Detailed explanation of brand upgrade case: What is the real function of LOGO?

Some time ago, a restaurant found me and said that they were going to open a franchise store and hoped that I could provide them with some advice and services in brand building.

This restaurant is located in a commercial complex in Linyi City and opened around this time last year.

Although the location is in a complex and it is a street-side store, business was not very good in the beginning and it has been making losses since last year. There are two main reasons:

• One is that real estate development is slow, so that the streets they are located on have little foot traffic ;
• Another is that parking is not allowed on the street and people have to park far away from the restaurant.

However, the situation has changed since the beginning of this year - because his dishes taste really good, more and more old customers would rather walk a few hundred meters and specify to dine at his restaurant, and the business has turned from loss to profit.

Some old customers even took the initiative to ask about joining the franchise, so the boss thought about standardization and started with the brand.

The name of the restaurant is "Xia Mei Xia Lang". Without me saying much, you can probably guess what their specialty is. That’s right, crayfish. (Although it is not perfect, it is a good name and you don’t need to change it)

But to be honest, his restaurant, apart from the dishes, name, sophistication of the interior decoration and some of the materials which are up to the standard of a "brand store", everything else feels like just a random street shop...especially the design of the brand's visual symbols.

1. Previous solutions

Here I will talk about its previous solution as a negative case... Let’s look at the LOGO first:

This was their previous logo - a shrimp transformed from a mermaid. Isn’t it creative?

Anyway, the company that designed this LOGO must think it is very creative, otherwise they would not put it on the homepage of the official website case library... (It is a large company, but I will not mention the name)

However, as we often say: the purpose of creativity is to solve problems, not create more problems.

What are the problems with this LOGO?

First of all, it is not simple enough and there are too many different elements.

1. Too many colors: If the background color is included, it has a total of 5 colors: red, yellow, green, black and white. It is best not to wear more than 3 colors for a person, and the same applies to designs. (Of course, this is not an absolute standard. If your name is "Rainbow", there is nothing wrong with using a 7-color ribbon as your logo.)
2. There are too many graphic symbols: a mermaid, separate shrimp claws and tails, a pirate hat, a spatula. Each element is independent of each other and has no necessary connection. It is completely pieced together. Every time I see it, it reminds me of the "Glorious Multi-Flavored Fish" in "The God of Cookery" that seemed to be contaminated by radiation and was also pieced together...

Let’s not talk about whether this will really make people feel awkward (do mermaids and lobsters match well)... but too many elements will inevitably increase the complexity of the LOGO. Not only does it look unclean, but also has a strong sense of collage that makes it look low-quality. More importantly, it increases people's mental burden, making it difficult to recognize and remember.

In addition, if you only look at the "beauty shrimp", it is difficult for people to intuitively understand what it means. Especially if you stand a little further away, you can’t recognize that “this is a lobster restaurant” at all. The efficiency of information transmission is too low. (As for why it is important to stand far away and only look at the graphics, I will explain it in detail below)

Of course, like all design schemes, this LOGO also comes with its own auxiliary graphics, which are the "stars" other than the LOGO in the lower left picture.

Similarly, there are 6 more colors and 3 more graphic symbols, and they are all unrelated to the brand theme or the LOGO, which once again increases the cost of recognition and memory. Who can understand what it really means, what are its characteristics and reason for existence?

Of course, this set of auxiliary graphics solution only remained on paper and was not reflected in actual application. Maybe the boss also thought it was redundant...

In short, the whole plan gives people the feeling that everything is added on, and the purpose is just to hand in a "complete plan".

Little do we know: good design should not be about what can’t be added, but what can’t be subtracted.

2. What is the function of a logo?

The role of a LOGO is to reduce consumer awareness costs and brand marketing costs. It is not an experiment for designers to squander their creativity, nor is it something that companies deliberately add in pursuit of so-called "culture". It is a compressed information package - it should effectively convey the core content or characteristics of the brand to consumers in the most concise form and in the shortest time.

