Visual Impact For Your Brand Development
Why you should include illustrated images in your brand logo to transmit the personality of your company to a target market of consumers.
Logo designs are an important method of communication between a company or brand and its target market. A strong design can have a huge impact on a customer and offers a way to convey the personality and values of a business with a view to gaining leads and ultimately sales.
What Is An Illustration Logo?
A logo is made up of various components such as colour, layout and font, but an often underused element of logo design is illustration. An illustration logo includes a detailed image next to the text of a company name, whereas a non-illustration logo design might include a graphic but with much less depth, for instance, a silhouette of a skyline.
Creative designers are able to use illustration as a means of delivering the core identity of the brand to consumers, whether it be fun, approachable, healthy, environmentally-friendly, sophisticated or glamorous. On the receiving end of this concept message, the audience benefits from the addition of an illustration, as they are able to engage with the brand and quickly interpret whether or not this is the style of the business that they’re seeking.
Standing Out From The Crowd
Illustration is also an added opportunity that a business’s creative team can use to stand out from its competitors. Some companies will go one step further and use illustration to create a character that consumers will instantly associate with a brand. The Laughing Cow and Green Giant are both examples of illustration logos that are completely synonymous with the brands they represent and customers are able to easily distinguish them from their rivals.
Designer Responsibility
A memorable logo will go a long way to convince consumers to make contact with a company, but it is important that the artwork is in keeping with the theme and nature of the business. A designer has a particular responsibility to ensure that the visual statement from a company matches the mission of the business. For example, a cartoon-like illustration would not usually be suited to a particularly corporate City business, which would do better to depict a more sophisticated illustration logo.
Illustration-Friendly Industries
Certain industries that are able to portray a friendly and informal feel to them are well-served by the inclusion of an illustration in their logo. Some of these industries might include:
- Food Brands
- Kids (toys, nurseries, childcare, children’s activity franchises)
- Clubs and Organisations
- Creative and Design
- Entertainment (bars, pubs, cinema, bowling etc.)
- Clothing and gifts
Restrictions Of Illustration Logos
It might seem like a no-brainer to use an illustration logo as part of your company image, particularly if your company operates within one of the genres listed above, but unfortunately, there are certain restrictions with using such complex artwork. The main problem is that it can be difficult or impossible to print an illustration logo onto some mediums, such as equipment. However, there is always the flexibility of using two variations of your logo, one with the illustration on it and one without.