March 19, 2009 | Category: Logo Design | Tags: logo design tips

Companies that are blessed with having strong and iconic symbols such as the Pillsbury Doughboy, the Maytag repairman, or the Michelin man can actively manage and use the symbols to super charge their brand.

Such iconic logo symbols give a personality to the brand and help tell a story effectively. For example, the Pillsbury Doughboy is quite upbeat with a sense of humor and signals freshness and superb quality. The Maytag repairman is relaxed and confident, and symbolizes the reliability of Maytag. The Michelin man is strong and positive and means safety.

Iconic logo symbols can have a life of their own. It is usually much easier to make a connection with a logo symbol rather than a product. Budweiser’s Frank and Louie lizard characters has such a following that customers would go to their website to check out the ads. They would also buy custom t-shirt designs and toys from their website. These characters were strongly linked to Budweiser because they were marketed so well in their ads.

When considering a log design for your company, you need to try and work our a brand strategy first. What would be your identity, how would you want to be related to etc, are questions you need to ask yourself. The answers to these questions would then help you decide weather you want to go for iconic logo symbols or for a logo design that is more illustrative in nature.