What design is better?
As a marketer with 20 years experience, I am always trying to figure out the psychology behind why a client picks one logo over another, or one way of doing things over another.
Sometimes, they have insight that perhaps marketers do not. Mostly, they just like a particular colour, font style, identity mark or a way of doing things that may not quite be up with the times.
Sometimes, they have insight that perhaps marketers do not. Mostly, they just like a particular colour, font style, identity mark or a way of doing things that may not quite be up with the times.
The problem for marketers is that at the end of the day, our integrity as marketers is often compromised because the client is paying the bill and even though we may challenge them on what we think the market will be more receptive to - they ultimately have the say.
I have been in a room where a client who markets to a male demographic (heterosexual) between the ages of 25 and 45 years who wanted to have a pink logo because it stood out and he had seen a logo similar when he was in the US. Now, you and I know that this is completely and utterly not going to work for this market, but if the client wants it, they get it. The campaign failed and it was a case of 'we told you so' but it certainly did not do anything for our own satisfaction or theirs. The client was mature enough to know that the fault was all theirs and we were happy to walk away from the account because we believed so strongly that it would not work - but they begged us to stay and asked if we could 'humour them'. More money than sense.
Who interprets what is a good design and what is not? What is a great design, and what won't fly? Is blue better than yellow? Is what sells not necessarily the best design on the block?
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comments ( 2 )
David
25 May 2012It's important to stand out, but you should always keep the target demographic in mind. It is always the business owners that will decide on the logo and you would think that they know what thier customers want
ReplyBrittany
21 Feb 2012The biggest pickle about branding and logos is that everyone has different perspectives and people interpret things in different ways.
ReplyFor me, purple, pink and blue stand out, whereas my friend may prefer red, orange and yellow. People from the same demographic respond very differently to branding, which therefore makes it hard for companies to choose their logos, colours etc.
However, I believe that the company should choose what they feel in their gut, and tweak it to generally suit their target demographic. Because as difficult as it is, not everyone is going to love it.