High profile organisations such as the 2012 Olympics, BBC News and OGC have come under fire in the press recently following the showcasing of their newly designed logos.
The Oxford Dictionary defines a logo as “…a printed design or symbol that a company or organization uses as its special sign.” So in fact, how easy is it to get a logo so wrong and what constitutes a ‘good’ logo? There are said to be a number of characteristics that a successful logo should have. These being: Differentiation
A company logo should sit apart from others and be instantly recognisable. Ways in which this can be done is by developing a unique typefont for the logo or tweaking an existing one. A logo which uses a popular typeface such as Ariel isn’t going to stand out as much as a logo that has it’s own identifiable font.

Timelessness
Research has found that the average shelf life of a company logo is twenty years. Although the logo may change very slightly in this time period, the changes are usually evolutionary rather than sudden. The logo needs to be able to stand the test of time and therefore shouldn’t be anything too fashionable, as it will wear out much quicker than a more classic design.

Malleability
Good logos need to work across all marketing items. There’s no point in having a logo that works on the side of a lorry, but that’s never going to be able to be embroidered onto tops or printed onto pens. When looking at choosing a logo in the first instance, the entire marketing mix must be looked at. This includes stationery, merchandising, uniforms, advertising and a host of other items.

Simplicity
Companies are now creating much more simplistic logos due to the ‘brand overload’ that we are being subjected to on a daily basis. The fast pace of living nowadays also means that customers don’t have the time to look at detailed logos. They want something instantly recognisable and this means the more simplistic the logo is, the better.

Logos are always going to be subjective and what one person loves, another will hate. It’s important to remember that you can’t possibly please everyone. As long as a logo is chosen that works well, it doesn’t really matter what the overall reaction is to it. As it becomes synonymous with your brand, people will stop looking at it as an individual design. Instead it will begin to communicate the brand as a whole.

The logo for the 2012 Olympics cost a reported £400,000 to develop and was aimed specifically at the younger, “internet generation”. Inspired by graffiti artists, the logo was hailed as “dynamic” and “edgy” by organisers. The logo took the best part of a year to develop and was received extremely well from the test groups. However, when officially launched, the logo was met with widespread disapproval with the logo being described as “an uninspiring emblem”, “a purile mess” and “an artistic flop”.

Worse was to come when the logo was translated into a promotional video. The video had to be pulled immediately after it was reported that eight people had to be hospitalized after viewing the footage due to the flashing graphics having triggered epileptic seizures.

A similar situation arose recently when the BBC unveiled the new BBC News rebranding. The £550,000 redesign received complaints that the spinning motion of the graphics had left viewers “dizzy” and “nauseous”.
The rationale behind the rebranding was to consolidate the BBC news channels across all platforms into one stronger brand. Again, viewer surveys had been conducted before the redesign had been launched and the feedback was positive with the overall reaction being that the branding was “clear, unfussy, direct, straightforward and fresh.”

Possibly the most humorous logo to be unveiled recently is the one of the Office of Government Commerce. The logo cost £14,000 and took just under a year to design. It was intended to reflect the body’s aim of “improving value for money by driving up standards and capability in procurement”.

The new logo, which had already been printed on marketing items such as mousemats and pens, was proudly unveiled to staff at the OGC who noticed straight away that the logo was destined to end in tears (of laughter) when rotated 90 degrees clockwise.
However, rather than retract the new logo and start again, the OGC has decided that having spent the cash, the logo is going to be stuck to. And why not? The new logo has produced more media coverage and column inches than would have been gained otherwise and due to the increased coverage, the logo is already recognisable. What could be better?!