This is a short story about the importance of a logo on the branding of your new product.
The most important thing about your bag idea is “what is it?”, “what is special about it?” and “why should anybody buy it?”.
So let’s say you have a clever bag idea – you have spotted a great market opportunity and you are sure your idea is an absolute winner! This is a great start.
So with a great idea idea we can spend time on working with you to get the bag design right – from the shape, to the form, to the function and the styling of the bag.
But it’s very easy to forget about the logo and think you can come up with that later….
Well, let us say this – the logo is more than just a ”stick on” thing that you add at the end of the process– it should be the “visual signature of the emotional values and meaning“ of your brand.
In designing your bag we need to be able to integrate the meaning of your brand into the very fibre of your bag design, and this means the logo must be ‘on message’ and not just a vanity item.
That sounds fancy – but lets put this in plain practical language ….
The logo needs to;
- Mood. Capture the mood, feeling and meaning of your brand. So is your brand and product targeting pet lovers, parents, travellers, sports fans or even style hounds? The logo needs to instantly encapsulate a “look” that your customer will resonate with.
- Distinctive. It needs to be highly visually distinctive – that does not mean whacky – it means you should see it once and be able to remember it. So if your logo is a typeface it needs to be a distinctive typeface with it’s own quirks and memorable details, and ideally every typeface logo also comes with a motif, that can be used on it’s own as well.
- Practical. The logo needs to be easy to reproducible onto a textile product, with printing & embroidery. But also needs to be able to be made in metal and plastics for the zip pullers and leather or plastic parts on the bag. …So avoid sharp, pointy fine details, avoid ‘shaded’ designs and anything with too many colours in it.
We often get given logo’s by customers that have been designed by the owner themselves – or even skilled “graphic artists” – but these are very often very un-suitable for a textile product. A designer used to designing for media ( e.g. digital media, video, the printed page) may not understand the technical restrictions of textile products. It needs to work on both!
The best way to approach your logo is to appreciate it is all part of your “emotional brand identity” which is more than just a bit of text with a motif or symbol next too it. Each element must instantly say something relevant and interesting to your customer.
Investment.
Your Brand ID is a long term investment, it needs to capture what your brand will mean to your customers not just on the day of launch but also in 5 years – so let’s get it right from the start – let’s not twist and turn after you get conflicting feedback from customers in the future. So be prepared to spend some money on the ‘on bag branding’ just as you would be prepared to spend on your web site.
How the logo works on your bag.
Let us give you a good example of why the logo in itself is a key element in the bag design…
On each bag you will most likely want zip pullers and a badge for instance. This is what we call the “on bag branding” or bag “furniture”.
Now, we can just go and buy any old zip puller for you and just embroider a logo and put it on a patch on your bag. Easy… – but how distinctive is that?
No…, what we want to do is encourage you to let us create very distinctive “on bag” branding elements that lift and give ‘finish’ and ‘polish’ to your bag. Remember – you only get one chance to make a good impression.
So we need to make sure the detailing on your bags gives the customer the feeling your brand is special – from a tactile zip puller featuring your logo or motif, to a badge, to extra details like tensioners, handles and labelling that capture your brands message.
We need to consider what materials we are making your trims in – they might be made of polished leather, or matt nickel metal, or colourful silicone, brass or even polished gold. Whatever the parts are made of this will convey the feel, look and utility of your brand.
So, if you come to us to design your bags, you will find we are keen to help you have a fantastic bag design and also create a strong “visual signature” through ‘on bag branding’ that will appeal to your target customer.
Example 1.
Our customer already had a logo ‘Kulstof’ – but they did not have any ‘on bag’ branding elements ready for the bag design we created for them.
The brand values are international, engineered and multi-functional travel equipment.
So we developed ‘concepts of ideas’ for how their logo could be developed into a zip puller and a badge that had a leaning to an ‘engineered’ and mechanical look, and we also developed options for a more ‘activ’ look as the bags were for a very busy active lifestyle.
The customer then chose the ideas they liked most and we then developed the badge and zip puller design for them, and once they were happy with the results we created the specifications and arranged the manufacture of the badge and zip puller.
Here are examples of the work we did.
Example 2:
Imagine an entrepreneur customer has a great idea for a premium range of Gym bags. They have a logo already – and a name that they like but they have not test marketed the logo.
So lets check how that brand name is pronounced in different countries, and lets check the logo is really distinctive? Or does it just look like a word typed in Microsoft Word?
And have you got a motif? Ideally, every logo needs a motif as well. ( Think Nike’s ‘Tick and Levi’s ‘red tag’ and Apple’s ‘Apple with a bite out of it’ – you can see the motif or symbol becomes as important as the Text part of the logo over time).
When the name of the new brand has been validated lets check that the logo is easy to remember? Would a man on a galloping horse remember it?!
And from a bag point of view – can it be made in metal as well as in coloured plastics for instance? How is the logo going to work on a zip puller, a badge, the loop hook around a handle? How will it work on the lining of the bag and is it going to be too fine to read and can you remember it if you see it on a bag in a small picture on-line?
As you can see there are a lot of things to consider.
How we can help you with your logo and branding.
So if you’d like our help – show us what logo ideas you have got already and let us explain what we can do to create a strong visual mark and signature that can be used on your bags as well as on your web site. Lets start as we mean to go on and make your bags distinctive with excellent ‘on bag branding’ from the start!
Free logo review:
If you have a Logo for a textile product that you’d like feedback on – just get in touch and we will offer you a free objective review about your logo, the brand name and if we think we can improve it – and we will tell you how much it would cost.
To make an appointment for a free telephone conversation about your logo and branding plans, please email , or WhatsApp.