The so-called "effective" means: easy to recognize and easy to remember.

2.1 Easy to recognize

The so-called "easy to recognize" has two main meanings - one is that it is easy to recognize whose LOGO it is, and it needs to maintain a certain degree of difference from its peers; the second is that it is easy to recognize what the brand does, and it must also have industry characteristics.

The most important thing here is actually the second point. You must first tell others what you do, and then say how your work is different from others.

How to reflect industry characteristics?

No need to think too much. If you are in the shrimp business, then the word "shrimp" must appear in your logo, whether it is a graphic or text. And it has to be conspicuous enough that people can recognize it as a shrimp at a glance. Never expect people to look carefully or think about it, because once they start thinking, they may think in the wrong direction and the transmission of information will be ineffective.

To enable people to gain without thinking, this is the highest state of mind.

How to reflect your own differences?

This requires tapping into the brand’s existing assets . Just now I said that "Xia Mei Xia Lang" is a good name, not only because the word "Xia" can make people know the business at a glance, but also because the name itself is visual - "Shrimp" and "Wave" are both very concrete things, and concrete things can make people more impressed.

There are certainly many restaurants that serve lobster, but those that combine "shrimp" and "waves" at the same time are rare. Therefore, we took the element of "wave" as the focus of the difference and emphasized it in the LOGO.

That is, the following figure:

Full version LOGO↑

Of course, its color scheme is also designed for "recognition" - "red, white and black" is the color combination that is most likely to attract people's attention. Many marketing masters also use this when marketing themselves.

2.2 Easy to remember

How can we make people remember? A very important principle is simplicity.

What is simplicity?

Many people think that as long as there are fewer lines, it is simple. In fact, this is a misunderstanding.

Question: Which of the two LOGOs below is simpler? (Just look at the graphics)

I’m sure most people would say it’s on the left.

But you are all wrong... Because for a LOGO, its simplicity does not refer to the visual aspect, but to the mental aspect.

Graphics with simple lines are indeed easier to remember, but this is just remembering the graphic and has nothing to do with the brand. What is the relationship between China Telecom and its LOGO? Looks like the Chinese character “电”? Global business? Who can think so much except the company itself?

Red Bull is different. People don't need to remember how each line is designed, but only need to remember the "red cow" to remember the name "Red Bull" and its logo at the same time.

This is mental simplicity - simplicity because of unity.

Similarly, the name "Xia Mei Xia Lang" is highly consistent with its LOGO - the name contains "shrimp" and "wave", and the LOGO also only has three elements: "shrimp", "wave" and "circle". This is concise. (As for why there is an extra "circle", this is related to the application scenario, which will be discussed below)

Plus, like Red Bull, it has a descriptive design—“a shrimp in a wavy circle, all red.” It can be accurately described in just a dozen words, which greatly reduces the cost of cognition, memory and communication.

Yes, if you want to judge the quality of a LOGO, a very important criterion is whether it is easy to describe. Because human cognition is based on the language system, if you can express it, it means you understand it; if you can't express it, it means you don't understand it. If you don't understand it, it's difficult to remember it, and naturally there's no way to spread it.

3. Logo alone is not enough

Of course, if the so-called design is just a LOGO, it will not have any effect. It is better to continue using the previous plan.

The LOGO is just a beginning. What really makes it effective is actually a series of subsequent media projects.

The power of propaganda comes from repetition, which is something all savvy politicians and advertisers understand. Even Napoleon once said: "Repetition is an important rhetorical device."

Although this has been reflected in the LOGO (we deliberately repeated the "wave" element over a large area in the LOGO to deepen the impression), it is still not enough and it needs to be repeated continuously.

What to repeat? It’s mainly “waves”. Because waves have a characteristic - they can both extend infinitely and repeat infinitely. This is how it is in nature, and there is no sense of disobedience.

