can be a better move for you. It could be taking a course on design or learning more about branding so you can work on some of your brand and graphics yourself and as we will look at in the next point, getting that extra helping hand with the areas you find hardest to DIY such as the logo.

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4. You can Confidently DIY your Brand but Struggle with the Logo.

Another reason that you might want to outsource just the logo is if you are a designer or a creative yourself, and you can actually handle most of the branding yourself, you feel quite confident to do most of it. Perhaps you have taken a course or done a lot of research and most of the brand identity is within your skill level to create.

If you would like to learn how to DIY your graphics and parts of your branding take a look at Design Better Graphics.

However, for some reason, you're struggling with that logo. It can be quite a challenge sometimes to design for yourself. Step outside of yourself and create something for yourself. But if you're finding that your logo is a stumbling block and it could speed things up for you and make you feel more confident about your brand, if you outsource that one element.

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5. Something Just Feels off about your Current Logo

And the final reason is if your logo just isn't serving you. So maybe most of your brand identity is going pretty well, but you feel like something about your logo is off. So outsourcing just that logo might be the only element of your branding that needs fixing up. If everything else is working out, why would you start from scratch and create a whole new brand identity, if you just need to fix one particular area?

That's the time when maybe just doing just the logo is right and you keep everything else as it is.

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Looking for helping with your Logo or Branding?

If you're someone that feels like you're in one of these situations where you only need that logo and you feel frustrated because everyone's saying, 'oh, no, I don't do only logos.'

But right now I'm in a situation where only a logo is what I need. Well, I'm now offering that service. So if you want to find more about what I offer with that take a look here.