Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Business and Policy Studies

DOI: 10.54254/2754-1169/13/20230661

Why and How Effective Brand Logo Contributes to

Marketing?
Ziyi Shao1,a,*, Chen Sheung Ngai2,b
1
Frank College of Business, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, 86011, United States
2
American international school Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
a. [email protected], b. [email protected]
*corresponding author

Abstract: The logo represents the image and philosophy of the company and is also part of
the business strategy. In this way, we focus on what is a good brand logo and how to get a
‘Gorgeous’ brand logo. This article explains how a logo should be designed scientifically
from different aspects such as visual, psychological and cultural. And at the same time, we
mentioned a new but popular concept ‘Brand Visual Assets’, It is also a powerful
demonstration of the profound meaning of the logo. In this research, we looked at it from
multiple dimensions. For example, two kinds of luxury goods of the same price, why their
different logo design brings them different types of consumers? How do we understand the
new kind of classic? How does the details of the logo give people psychological hints? What
are some detailed designs you didn’t notice? you will get all of these answers in this passage.

Keywords: logo, the present of the brand, core value, brand visual assets, design good logos

1. Introduction
Logos are present everywhere. After the same product is printed with a logo, it becomes a ‘Peripheral
product’, and it always gets surprising sales. Logos are stated to be a full- capability, they combine
the name, the key products or other things the company wants to present. In this way, we believe that
logo is a more intuitive expression and transmission of corporate value. As Machado, J.C, Vacas and
Costa said [1], people showed a clear preference for figurative logos, and at the same time, it showed
a close connection with the brand and company. Thus we all know that the way the logo text is
combined with shape, color, etc., leaves a deeper impression on people. For the brand and company,
the logo with the combination of pictures and words has an important meaning and function. Also
shows a pivotal role in some places.
Considerable research has been devoted to the whole logo meaning to the company [2] and why
they are important [3], rather less has been paid to how to develop an excellent Logo. Specifically,
we pay more attention to how we can develop a good logo, from color to details, and how they can
combine with the company’s value and products together to get unimaginable benefits.
We use literature review and the study of descriptive cases to discuss.
2. Literature Review
Nowadays, ‘Brand Visual Assets’ gradually become a concept appearing in front of people, it refers
© 2023 The Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

17
 Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Business and Policy Studies
DOI: 10.54254/2754-1169/13/20230661

to the things about the brand image that can be retained in the consumer's brain [4]. It can be colors,
fonts, graphics, culture, slogan words or a product shape, structure, etc. that can constitute a brand's
assets. In other words, companies with high brand visual equity usually have higher brand value and
customer loyalty. At the same time, we also believe that the logo is the most intuitive manifestation
of this asset. When we are in all aspects of life, we may not directly see the name of the brand, but
we can see a logo pattern. This is the easiest and most subtle way to impress, and virtually increases
the brand's exposure and traffic. Brand visual assets are gradually being valued, and as a
complementary logo. The logo itself has also been given more meaning and importance.
Thus the importance of a company’s branding logo design cannot be ignored. From a certain point
of view, it is a symbol of the company's external image and plays an important role in the competition
of the industry. No company grows without paying attention to its image. The company's external
image can have an important impact on both users and peers, and even has important implications for
the company's future development. A good company brand logo design is an essential external image
display of the company. Also, different types of companies are suitable for different logos. Otherwise,
can you imagine there’s a Hospital that uses Louis Vuitton as their logo? If we want to figure out what
a good logo is, we have to know what makes up a logo. 1.Colour 2. Shape 3. Font 4. Complexity
5.Size. 6. Other Elements. 7. Sense of Trust. There are all the factors that affect the logo’s final
rendering effect. And at the same time, according to CBM Van Riel and A Van den Ban [5], People
also attribute different associates to logos, if the logo gets close to the company’s name, the positive
associations increase and the negative evaluations decrease.
Let’s talk about color first. In addition to the shape, the color also determines the overall vision of
its professional image, overall atmosphere, and industrial coordination. Hynes said consumers have
strong opinions about which colors are appropriate for different corporate images [6]. Imagine if we
exchanged the colors of the logos that are usually seen everywhere, you would feel very strange.
Green McDonald's, red Starbucks. So color is not independent, it’s part of the whole logo. Although
we can't generalize, we can roughly classify them. Like blue makes people feel calm and peaceful.
So tech companies generally like this color. Red gives you a passion, excitement feeling, also it
increases people's appetite. Black lets you feel power and authority. This is also the most used color,
“Mercedes”, “Nike”, “Givenchy”, we can see it everywhere.
Second is the shape. The specific shape of logo design has relevance in the human brain and has
the ability to amplify the target audience. John R Doyle and Paul A Bottomley suggested that powerful
visual messages are present in brand name and logo [7]. The shape of the logo always leaves a deep
impression. Designers determine the shape of logo design according to the brand tonality. Like many
things in life, the shape of a logo design is not fixed, different shapes can have different meanings.
Of course we don't rule out the success of some companies with very odd looking logo shapes,
because most of them are targeting a very niche market. But what we're going to talk about is the
other 99% today. The most common logos that we see are usually round, rectangle and Square and
triangle. The round shape gives a soft feeling. It is a very special shape, since it has no sharp horns,
it also symbolizes peace. The rectangle logo is often used in software development companies or
banks, because the rectangle represents efficiency and strength. Triangular shapes are Aggression,
man, strength, conflict and speed related. People usually use it to make car brand logos or airlines.
The third and fourth is the font and complex. This is also the easiest part to understand, because
this is what our eyes see the most in a day [8]. When designing brand logos, most companies will
design fonts specifically, but in fact, many brand logos are actually designed using existing fonts with
small changes. The design of fonts is relatively unique, so we can only generally have two types. One
is a normal font and the other is unique. Normal fonts are usually used in cheap brands, because
normal fonts give a sense of simplicity, efficiency and low cost.But complex and unique fonts are
very different from the normal font. Unique fonts can give people a sense of security, and at the same