Therefore, a noticeable wavy texture will appear on most materials:

This will also be the case for future promotional materials (such as posters):

Only repetition can make people remember it. Just like Burberry, the "three crossed stripes" appear on almost everything related to it. So much so that when people see this graphic, even if they only see a little bit, they will think of Burberry.

Of course, we don’t mechanically require that every material must have this kind of (horizontal) wave. For example, for takeout bags, the main body only has one LOGO:

Why do this?

Because takeout bags are very special - not only are they large in size, but also there are many of them. They are the restaurant's largest billboard to the outside world.

Pure waves can only create an experience that makes people visually feel the presence of the brand at all times, but it cannot arouse people's interest, especially those who are not in the restaurant.

What can arouse their interest? Of course, it’s the lobster itself - maybe you’re a little hungry now, and you see someone next to you carrying a takeout bag, and it’s obvious that it’s a lobster just by looking at the pattern. So you're more likely to plan to eat out tonight or order takeout right now.

Why must the LOGO be so large?

Its previous solution was indeed relatively small:

What problems will arise if it is smaller?

If you are a little further away, you can't see the information above clearly.

If the size of my current plan is three times the previous one, even without considering the pros and cons of the LOGO itself, then my current promotional effectiveness will also be three times that of before - before it might have to be seen within 5 meters, but now 15 meters is no problem.

That's the effect.

Then there is the design of the store sign, which is also the most eye-catching "red, white and black" classic color scheme:

Considering that crayfish are mainly eaten at night, the store sign will adopt the form of an internally illuminated light box, and white will be used as the color with the largest usage area, making it brighter and more eye-catching at night.

In addition, you may have noticed that the packaging of the chopsticks was basically the same as the design of the store sign. Well, if we can repeat something, we will definitely not create more, in order to deepen people's impression.

However, these are not its greatest features...

What is the biggest feature of this shop sign?

It's obvious - it uses different, large blocks of color on the left and right sides, white on the left and red on the right.

Why do this?

On the one hand, considering that Chinese food is not easy to standardize (not just the issue of dishes), we simply provide franchisees with a customizable space, which is the red part on the right. You can write your own special dishes on it, as well as personalized information such as takeout phone number.

On the other hand, as with the takeout bags before, doing so can greatly increase the distance that information can be transmitted.

Let’s do a little experiment: Which one of the following pictures is the signature dish of Xia Mei Xia Lang?

Obviously, you can recognize it as the one above at a glance. Because compared to the specific content details (what words are written, what pictures are drawn), people are more sensitive to large areas of different color blocks and will recognize them first.

Okay, after looking at the main sign, let’s take a look at the side sign.

It's just a rendering, not a real photo.

What is the use of side signs?

If the sidewalk on the road where the store is located is not very wide, the main sign is actually more visible to people across the street. If passers-by walking on your side don't signal sideways, they will basically have to walk to the store entrance before they can see you.

Their store is like this. When I went there before, although I had navigation, I didn’t find it until I was 5 meters away from the store:

In this case, an obvious side move is needed to tell pedestrians on the same side 50 meters in advance that "this is Xia Mei Xia Lang".

In addition, in some cases, side moves are actually more important than main moves. Because the main attraction is mainly for people across the street to see, you may find it difficult to attract them to find a zebra crossing to cross and eat. The side move is for the people on this side to see. You may attract their attention before they enter another restaurant.

The difference in vision between the main move (upper) and the side move (lower)

After reading this article, you should understand why I emphasized before that "the LOGO should be viewed from a distance and only the graphic should be viewed" and why this LOGO should be in a "circular" shape. The main consideration is for the side-view effect. (It’s not that the square one is not good, but it’s too rigid)

Yes, designing anything should be combined with specific scenarios, rather than just fiddling with graphics software...

4. Limitations

Of course, this is not to say that this LOGO is an absolutely perfect solution. Like everything, it has its limitations - this shrimp can never become an IP like Three Squirrels or Kumamon.

