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Steve Goebel: When and how to change your logo and branding

Guest: Steve Goebel is the award-winning creative director and founder of ToeShark Visual Communication, a marketing and advertising agency in Southern Nevada. He was creative director for Empire BlueCross BlueShield and was senior art director at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Union Bank of Switzerland and Warburg Dillon Read. At Toe Shark, he has produced multiple successful marketing campaigns for organizations such as Nevada Humane Society, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. Steve has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in visual communication and packaging design from Pratt Institute in New York City.

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Main question: What are the signs that it’s time for an organization to look at a new logo or branding?

 

Takeaways:

 

  • If you mission has evolved or changed, or the organization is substantially changing how you fulfill your mission and/or if the feelings about your logo are less than enthusiastic, it may be time to change your logo.

Steve Goebel of Toe Shark preferred squa

  • If you mission has evolved or changed, or the organization is substantially changing how you fulfill your mission and/or if the feelings about your logo are less than enthusiastic, it may be time to change your logo and organizational branding. 

  • When seeking input on new branding, cast a wide net – as wide as your tolerance level – but designate just one person through which all feedback is communicated back to the design team. You want to be sure that input does not derail progress or cause you to end up with a logo that is acceptable to most people, but which nobody loves. (The same can apply to your mission statement – if you water things down too much to account for all possible opinions, you can end up with something bland and uninspiring.)

  • In all of your messaging, be sure that you are aiming your wording and message for the intended audience. The message for the general public using your services or adopting an animal should be different from the message you share with potential donors or sponsors.

  • In your marketing and communications, always be sure to include a call to action.

 

Links:

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Recorded Dec. 17, 2020

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