The Best Advice on the Worst Color Choices for your Website or Brand
A regular reader of the Gist Brands blog recently emailed me a concern:
“Are there any ‘no go’ website colors or combinations we should be aware of as we tackle our new site?”
Good question, and if you do a visual survey of websites, obviously one not enough people are asking.
My take is there are as many color fails and issues in websites as there are in brand color choices in general, though they get further exacerbated online by complications of: screen type and resolution; transmitted color (backlit screens) versus reflective color (like a page, package, or car); as well as form factor (small mobile screens, etc.) But let’s talk about some basic guidelines and guardrails.
How Apple’s Rollout of iOS 7 Verifies Our Predictions for Design and Branding
Apple’s redesign of their operating system was the farthest thing from my mind two months ago when I began penning a series on current design trends. In fact, I’d been so focused on my own business that I hadn’t even heard any scuttlebutt that a new mobile OS was likely at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference earlier this month.
So it came as a total surprise when the drastic, Jonathon Ive-led overhaul of the iOS—the biggest single change since the iPhone’s introduction—completely underscored our recent predictions; the seven significant design trajectories I identified that were likely to continue to influence branding and logo design in the near future.
10 Tips to Simplify Your Logo
The talent of a good designer (in any discipline) is understanding restraint and when more is just…well…more. Here are some basic pointers to keep your logo concepts sharpened, or to explore simplifying an existing logo.
Checklist: 10 Must-Have Criteria for Your Logo
What makes a logo not just creative, but strong, successful, and lasting? How do you know when your logo isn’t working the way it should? What makes one concept potentially better than another? How do you narrow down your top choices in a logo redesign to a front-runner when different people are responding to different esthetics?
If a logo designer has done their job, everything they’re showing you should meet the following 10 objective criteria for logos. Unfortunately, it’s not always the case and these key questions can quickly eliminate some concepts from the running and help you quickly focus your efforts. It’s intriguing how quickly this list can reshuffle your feelings about an existing company logo or new logo proposals you’re presented with. Read More
The Right Stuff: Does Your Logo Have It?
Whether you’re at the point of evaluating new logo concepts as part of a rebranding process, or just trying to figure out if your current logo still has staying power, the key is to look at something beyond the simple and subjective decision of whether you “like it” esthetically or think it’s “creative.”
It’s hard to look at things objectively in relation to logos and other creative products. We’re all programmed to react to things based on our own filters and preferences, and as business people we frequently lack the vocabulary to discuss these issues or the nuances that come with them.
While it’s ideal to love your own logo and other brand assets, the most important thing for your business is how well it portrays the essence of your company’s brand and value, how it connects with customers, what it communicates to them, and whether it’s utility meets your long-term business needs. After all, it’s a tool for growing your business, not art to hang on your wall at home.
So how do you know if your logo does its job?