This morning, I decided to run a little experiment. I had the bright idea that from the moment I woke up, I’d note every logo that I interacted with (and immediately recognized) through the course of the day. How many logo designs did I see? I actually don’t know. I stopped counting once I reached about 100 (which by the way, was only about two hours in!) Here’s a quick rundown.
10:12 AM. The morning started a bit late, and my day started when I picked up my iPhone to check the time. Number one. Apple
10:18 AM. I walked into the bathroom to put in my contacts, brush my teeth, and hop in the shower. Let’s add Oral-B, Colgate, Bausch & Lomb, Gillette, Edge, Head & Shoulders, and Ivory to the list. That’s a total of 8.
10:32 AM. Threw on my Sunday finest, which basically consists of sweats and a Denver Broncos hoodie. Add Joe Boxer, Champion, Nike, Reebok, and Denver Broncos. That’s 13, and the day hasn’t even started.
10:35 AM. Time for breakfast, and what better on a lazy Sunday morning than eggs and bacon, right? Step one, open the fridge. Logo overload! To keep it fair, I didn’t count every logo in the fridge, but only the ones that I glanced at, in the course of making breakfast. The list included Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Wesson, Morton Salt, Simply Orange, and a whole bunch more. Total tally, 51. Oh, and let’s not forget to add the appliances in the kitchen –Whirlpool , GE, Kitchen Aid, Calphalon, Oster, Wusthof, Moen, Keurig, Hamilton Beach, and Jenn-Air. Tally’s now up to 61.
10:55 AM. Food’s ready, time to put it on a plate. Were there always a 10 Strawberry Street logo on the bottom of my plates? And what about that very lightly etched “gs” logo on my silverware? Where’d that come from? The mugs too? Ok, now up to 64.
11:14 AM. Breakfast eaten, time to clean up. Opened the cupboard, and once again, logo overload! 409, Clorox, Pledge, Cascade, Palmolive, Scotch-Brite, AAAAARRGGGHHH! Now the total is at 77.
11:33 AM. The leaves are falling here in Charlotte, so some yard work was on my to-do list. I put my shoes on, grabbed my rake leafblower and got to work. Between safety glasses, ear plugs, gloves, an extension cord, and lawn bags, that’s another 12 logos. We’re at 89 and counting.
12:04PM. Yard work, check. I need a drink, which means back to the fridge and back to logo overload. Another 9 logos, which puts the total at 98.
12:07 PM. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. It’s been two hours, I’m already at a hundred logos, and the number’s only going to keep going up
12:15 PM. Hopped on my laptop to hammer through some emails. Oh boy. Started the process with Gmail to Chrome, saw another 28 logos in my Inbox (and I have to add Logoworks too!), so we’re now at 126. And I think it’s time to stop counting. This is exhausting!
A few of the other things I did today: Went to the grocery store, watched some TV, did a bit more work on the house, played some Xbox, grabbed dinner with some friends, and typed up a blog post. Through the course of the rest of the day, I’d estimate I saw another 800 or so logos, which means my daily total is just about a thousand logos.
So all of this begs for a deeper question. If we all interact with so many logo designs throughout a typical day, how on earth can you make sure yours stands out among the crowd? Luckily, it’s a bit easier than it sounds.
First, you don’t have to necessarily stand apart from every other logo out there. You do have to stand out among your peer group though. So, if you’re Hefty, you don’t necessarily need to stand out from Apple. But you do need to stand out from Glad.
Secondly, make your logo memorable by doing right by your customers. Make sure they love you and your business. Of the 1,000 logos I saw today, I can probably only think of two or three that deliver an amazing customer experience (plus Logoworks, of course!).
It sounds complicated, but it really is that simple – get a great logo, make your customers happy, and you’ll really be one in a thousand.
