What Comes First, The Logo, Or The Brand?

Your designer sends in your first logo concept; it’s classy, it’s stylish and seemingly perfect. It looks perfect on business cards and tees, and you can already envision it on a sign for your company.

But you can tell that’s something off. Although the logo is visually appealing and displays your company name, it just doesn’t seem to be ​quite ​ right. Something is missing; it doesn’t seem to capture your brand.

Now, the first issue with this scenario is the misconception that we commonly hear; ‘a logo and a brand are the same’. Although we’ll discuss that more later on in the article, for now, we’ll just leave it at the simple fact that a logo and brand are not interchangeable. They are significantly different.

Secondly, the next issue we have is that the logo, although appealing, is lacking character. When you’re looking at it all you see is exactly what it is; a logo. A logo isn’t just a logo, it’s a story, it’s your brand.

Let’s take a look at what the differences are between a brand and a logo and which comes first.

What is a logo?

We’ll start with the basics; what’s a logo? A logo is the physical representation of your company. It can be a symbol, letter, icon, or word. This physical representation should easily tell customers what your brand is without them having to dig deeper into it.

A logo is what your customers will associate your company with and it’s crucial that, when choosing a logo, you ensure that it’s perfect. Think about some of the most iconic logos; Mcdonald’s all too familiar golden arches and Apple’s symbolic half bitten apple icon. These logos have been imprinted on our world so significantly that many instantly recognize them without even seeing the name.

Your logo should speak for your customers and evoke positive emotions for them.

What is a brand?

A brand is your company. It’s how your customers and the marketplace will perceive your business. It’s the tone of your company language, it’s your social media platforms, it’s what your company does and, most importantly, how you interact with your customers.

The goal, and what excellent branding will accomplish, is to get your company noticed and to build a strong relationship with the audience.

What comes first – the brand or logo?

The brand should always come first. Doing this incorrectly, and attempting to create a logo without having a brand will result in a poorly aligned brand and logo, and ill-formed logo. The logo will be nothing more than a design.

You not only want your logo to be a part of your company, but you want it to represent it. Without having a clear brand identity that clearly states what your company is, what it does, and what’s it’s intentions are, then you’ll have nothing more than a design when you receive your logo.

Your logo has the power to be the single greatest part of your company, but by creating the logo before your brand you could ruin this opportunity. It is crucial that you have created a full brand that can stand on its own two feet before even thinking of attempting to work on your logo.