How to convince a client to have their logo redesigned?

Question

My current client have requested a full campaign, brochures, website, all material except they have requested that the logo stays the same. They are a relatively mid-sized company, and have had the same logo since 1994. I'm trying to persuade the founder and owner the positives of having a complete design but he's older and has a lot of sentiment to the logo as he designed it himself. I have on a number of occasions shown him competitors logos and branding, good and bad logos and he does have a good eye for picking out the higher quality designs, yet can't understand why he would need a new logo.

In a nutshell, what's the best/generally good approach to demonstrating a positive reason for a logo redesign. Since I'm designing the rest of his company I think it's suitable that the logo ties in with the rest, not the rest ties in with the logo.

Answer 1

There may not be a good reason to redesign a logo if it is easily recognized and if the market generally has a positive opinion of the brand. In fact a better option would be to make subtle updates that keep logo pretty much the same but perhaps improve how it can be applied in different use cases. So make sure you have a good, solid business case before doing major brand rework. So instead of trying to convince the business owner that the logo needs to be redone, consider whether the redesign can be accomplished by utilizing the existing logo. If it can't, then you need to make a business case why the logo needs to be redone. And it can't just be "because it will work better with the redesign". It needs to show the business owner improved ROI, better placement in the market, clearer recognition, etc. You need to prove to them that redesigning the logo is worth the costs and the risks of losing an established mark of their business identity. But even with the most rational of business arguments, be prepared to just let it be if it won't compromise the rest of the branding work. But if the logo has to be redone and the business owner just won't accept it, consider talking to the client about dropping your services to find another designer.

Answer 2

To put it very concisely, you need to evaluate what end game you envision with your change.

In other words, what are you trying to achieve by changing the logo?

My recommendation from my days as a consultant is to give your client a range of options to choose from, all of which achieve more or less the same goal. You know what you want to achieve and by making them choose from these options you're also fulfilling their interpretation of a change for the betterment of the company.

Answer 3

Sometimes it just takes time... plus what you may not know is changing a logo is difficult - no not for the designer, but for the business... You have trademarks, you have things printed on it, you have all sorts of things usually that basically have all sorts of costs involved with it if they were to change... Sometimes these can be very costly.

For those types of clients you just have to be patient with them and slowly get them to change... sometimes you can tweak an existing one to give it a new fresh look while keeping the same overall original logo but being fresh still.

You may also contact a trademark lawyer about changing the logo. Typically it does take quite a bit to do if done legally. If its a small place that doesn't own a trademark, then its a lot more open to interpretation and sometimes just give them a few examples... sometimes with others around, you might get him hearing "oo that's nice" type of remarks etc that might change his mind.