At least, we have never been able to give it a pair of big eyes... (for the sake of recognizability and composition)

Anything with a pair of big eyes has the potential to become an IP. Because it can create emotional communication with the audience through the eyes.

Although we struggled with this for a long time (who doesn’t want their work to be perfect?), we finally decided to give up this direction.

Firstly, compared to conveying emotions, recognizability is more important and cannot be too exaggerated; secondly, in order to successfully build an IP, brands must invest a lot of resources in content production. Half of Three Squirrels’ employees are responsible for content and customer service at the back end, which is how the IP was established. If Xia Mei Xia Lang were to follow suit, it would be like what Richard Rumelt said: It would be obviously unwise to let a sprinter wrestle with a gorilla.

Yes, the so-called strategy is to make the best use of one's strengths and avoid one's weaknesses. This is a question of trade-offs.

Never believe that “I have what others don’t, I am better than others, I am faster than others, I am more flexible than others”. That is just crazy talk... What is the real world? It should be "I have what others don't, and I don't have what others have."

Just like what Sun Tzu said in "The Art of War " about "empty and real" - there can be real only when there is empty, and being real everywhere is equivalent to being empty everywhere. If you can get all the good things, then what is the point of strategy?

5. Other Content

5.1 SLOGAN

I know someone will ask me where the slogan ( good shrimps taste good ) came from, so I will explain it here.

Xia Mei Xia Lang specializes in braised crayfish in oil and takes a mid-range route. Its biggest competitor is the large number of low-end lobster restaurants on the street. And according to visits, most of them are spicy in flavor.

The reason for emphasizing "good shrimp" is actually to borrow consumers' general perception of the catering industry - many restaurants deliberately make the taste heavy to cover up the defects of the ingredients so that people can't tell the difference, especially many low-end restaurants like to do this. As the braised crayfish at Xia Mei Xia Lang has a relatively lighter taste, they pay more attention to the quality of the ingredients themselves. (Each shrimp comes from Weishan Lake Nature Reserve, the largest freshwater lake in northern China)

“Good shrimps taste good” is equivalent to putting competitors in the situation of “inferior shrimps”. In addition, the signature dish also has its own slogan: good shrimps should be stewed. In keeping with the overall “good shrimp strategy”, this can be reflected in the menu and advertising.

5.2 Products

All of the above are promotional content. Marketing is not just about promotion, it also involves the most important thing - the product.

As mentioned earlier, Xia Mei Xia Lang focuses on the mid-range route - its prices are about 15% more expensive than street stalls, but similar to other slightly more decent restaurants.

This won't work. If you want to stand out from other restaurants of the same type, your prices should also be different, or at least your signature dishes should be a little more expensive.

But there is a problem: lobster is a relatively expensive ingredient (about 6 yuan per lobster). As a restaurant that was not very famous in the beginning, how could it charge a higher fee?

In addition to increasing the premium through better environment and service, you can also improve the product itself.

The lobster in his restaurant, as well as the lobster in most restaurants, is just the bare lobster in the whole dish - it looks too little and very expensive. Like this:

What should I do?

I gave them a suggestion - increase the dosage.

Add lobster? No. Although lobster is expensive, other ingredients are cheap, and you can add some cheap and delicious ingredients (such as potatoes and hot peppers) to the lobster to make the whole dish seem larger. (Of course, if aesthetics is also a consideration, bury all the ingredients under the lobster)

Using this method, you can charge 15 yuan more by spending 5 yuan more, and people will not think it is expensive.

That’s why most grilled scallops are topped with lots of vermicelli. If it is not added, the edible part of the whole scallop is just a tiny bit, and it is hard to accept 10 yuan for one...

Okay, that’s it for now.

Author: Brother Xiaoyun , authorized to publish by Qinggua Media .

Source: Brand Circle (ID: Brand-Circle)