A logo is not a brand – merely the symbol of one – a mark that stands for the values of a company. Can a business succeed with an ugly logo? Certainly, look at Verizon or early Google. Of course, attractiveness is subjective. However, I believe that for small business and personal brands, the most important critic to please is the owner. When you are proud of your own brand, much like the way your favorite clothes give you confidence, a beloved mark can give you courage and poise in front of prospective customers who will inevitably come to love it (and what it stands for) because you do.
LOGO DESIGN:
After 8 years, Café Zupas was ready to graduate from local favorite to national phenomenon. Their “old” logo was not going to cut it. The challenge was to get buy-in from the owners to change something that they were emotionally attached to and their customers recognized. The company needed to make the best impression in cities that have never heard of Café Zups. The result was that developers were eager to grant prime corner locations to a new, modern restaurant and the mark worked well with the modern brand esthetic the restaurant later adopted and continues to work as their marketing evolves.
