If you haven't heard, the mobile revolution is here to stay. 51% of web traffic in Q1 of 2018 originated from a smartphone*; that has some major marketing implications. But has your company considered how this should impact your logo and branding? Can your logo scale well from a giant outdoor ad, to a small navigation bar on a mobile website?
Because conventional marketing wisdom would say that consistency is key when it comes to branding, as a designer, I've found that many business owners are hesitant to let us touch their logos. They want the exact same graphic used everywhere. However, with the advent of so many screen sizes, it is vital to have a branding solution that is adaptable and scalable. Many Fortune 500 companies and large corporations are already doing this, but these responsive logos are so well designed that you may not have even noticed the change. Take a look at some examples below:
Where there is room for a large-scale logo, the full-detail version is used, but the amount of available space decreases, the logos gracefully simplify. The mobile version may even use just an icon, yet the brand is still recognizable.
Imagine trying to scale down the full Warner Brothers Logo to the size of the smallest one above. There would be no way you could read the text along the banner. The smallest logo still represents their brand well, without the unprofessional look of too-small text. Brand consistency no longer means blindly putting the same logo on everything. Adapting to context is the name of the game now.
At JH Specialty, this is something we try to take into account with every site we design. Some logos already scale gracefully on a mobile phone, but here are a few examples from our clients that have done well with responsive branding:
If you're having issues with your logo scaling, there are a couple things you could do:
- Consider a full re-brand. if you're already in need of logo updates for mobile, it might make sense to get a fresh revamp to your logo. Make sure to specifically ask the company or designer you're working with to create a logo that can be scaled to work on mobile.
- Have a mobile version created. If a re-brand is too much, have a simplified version created from/based off your existing logo. This might work with some logos a bit better than others. For instance, if your logo is primarily text-based, it might be a little more tricky to come up with a good solution that can be abbreviated or turned into an icon.
Either way, the best way to start is by talking to the company or designer you want to partner with to see what's possible. Contact us today for help bringing your logo and branding up to date - we would love to work with you!
*Statistic pulled from www.statista.com
Photos screenshotted from http://responsivelogos.co.uk/
