Branding

Why You Need a Responsive Logo Design

With the ceaseless evolution of technology front and centre in many of our lives, logos are no longer “one size fits all,” and many businesses are catching on. Enter responsive logo design: logos that shift in size, complexity, and/or color in order to adapt to the device or background on which they’re being viewed. Sound lofty? It’s not.

If you’re not convinced that more than one incarnation of your logo is necessary, here are 3 good arguments that may just prove you wrong.

Size matters: future-proof your brand

UK-based Joe Harrison’s project “responsive logos” shows logos that look slightly different at every stage—the basic idea being that while larger screens can handle more detailed, wordy, or intricate logos, smaller screens call for logos that are simpler, so the resizing doesn’t compromise their integrity. All this without compromising brand identity, of course! A skilled designer can make your logo work well across multiple resolutions and devices. Bonus: the inherent flexibility of a responsive logo guarantees they’re already optimized for future devices. When you break down a responsive logo, you’ll find 3 or 4 different versions of the same icon, varying in size and level of detail. Although it’s true that some designs can’t easily be simplified, the right designer can help you achieve an altered, yet still recognizable symbol for your brand.

Rearranging elements

Responsive logos aren’t always about size. Although they’re commonly meant to respond to differently sized screens, sometimes it’s about how well your logo elements work in their current arrangement. Some logos achieve better fluidity when you play with how their elements (such as text) are stacked, for example. In other words, sometimes rather than removing an element, space can be saved just as effectively (or better) by reorganizing where stuff goes. Indeed, sometimes intelligent planning lets you keep vital parts of your logo that you’re attached to, even at a smaller size—the best of both worlds.

Don’t be willfully color blind: it’s a bad look

Fact: besides being used across different digital devices, logos are also often used on a variety of different surfaces and backdrops in the physical world. Dependent on what backdrop colour(s) you may be dealing with (whether on-screen or on t-shirt), a border may need to be added to your logo to establish appropriate contrast, or you may need to change the color or shade of your text altogether. Even though these types of logo changes don’t pertain specifically to the concept of responsive logos, it’s important to remember that many brands do indeed keep a monochrome version or alternate color schemes of their logo at-hand, for situations where their original simply won’t work.

Bottom line:

Logos are often the face-first impression that new companies like to focus on, yet they’re commonly also among the most minimized facet of digital design. It’s important to get a strong designer on your team who can help you think creatively to develop the best responsive logo possible for your brand’s unique purposes!