REDESIGNING A LOGO, AVOID THE COMMON MISTAKES!
So you want to redesign your logo, you notice certain things that might have been done wrong with the original design or your just looking for a little change and change can be good if done right. Now that you are sure a new look is the direction you want to go in, what are the do’s and don’t of redesigning a logo?
WHY REDESIGN A LOGO
As graphic designers we might from time to time be approached with the task of redesigning a logo and the first thing we must determine is why is the client requesting a redesign. We need to know why a client is looking to change the look or why the client wants to redesign their current logo. Personally I think one of our jobs as great designers is to give our professional opinions to our clients, prevent clients from making the wrong decision and not just take their money.
Every aspect of yours or your client’s business will evolve over time, your website, your technology and yes your logo! If the business has evolved and the logo doesn’t represent the business’ core values or strength it might be time for a redesign. Clients or customers want to see that a company they are thinking about purchasing from or have been a customer of is changing with the times and if your competitors are redesigning their logos it’s probably best practice to make some changes of your own. As your business grows it is important to make sure your logo stands the test of time and if it doesn’t it’s time to think of redesigning!
KEEP IN MIND
When redesigning a logo there are a few guidelines to follow to guarantee a successful redesign and not risk a failure. Redesigning a logo can have you or your client walking on egg shells, it’s needed but it needs to be done right and one little minor error could be a complete catastrophe.
DO YOUR RESEARCH
As I said earlier on in the post you must ask yourself whether the redesign is needed, you must know specifically what issues the business is facing and come to a conclusion that a re-branding is the answer. There will be no worst problem then redesigning a logo that shouldn’t have been touched and creating more problems on top of the ones the business already had.
FIT THE BRAND
As a designer or client you want to make sure the redesign fits the brand and stays true to the company’s story. If the new logo design shy’s away from it true purpose to represents or gives a feel of the businesses true core values or it’s promises to their clients it will start to lose it’s client’s trust.
REPUTATION IS IMPORTANT
You don’t want the redesign to lose your current reputation, if you are know by your clients to be of high quality and your logo represents that, you don’t want a redesign to make your business look cheap or similar to a brand of less quality. As I said the logo must fit the brand and must represent the brands quality.
INTEGRATING NEW BRAND
You don’t want to be inconsistent with the new branding, make sure all parts of the business is now representing the new brand, redesign all media such as business cards, letterheads, brochures and advertisements. Make sure that all physical locations are now showcasing the new design and branding. Inconsistency can hurt client trust and give off a feel of a inferior business structure as well as commitment issues.
SUBTLETY TO KEY
When redesigning a logo you want to make subtle changes and stay away from drastic changes. If you decide to turn away from the original design to much the logo may no longer represent what the business stands for and it might no longer be recognizable by the market. Let’s say for instance McDonald’s decided to change the looks of their signature arches, how many people would remember them as the food chain and how much business would they potentially lose from the confusion. Let’s also look at it from a appearance stand point, loyal customers would lose interest just because the arches everyone has grown to love was taken away, people would be angry, feel lost and provoking the wrong emotions can make current clients or customers turn away from your business.

This is by no means authentic, it is merely to showcase if redesigning a logo for McDonalds went bad. How does it make you feel about McDonald’s?
BEST LOGO REDESIGNS
There are many companies or graphic designers that get it right, redesigning a logo that stays true to the brand, increases trust in their clients and gives a feeling of the company maturing with time. Below are some of those designs to give you a feel of what should be done when redesigning a logo and why sometimes it is necessary.

Pizza Hut’s redesign doesn’t stray from the original design, still recognizable and has a modern feel.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers logo has more depth, it’s vibrant and the skulls looks more sinister but overall the design keeps the originals dedication to the brand!

The Olive Garden logo redesign remain true to the original design, cleaner and less complicated then the original.
WORST LOGO REDESIGNS
Then there are the logos that just didn’t cut it and completely went in the wrong direction. Turned away from their businesses core values and failed to properly represent their brand while keeping their current trust with clients.

The Black & Decker redesign doesn’t remain true to the original design and is generic which will make it hard to know what the company makes if you didn’t already know.

The JC Penney logo has change several different times which gives off a feel of inconsistency, leaves confusion and hurts client trust.

The name Yahoo to me was a word the expressed excitement and the original design did that very thing, expressed excitement, The new design is a bore and makes me regret being interested in YAHOO!
TO SUMMARIZE
Remember when redesigning a logo keep it subtle, keep the logo’s best attributes ( don’t change what works), strive for simplicity, stay with the color scheme that best represents the business values, change with the times or trends but keep the classic traditions, remember to design with market position in mind, redesign other corporate identity along with the new logo design and making the design easier on the eyes.
Julius
Wow a lot of good information. I been thinking on creating a logo for my website but I think with your experience you be able to do a better job. Im going to contact you so I can tell you my idea so we can creat a logo for my site.
Salvatore Jenkins Jr. author
I look forward to discussing your future logo and glad the information was of value to you!
Kevin
I am an online blogger and I just created my first logo ever and I think that it looks pretty good. This contains great information on how to avoid the common mistakes of redesigning a logo. Hopefully I will not have to resigned my logo anytime soon because it took me a couple hours just to make something basic. Do you make logos for people or just write about them?
Salvatore Jenkins Jr. author
I’m glad you found the information in this post valuable… I am a freelance graphic design! I design logos and enjoy every step of the adventure but it can be time consuming but in the end it is always worth it! To see the design take shape is rewarding and satisfying.
Thanks Kevin,
Hope your happy with your new design and take pride in the fact your designed it yourself! If you would like any feedback on the design don’t hesitate to contact me…
Anh Nguyen
Salvatore,
I am not planning to redesign my logo anytime soon, but as a fan of design in general I found your post very interesting with real life example. 🙂
The latest logo went wrong I noticed recently is Instagram, it veered off so far from its’ original concept that I can’t stand looking at it on my phone, On top of that, it looks cheap and generic.
In my opinion, the most important thing when it comes to redesign your brand in any areas is to keep the original feeling to it. You can go for a more flat and modern design instead of a 3D one, but it’s generally a bad idea to do a 100% make-over until others can’t recognise you anymore.
Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Anh
Salvatore Jenkins Jr. author
The Instagram logo is a prime example of what not to do when redesigning a logo! The most important thing when redesigning a logo is to not stray to far from the original and make subtle changes!
Thank you for a resent logo redesign example and for another great contribution to the Logos and Simplicity community.
Evie
Some cool info and its quite eye opening to see what even a small change to a logo can make to your perception of the business. I agree with your view on the yahoo logo – the original did seem much more dynamic.
I recently modified my logo for my photographic business. After looking at the logo that a designer had built for me and used for a few years I realised that it could be amended to make it slightly simpler and fit with my branding more. The original designer had used three fonts and I thought this was a bit too many plus the word photography really could not be read at a distance. I actually like the changes as the name jumps out more.
Salvatore Jenkins Jr. author
It’s amazing how much of an impact a simple design can have and how too much going on can hurt the overall identity message!