18
 Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Business and Policy Studies
DOI: 10.54254/2754-1169/13/20230661

time complexity means that the brand products are also very complicated, so they can be sold at a
higher premium price. So complex logos are usually used on Luxury brands and hotels.
Fifth is Size. There are two types of logo. One is the logo with only images like Starbucks or
McDonald, second is the logo with image and words. We don’t have much to say for the first type of
logo, because it’s just a photo. But for the second type of logo, words combined with a picture. The
Proportion is very important. If the picture’s size is bigger than the word, which gives people a
relaxing or luxury feeling. But if the image is smaller and the word and the image are on the left or
right side. It makes people feel simple and efficient.
Six is the other elements. Logo design is a conjugate with art and business. So there is not a
standard to limit the logo’s design. The brand wants to convey through the company, also the habits
and preferences of the target customer group. Psychology and marketing can only offer advice and
can not be decisive. The quality of the logo is affected by a lot of reasons, because people are
subjective and emotional animals. If a company has a very good logo but they lie to their consumers,
no matter how good their logo is, people will think it's a bad logo. Or maybe a company has a poor
logo design, but their product is of good quality and has a long history. People would think this as a
classic. Thus although the brand has a great logo, they also need to pay more efforts to ensure their
value and survival [9].
The last one is a sense of trust. This one is easy to understand but a little bit difficult to create or
design. To put it simply, I think it is the first impression when people see a logo. For example, green
colour and trees create a valley atmosphere. If the logo is on a food package, people tend to think it’s
organic or healthy [10], because the ‘organic’ logos are often connected with some inspection system.
But at the same time, in the United Kingdom, UK consumers rated the Soil Association and Organic
Farmers and Grower logo higher than the labelled products just the word ‘organic’ or just the green
colour and trees. It also showing that they are willing to pay more for the logo and think they are
certified and valuable [11]. We also think it is a way of present the value of the companies or
associations. The logo means a lot, it is an unconditional support and trust for consumers and also a
‘sticky’ customer loyalty and best advertise for the brand. Here we can clearly perceive that it is easy
to understand and can bring practical benefits to the brand for a long time. But when it comes to the
difficult part, it usually takes a long time for a brand to build the enterprise image and gain trust from
consumers.
3. High end Brand Logo
First is the clothing and fashion industry. In the luxury fashion industry, most brand logos have one
thing in common. That is they like to use their own names to design logos, such as LV, DIOR, YSL.
This is actually a self-contradictory design. Because these brands have their logos designed with a
square structure, this design approach itself is meant to reflect the sophistication and ritual of the
brand. The strange thing is that they use the first letter of their own names to make their logos, and
no matter how the English letters are put together, they look very simple. We searched a lot of
information and compared the design of luxury brand logos from other periods in history. In the end,
we came to the conclusion that when the economy is developing rapidly, people tend to live at a very
fast pace, so even people want luxury goods to look full of efficiency. (In the definition of traditional
economics, in order to have a certain sense of ritual, the most bad thing for luxury goods design
is to look very simple.) We can observe this from many sides. For example, the home design style
of wealthy Europeans in the nineteenth century is different from that in the twenty-first century. By
comparison, it is not difficult to find that the whole trend is to yearn for simplicity. So the fashion
industry is quite different. Meanwhile, ‘People wearing clothes with luxury brand logos receive
primary treatment over those not wearing luxury brand logos.’ According to Jieun Lee, Eunju Ko and

