A logo is just a small piece of the brand puzzle. So what is a logo exactly? Simply put, a logo is merely a picture that symbolizes something be it a person, place or thing. In most cases though, a logo design is associated with a business or corporation. These could be any sort of marking, typography, graphic, symbol, or even a flag. A good example is the iconic “Golden Arches,” everyone sees when they get a McDonald’s product. You don’t even need to see the name to know that the red and gold arches are representative of McDonalds because of its notoriety
Typically though, a logo will generally feature some type of typography that defines the name of the business. There are some instances, however, in which a logo does not incorporate any type of picture or graphic. Instead, these logos will generally just feature an artistic rendition of the organization's name. Think of FedEx with it's classic block lettering in purple and orange. These technically would not be considered logos, but rather word mark or logotypes.
A logo, whether graphic-based or typography-based, is not meant to literally explain what an organization does, but rather merely serve for identification purposes only. A logo is not meant to describe an organization, just identify. Brand identity and logo are not the same!
Brand identity typically comes after a logo has been established. For the most part, a brand identity is conceptualized on tangible objects that are seen. Large corporations will generally design their brand identity using an approved set of guidelines. These guidelines will generally dictate a number of aesthetic aspects including color patterns, font aspects, backgrounds, specific measurements and well, you get the idea. Basically just a set of rules that determine how the brand identity will appear to others. Logo is part of it.
Furthermore, the brand identity is basically the larger depiction of a company; in other words, how the public views the company as a whole. A good example of a company who clearly has their brand identity down to an art is Twitter. Because, you do not necessarily need to see a logo to identify something related to Twitter. In a nutshell, the brand identity extends much further than just the logo itself.
The challenge many organizations face is creating a brand identity that is flexible enough to adapt to different environments. Naturally the logo will forever remain embossed into an organizations make-up, but the brand identity needs to, in essence, be interchangeable. Many factors can facilitate the need to alter an organization's brand identity. For example, web sites of updated easily For you, we design to your logo. Let us design your web site of flexible, easy to use, will represent the brand identity.