The biggest dilemma that graphic designers face nowadays is clients with acute brand knowledge. Sometimes a graphic designer creates a logo design for a client that fails to establish its business presence in market. The client throws all the blame of failure on the faulty logo design. However, in reality, it was not the logo that fell short and is the brand that failed.

How a brand is more than a Logo:

• Brand is not a mark, it LEAVES a mark:

This is the biggest fallacy of branding made by many business owners and entrepreneurs. Brand is not just a mark or a symbol that you put on your company sign board. On the contrary, a brand LEAVES a mark on your customer that is eternal and everlasting.

• Companies make logos, CUSTOMERS make brands:

If you think that you can make a brand by designing a logo, then I’m afraid you’re mistaken. Brand is not a tangible thing that can be built hypothetically. A brand encompasses whatever its customers think about it. In short, you can build a logo, but it is customers who build a brand. Big Ten logo redesign is a living example of this. The company decided on their logo, but in the end it was the Big Ten fans that decided the fate of the brand.

• Logo is an illustration, brand is a VISION:

Another major distinction between a logo and a brand is their focus span. Logos illustrates what a company stands for, what it has to offer and what is its purpose of existence. In contrast, a brand has strategic focus. It depicts a vision of the firm as to what the brand will be and what it promises to its customers in the future.

• Logos project, brands PROTECT:

A logo design is a visual representation of any company or business. It vividly projects the mesas age of the company’s existence in the industry. A brand goes one step further in protecting the image of the firm. Whatever you establish through your logo design is protected by your brand. The gap logo fiasco is a perfect example in this case. The company decided on a redesigned logo but failed badly in front of their customers. However, their longstanding brand power protected them from severe damage.

To wrap it up in a nutshell, logos lay the foundation of a brand but are not entirely sufficient to establish their presence. Brand branding does not simply end on a logo design. They must be thoroughly communicated and inculcated in order to be recognized.