19
 Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Business and Policy Studies
DOI: 10.54254/2754-1169/13/20230661

Carol M. Megehee, they did experiments and found this conclusion. It obviously to say that especially
in high end brand. Logo also can be called the Competitiveness and Connotation of the companies.
Second is luxury brands with relatively large turnover like: car, hotel. Under the trend of high
efficiency and simplicity in the whole society, the logos of some brands have not turned to simplicity.
For example: Porsche, Rolls Royce, Ritz Carlton, St. Regis. If you look carefully at the logos of
these brands, you will find that their designs are very complex compared to high-end brands in other
industries. We can immediately think that Apple's logo is an apple with a bite, and Louis vittion's logo
is L and V, but we can't think of the details in Porsche's logo. We can approach this phenomenon from
many sides. From the perspective of consumer groups. The wealthy group is roughly divided into two
categories. One is the new rich who pursue high efficiency and dreams. These are usually founders
of technology companies, cryptocurrency players, and game company shareholders. The other group
is the traditional rich, most of them are bankers, founders of traditional industries. The target
customers of these brands with complex logo designs are basically the latter, because these people
seem to be very authoritative. In order to maintain their external image and authority, they will take
the initiative to choose something that looks more complicated. And these people are older than the
former. It's kind of hard to describe, but if I explain it with an example, I'm sure you'll understand
right away. Usually we see new rich people like Elon Musk, Zuckerberg. They generally wear simple
clothes, drive a Tesla, Mercedes or BMW. It gives a very friendly feeling. But when we see politicians
or old rich people they are generally very serious and dignified. Like Powell, Soros or the Queen of
England. In the case of men, they wear suits and leather shoes all the time. Gives a commercial and
serious feel. In the case of women, they generally wear a lot of jewelry. And travel by Rolls Royce
and Bentley. This gives people a feeling of being unapproachable. So this is also why we think the
logos of these brands are not simplistic. They will continue the tradition and build a strong image for
their consumer [12].
Other luxury brands with relatively simple logo designs and relatively large turnover have
followed the trend like: Mercedes, W hotel, RICHARD MILLE. They are serving those new rich
last paragraph I mentioned. These brand's products are very expensive, and their designs don't spend
too much on materials and rituals. but a sense of technology. We can also see from their products that
they are deliberately catering to this type of consumer group. So this theme must be reflected in their
logo. At the same time, with the rapid development of the sports industry, many sports stars have also
launched some industries in their own names.
Opportunities are everywhere. Co-branded models appear between many brands, and the logos of
different brands are cooperating together, which produces a wonderful chemical reaction in the hearts
of consumers [13]. If two brands get together and create a product with their two logos, many
customer think it is ‘Dream Linkage’. In this case, brands usually bring their own advantages to
display products, and combine the advantages of two different brands together, which not only
expands the market, but also offers consumers a discount. 'One price, two brands'. For example, many
sports stars getting to sell their ‘own products’. Most of them sell some daily sports items, like
sneakers, clothes, etc. But the biggest difference from other places is that they pay more attention to
the generation and application of their own logos. They are committed to showing their own logos on
sneakers or clothes. At the same time, these sporting goods that convey special meanings also sell for
a lot of money. It is also a kind of Co- branded. Consumers adore sports stars and professional sporting
goods getting together.
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, As Luca Cian, Aradhna Krishna and Ryan S Elder said [14], the static visuals can evoke
a perception of movement and thereby affect consumer engagement with the brand logo. If you want
to design a good logo, you must first understand your company's products and consumer preferences.

20
 Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Business and Policy Studies
DOI: 10.54254/2754-1169/13/20230661

