Tip #12 ∞ Define and Enforce Your Logo Standards ∞

I once had a large commercial bank marketing manager ask me and tell me, "Can you reproduce my logo on a sign? You wouldn't believe how many people mess up our logo."

I went on to demonstrate, with my team, that we could effectively reproduce her logo perfectly, for the next four years, until the bank was gobbled up by a competitor. During the four years we worked together, my team put the logo on invitations, signs, banners, websites, videos, brochures, folders, stationary, and a bunch of other things.

For this client, we started with one logo and moved into another one, after the bank was merged with its parent company and adopted a new logo standard.

The bank hired a graphic designer to help design the logo and write the logo standard. The logo standard document was very helpful as it explained exactly what to do and what not to do with the logo in order to maintain its trademark/registration status.

Now many of our smaller clients, don't think twice about their logo - they'll use it in a variety of colors, with 3D embossing, on colored backgrounds, sometimes with a tagline, sometimes not. Add a line of type here and there, what's the big deal?

The big deal is that if you don't enforce your own logo standard, the U.S. court system says that there is no logo standard and anyone can use your logo: Something like that. Now I'm not a lawyer and here at GWiz, we design logos and write logo standards for clients, but we don't register them with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: We hire a lawyer to do that.

Once you do decide on your logo standards, then it is important to assign one person to be the logo enforcer. This can take some time, within any company, because it's another approval layer, but it's worth it to avoid publishing your logo incorrectly, as this can get you into trouble down the road since you have violated your own trademark.

Your logo enforcer/chief/meister (Whatever you want to call that role), should analyze the logo usage and provide a seal of approval on any documents that are published using your logo, to make sure the usage corresponds to your trademark application and/or registration and your approved logo standard document.

If you want to make your ad agency AE your logomeister, that is fine, but then don't have some secretary at your company printing business cards without getting the logomeister's seal of approval: Business cards count too!

For an example of what a logo standard should look like, please send me an email and I can send you some samples. Note: No two logo standard documents are the same, but they all do one thing: Explicitly point out what you can't and can do with your company's logo.

And of course the logo standard documents were all approved using the aforementioned approval process. (See Tip #7).