There are many businesses who have gone through various logo changes through their decades long histories, for example: Pepsi, Alfa Romeo, Nokia, etc…

The questions is ‘why and when did they change their logo, and even more importantly, when will it be time for you to give your brand a new image?’

Below we have listed the 5 most important reasons to consider a logo make-over.

Business acquisition

Sometimes after a business acquires another a decision is made to join the two brands into a new, larger brand. A fresh logo is key to providing a new visual representation after a business acquisition, but it must be able to help maintain customer loyalty from the 2 original companies at the same time.

One option is to merge the two existing logos, as was done after the merger of Anheuser-Busch and Inbev:

or to design a completely new brand image, as Norsk Hydro ASA’s oild and gas activities and Statoil ASA did when they joined to form Statoil.

Change of name

There are several reasons a company might want to change their brand name. The old name might have undesirable associations, or be pronounced incorrectly in another country.
The meaning of the word might have changed over the years, the name may have less to do with the market segment than it used to.
A name change directly implies a logo change.

Logo revitalization

As a company grows, achieves a different market position, the aim of the company becomes more clear and it opens itself to new markets… this might be the moment to change the company’s logo and give it a new direction. The creative questions remains; which elements of the logo should be retained from the old identity, if the change in the logo should be an evolution, or if it should be a complete new visual concept.

Logo evolution:

New concept:

Changes in the organization

Each brand/business evolves at its own pace through the years. And not every change needs to be reflected in the creation of a new logo. The trick is to pick just the right moment to make just the right changes to the brand.

• Is it clear to see when a company logo was created some 15 years ago, but that the company’s expertise has kept up with the times?
• Has a company decided to branch into a new market segment, or to expand into the international market?
• Is the company is under new management, and would it like to reflect a new, fresh image with a new logo?

These are all reasons to give an old logo a new look. Depending on the familiarity of the old logo the degree of change that we want to express visually can be chosen:

a logo-evolution:

or a total re-branding:

Poorly visualized logo

Many small companies make the mistake of not putting enough thought and budget into the development of a brand at the start-up of the company. They lacked the financial ability to have a logo designed, and often don’t realize the importance of a well designed brand image. A company’s logo is a visual representation of who they are and what they do, it creates recognition in the market, and instills a feeling of value and trust in the consumer.

Practical expercise.. Now click here and try for yourself!    We have tutorials on how to design logos or business card effectively.