Rebuilding a customer’s logo

Often a customer comes in for a new sign or vehicle graphics but brings a logo that is showing its age or just not effective. Sometimes they’re ready for a brand-new design, but if not, you realize that they should at least consider an upgrade to get more value from their graphics. The customer may have some attachment to the old logo, so it often takes a little skill to open their eyes to an updated look.

When this happens at Lane Walker’s Solo Signs in Reno, Nevada, he starts with a quick explanation then shows some photos to show how it has worked for other businesses like theirs, as he explains in “Selling with the power of before-and-after photos.” He does a lot of truck lettering for owners of semis and other big rigs but uses the same approach with other sign work.

“These aren’t major rebranding projects,” says Lane. “It’s usually more a matter of updating an old logo or salvaging a weak one. I explain that I’d like to move a few things around to make it fit the truck or increase the importance of something. You can tell right away if they are fine with that or they don’t want any changes.

“If a design needs rebuilt, I always discuss that up front. You can’t assume that they aren’t going to notice your changes or that they will be glad you revised it. Surprising them with a new version when they pick up the truck is not a good idea.”

If Lane picks up on some openness to an upgrade, he usually does a quick rough sketch. He is enthusiastic about improving their graphics and customers pick up on that. At the same time, they may be reluctant to completely abandon their old design.

“Unless they tell you they want a brand-new design,” he says, “you usually can’t just throw their old logo in the trash. I can almost always find one or two elements in the old layout that I can work into the new design. That helps them see it as an update even though I may be making some big changes to make it more effective. Often they just need to see what’s possible.”

Even if you redesign those elements, the new design may feel familiar enough for the more reluctant customers to get on board with a new look. If you use solid design principles to make the rest of the design stronger, they will also be unconsciously drawn by the appeal of that. The new version just “looks a lot better” to them.

Is it worth it?

Why take the time to pitch them on rebuilding their old design? There are several reasons. They are more likely to spend more to get an updated layout. Lane builds the cost of overhauling the design into the quote for the sign. Many of his customers have a fleet of trucks and seeing a new, more effective design often results in them upgrading them all.

And the work you do is an advertisement for your business, too. Fresh new designs will bring more customers who want their sign or vehicle to have that sort of appeal. Besides, reproducing a mediocre or outdated design isn’t appealing to a design-oriented sign maker.

“I kept ConSpec’s pretty similar to what it was originally,” he says, “but tweaked the lettering to resemble Olive Nord Bold to enhance its line value. I changed the letter style of the city’s name and moved it away from the logo rather than have it dangle from it.

“Next I changed the color contrasts, switching the outline on the company name to dark brown and using a medium brown outline on the mountains to move them into the background. Then I added the light inline on the letters.

“There wasn’t a lot of redesigning here so much as just improving on what they had. For a rebuild, I usually keep the bones of their old logo as a starting point, then use contrasts to create interest and legibility.”

“On MDB, I tweaked the colorway substantially to improve contrast,” says Lane. “Their previous decals had MDB in white on their white trucks, surrounded by three different outlines. It’s very hard to make white lettering work on a white background. I went the opposite way, using black on the main copy for maximum contrast, then adding the green convex outline.

“I pumped up ‘Trucking’ because I didn’t think it supported MDB very well. The bolder ‘Trucking’ creates a better foundation for MDB.

“I kept the tribal ovals even though I’m not a fan of them. They do kind of hold things together, though, so I just kept them in the background where they belong.

“I’m always thinking background, middle ground, foreground as I do a layout. I don’t want something in the background to compete with what needs to be out front. It’s pretty simple: MDB gets the foreground, ‘Trucking’ the middle ground and the swashes the background. The cities and phone number stay down out of the way.”

“When someone comes in with a poor layout,” Lane says, “start by identifying what makes it ineffective. Why doesn’t it look good? What are the factors? Then ask how you can improve those areas. Is the lettering too light? Let’s make that bold. Is the graphic too distracting? Let’s tone that down. You get the idea. It’s like troubleshooting the problems and coming up with solutions.

“On their previous truck, the ribbons were thin behind the company name, then got wider and had more mass beyond the name on each end. They took your eye away from the main message. I made my swashes bold behind Menesini, then finished light as they went away from the name. It took some work but he was able to let go of the phone number.

“The outline is now black and low contrast instead of white and high contrast as it was before. The convex inline adds a little dimension to the main copy.

“Again it was a matter of background, middle ground and foreground. ‘Menesini’ comes to the front, ‘Petroleum’ is in the middle, then ‘Jim’ and the swashes are in the back. I use letterstyles and line value to keep things where I want them. The bold lettering with more color contrast comes to the front. ‘Petroleum’ is smaller and has less contrast. ‘Jim’ is in script and a toned-down color to move it back.

“You don’t always have to throw their old design away and start from scratch. Many customers wouldn’t go along with that, anyway. I was able to preserve the flavor of the original but with much more impact. It makes it easier for them to go for the upgrade.”

Lane’s sketch shows how the contrasts work even in black-and-white.