A logo doesn’t equal a brand.
As a brand strategist & designer, I often get asked “can I have just a logo?” My answer is always no. Because it sets you up for failure.
In today’s blog I thought we’d dive in to the difference between a brand, a logo plus Canva & Fiverr, for good measure.
What is a logo?
A logo is a visual mark that represents a brand. Some examples are below:
What is branding?
Branding is the process of actively shaping and communicating the essence of a business.
There are internal elements, I like to explain this as the intangible essence. This is strategic branding:
Mission, purpose & vision - why you exist & do what you do
Your values
Positioning - what you do for who & how
Your tone of voice
Your messaging
The goals you set to achieve your mission
The audience & customer you’re wanting to work with
Visual - things you can see and touch externally. These are informed by the internal elements and strategy:
Logo
Colours
Type & fonts
Web design & layout
Printed marketing
Photography
As you can see, a logo is just one part of the recipe.
When you ask for just a logo, it’s exactly the same as trying to bake a cake with flour. You don’t get what you set out to get.
The logo is one of the outcomes of the strategic process of branding, the information you give your designer, the research, chats and strategic thinking that get put in to build a connection with the audience you want to reach and work with.
Great branding has great power.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had clients say to me “I always know it’s you when I see your content pop up on Instagram”, “I chose you because you’re exactly the same as how you show up online”. Branding makes you 80% more recognisable. Branding can make you 23% more revenue when that’s the only thing you touch.
It’s so much deeper than just a logo.
What about Canva & Fiverr?
I love Canva for creating content quickly… but you absolutely shouldn’t be using it for any brand visuals.
If you get your logo from Canva:
You won’t ever be able to trademark it because you don’t own the intellectual property.
You’re only going to pick 1 logo - you actually need a suite of logo options for full flexibility.
Thousands of people will have the exact same logo as you - the point of branding is to stand out, not blend in.
You won’t have the right format and sizes of file - so any time you print anything large scale it’ll come out a blotchy, pixelated mess.
I also don’t personally like Fiverr.
You don’t get any strategy from any of the designers on Fiverr - it’s a race to the bottom of who can create a logo the cheapest.
The designs are generic which are sold repeatedly (see my point above)
You don’t get all the other visual identity items that mean you can actually use your logo to its fullest effect.
All of this just utterly sets you up to fail, and it isn’t in any business owner’s best interest to go down this route. Frankly, any designer who says this is okay isn’t really operating in an ethical way that supports and enables your success.
So, there’s the difference between logos, brands and why Canva & Fiverr aren’t your friend!
