Lecture 5: Visual branding | Logos

Question 1

What are the components of visual brand?

Answer 1

Logo
Typography
Color
Products

Question 2

Visual brand components: what is a logo?

Answer 2

face of the brand: set of visual signifiers (often a symbol + name) that refer to the brand

Question 3

Visual brand components: what is typography?

Answer 3

refers to the display of text related to a brand, including the size and the kerning of the font

Question 4

Visual brand components: what is color?

Answer 4

a fundamental cue to the identity of a brand

Question 5

What is a logo and what are the 3 categories (Evamy, 2012)?

Answer 5

A visual emblem of the identity of a brand. Broadly speaking, logos can be classified in three categories

symbols
representations
logotypes

Question 6

What are symbols?

Answer 6

geometric elements that have deeper (often cultural) meaning (esso, mitsubishi)

Question 7

What are representations?

Answer 7

stylized depictions of nature, humans, vehicles or other (McDonalds, Disney, Holister)

Question 8

What are logotypes?

Answer 8

representations of the name brand with characteristic font (netflix, barbie, cocacola)

Question 9

What makes a logo successful? | Vam Grinsven & Das, 2016
What is the research question?

Answer 9

How does exposure to a logo influence attitude to the related brand? Does the complexity of the logo influence this relationship?

Question 10

What makes a logo successful? | Vam Grinsven & Das, 2016
Why is it difficult to research succesfull logos?

Answer 10

Research found that logo characteristics that are associated with success are difficult to quantify (harmonic, pleasant)

Question 11

What defines the complexity of logos?

Answer 11

Feature complexity
Design complexity

Question 12

What is feature complexity?

Answer 12

basic features like color, luminance and edges and design complexity

Question 13

What is design complexity?

Answer 13

complexity of shapes, objects and patterns. It positively influences comprehension and memory

Question 14

What is an assumption about logo complexity and recall?

Answer 14

A simpler logo is easier to remember, because it requires less processing capacity, and is easier to store the consumer brain.
Once an image is (consciously/subconsciously) in a person’s knowledge, it will be easier to recall with each new exposure.

Because of processing fluency, we can expect recall + attitude to improve upon repeated exposure also for complex logos
The idea is: if a simple logo is easy to remember already from the first or second exposure -> after a certain times of exposures, complex and simple logos will perform similarly

Question 15

Aesthetic effects of logos: The tripping point is influnced by?

Answer 15

Habituation = process of learning something from the stimulus with every exposure
Tedium = satiation is reaches = boredom

Key idea: the more complex a stimulus (brand) is, the longer the process of learning and the later tedium is reached

Question 16

What makes a logo successful? | Vam Grinsven & Das, 2016
Describe experiment 1 and its results

Answer 16

Group 1: exposed to 30 brands, of which 6 are the experimental one. Exposure = once
Group 2: exposed the 6 experimental logos. Exposure = 4 times

Results:
- Simpler logos are easier to recognize
- Respondents exposed to the logo ONCE take a longer time to recognize them, compared to the respondents who see them FOUR times
- For complex logos, recognition improves with every exposure; the same effect is NOT found in simple logos

Question 17

What makes a logo successful? | Vam Grinsven & Das, 2016
Describe experiment 2 and its results

Answer 17

Well-established vs recently established X simple vs complex logos

Results:
Well established brands are faster recognized than novel ones. No main effect of complexity (i.e. whether the logos were simpler or more complex makes no difference for recognition)

Both in terms of attitude and recognition, there is a significant interaction between how familiar a logo is, and whether it is simple or complex
- Recently established logos do better with a simpler design but…
- As they become more established, a more complex design is more successful

In practice:
- When launching a new brand: logo simplicity might be a winning strategy
- However, if consumers are exposed to the brand a lot, whether a logo is simple or complex makes no difference
- If a brand is established, a complex logo works (a little) better in terms of consumer recognition and attitude

Question 18

Logos redesign and consumer attitudes | Walsh et al. 2010
What is the research question?

Answer 18

How does logo redesign impact consumer attitude towards a brand? What role does brand commitment play?

Question 19

Typology of logos

Answer 19

How ELABORATE is it?
How COMPLEX is it?
How ACTIVE is it?
3D or 1D?
How PARALLEL is it?
How REPETITIVE is the structure?
Is it PROPORTIONAL?
How ROUND is it?

Question 20

What are the benefits of a round logo?

Answer 20

Round logos are “a compromise between the object and its surroundings”
They are more often associated with harmony, friendliness and approachability

Question 21

What is brand commitment?

Answer 21

an enduring desire to maintain a valued relationship with brand

• Stronger commitment to a brand = stronger perceived connection between themselves and the brand
• Brands might have a different meaning for committed consumers because they trigger stronger brand-related associations

Logo changes might be threatening to consumers’ relationship with the brand. This effect could be more extensive depending on the degree of change

Question 22

Logos redesign and consumer attitudes | Walsh et al. 2010
Describe the experiment

Answer 22

New Balance vs Adidas shoes (familiar to sample of students)

Everyone viewed (1) the regular logo and then either (2) the unchanged logo, a slightly changed logo, or a very changed logo

Brand attitude measures after each stimulus

Question 23

Logos redesign and consumer attitudes | Walsh et al. 2010
What are the results?

Answer 23

An interaction between the degree of logo change and commitment is visible on brand attitude:
- Highly committed consumers are more critical of the brand if the logo changes significantly
- Moderately committed and (especially) low-commitment consumers tend to associate a growing attitude to a rounding of the logo

In practice:
Consumers who are more committed will adjust less well to a drastically changed logo
Note that: evaluation of a logo is a strong predictor of brand attitude
- Making sure committed consumers LIKE a rebranded logo is essential to make sure they keep a good attitude