Drawing Brands From Memory

This is a fascinating article about how well people can recall and recreate brand identity systems of well known brands. It would seem to indicate what brand identity experts have known for some time - colors and shapes tend to be the most important components of identity systems. Further, it would indicate that more complex systems are more difficult to completely remember and recreate. And replicating people used in logos can be difficult. It also indicates that it may take awhile for an updated identity to begin to replace the previous one in people's minds. 

https://www.signs.com/branded-in-memory/

Logo Research

When exploring new logo executions, the research may include any or all of the following components:

• Logo Imagery. Imagery evoked by various logo alternatives vs. that evoked by the current logo. (This exercise usually includes the intended brand personality attributes and attributes such as “boring.”)
• Logo Recognition. A “mock-up” of each variation of the logo is placed in its most likely usage environment (e.g., store marquis, product packaging) and then people at various distances are asked about what they see. This technique measures visibility, recognition, and the ability to break through visual clutter at various distances.
• Logo Recall. One at a time, different logo alternatives and the current logo are mixed in with other companies’ logos on a panel. People are allowed to view the panel for a few seconds. After that, the panel is covered or taken away and they must write down all of the brands that they remember seeing. Results are compared for each variation of the logo.
• Logo Preference. Each variation of the logo is featured on a card. People are given the deck of cards and asked to sort the logos/cards in order of preference. They are then asked to comment on why they ranked each logo variation the way they did.

At BrandForward, we conduct similar research for brand positionings, names, tag lines and messaging. 

© 2015 Brad VanAuken Excerpted from Brand Aid, second edition, available here and here.