Then make the right choices in colors, fonts, proportions, and shapes. The overall feel of the logo
must match your company's consumer. And keep exploring the brand value that a logo can bring.
That’s what a good logo creates and needs.
Acknowledgments
Ziyi Shao and sheung ngai Chen contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first
authors.
References
[1] Machado, J. C., Vacas‐de‐Carvalho, L., Costa, P., & Lencastre, P. (2012). Brand mergers: examining consumers'
responses to name and logo design. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 21(6), 418-427.
[2] Hynes, N. (2009). Colour and meaning in corporate logos: An empirical study. Journal of Brand
Management, 16(8), 545-555.
[3] ÇELİKKOL, Ş. (2018). THE IMPORTANCE OF LOGOS AND STRATEGIES FOR LOGO DESIGN. POLITICO-
ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF CURRENT ISSUES, 29.
[4] Japutra, A., Keni, K., & Nguyen, B. (2015). The impact of brand logo identification and brand logo benefit on
Indonesian consumers’ relationship quality. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration.
[5] Van Riel, C. B., & Van den Ban, A. (2001). The added value of corporate logos‐An empirical study. European journal
of marketing.
[6] Hynes, N. (2009). Colour and meaning in corporate logos: An empirical study. Journal of Brand
Management, 16(8), 545-555.
[7] Doyle, J. R., & Bottomley, P. A. (2011). Mixed messages in brand names: Separating the impacts of letter shape
from sound symbolism. Psychology & Marketing, 28(7), 749-762.
[8] Frank, A. J. (1972, May). Parametric font and image definition and generation. In Proceedings of the November
16-18, 1971, fall joint computer conference (pp. 135-144).
[9] Ismail, W. R. B. W., Othman, M., Rahman, R. A., Kamarulzaman, N. H., & Rahman, S. A. (2016). Halal Malaysia
logo or brand: the hidden gap. Procedia Economics and Finance, 37, 254-261.
[10] Janssen, M., & Hamm, U. (2012). Product labelling in the market for organic food: Consumer preferences and
willingness-to-pay for different organic certification logos. Food quality and preference, 25(1), 9-22.
[11] Gerrard, C., Janssen, M., Smith, L., Hamm, U., & Padel, S. (2013). UK consumer reactions to organic certification
logos. British Food Journal.
[12] Van Grinsven, B., & Das, E. (2016). Logo design in marketing communications: Brand logo complexity moderates
exposure effects on brand recognition and brand attitude. Journal of marketing communications, 22(3), 256-270.
[13] Chen, K., Newell, S. J., Kou, G., Zhang, L., & Li, C. H. (2017). Effective strategies for developing meaningful names
and associations for co-branded products in new and emerging markets. Journal of brand management, 24(4), 362-
374.
[14] Cian, L., Krishna, A., & Elder, R. S. (2014). This logo moves me: Dynamic imagery from static images. Journal of
Marketing Research, 51(2), 184-197.
[15] Kohli, C., & Suri, R. (2002). Creating effective logos: Insights from theory and practice. Business Horizons, 45(3),
58-64.
[16] Haig, W. L., & Harper, L. (1997). How to Create Effective Company Logos. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
[17] Walsh, M. F., Winterich, K. P., & Mittal, V. (2010). Do logo redesigns help or hurt your brand? The role of brand
commitment. Journal of Product & Brand Management.
[18] Liu, J., Krotova, T., Yezhova, O., & Pashkevich, K. (2018). Traditional elements of Chinese culture in logo
design. International Circular of Graphic Education and Research.
[19] Bresciani, S., & Del Ponte, P. (2017). New brand logo design: customers’ preference for brand name and
icon. Journal of Brand Management, 24(5), 375-390.
[20] Hawes, R. E. (1983). LOGOS: the intelligent translation system. In Proceedings of Translating and the Computer
5: Tools for the trade.
[21] Antrop, M. (1982). THE" NATURAL" WAY OF VISUAL IMAGE INTERPRETATION FOR LAND
CLASSIFICATION AND LANDSCAPE PLANNING.
[22] Lee, J., Ko, E., & Megehee, C. M. (2015). Social benefits of brand logos in presentation of self in cross and same
gender influence contexts. Journal of Business Research, 68(6), 1341-1349.
[23] Rizan, M., Warokka, A., & Listyawati, D. (2014). Relationship marketing and customer loyalty: do customer
satisfaction and customer trust really serve as intervening variables?. Journal of Marketing Research & Case

21
 Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Business and Policy Studies
DOI: 10.54254/2754-1169/13/20230661

Studies, 2014, 1.
[24] Nelissen, R. M., & Meijers, M. H. (2011). Social benefits of luxury brands as costly signals of wealth and
status. Evolution and human behavior, 32(5), 343-355.
[25] Eggers, F., O’Dwyer, M., Kraus, S., Vallaster, C., & Güldenberg, S. (2013). The impact of brand authenticity on
brand trust and SME growth: A CEO perspective. Journal of World Business, 48(3), 340-348.
[26] Wu, D. G., & Chalip, L. (2013). Expected price and user image for branded and co-branded sports apparel. Sport
Marketing Quarterly, 22(3), 138.
[27] Lin, Y. C. (2013). Evaluation of co‐branded hotels in the Taiwanese market: the role of brand familiarity and brand
fit. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.

22