Symbolic logic/ Human culture trusts pictures to convey meanings;

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Aug 21, 2000 | by Keala Murdock

They're in your home. On your street. And in your workplace.

Every day they seep into the back of your mind, sending subliminal messages, whether it's to buy a product or stop at an intersection.

They're logos. And they work because their impact is emotional, intellectual and ingrained in human culture.

For example, Greg Kleinert, vice president/creative director at Muir Agency in Colorado Springs, was flipping through an advertising magazine and came across a full-page ad in red, white and black - a Nazi swastika.

The reaction was immediate and involuntary: He felt anger sweep over him. And then he read the tag line, "Never underestimate the power of advertising."

And don't underestimate the ability of business to capitalize on an emotional reaction.

The science comes in creating a simple design to communicate a company's personality, provide an emotional attachment and create customer loyalty - without words. Think of the Nike swoosh.

Logo product = brand

"A logo is unique in that it has to capture a company at a glance," said Kleinert. "A lot of mistakes are made when people want too much in a logo, instead of boiling it down to the one emotion they want the viewer to take away."

When taking emotional reactions and putting them into a design, the main challenge for advertisers is in making sure the viewer doesn't misinterpret the meaning.

Some clients walk into his office asking for a logo like Nike's, said Kleinert. What they don't realize is that there are years of branding behind it. The symbol represents the substance. Without the product, the brand means nothing.

"The reason the swastika isn't liked in society is because Hitler branded it," Kleinert said. "How you position logos is the other important half of getting a logo's message across."

Interestingly enough, the original swastika, a mirror image of the Nazi version, is an ancient mystic symbol that was used as a religious and decorative emblem. The symbol appears in various cultures - among the Mayans, the Aztec, the Chinese, Asians and American Indians, in Ancient Crete and in the Old Norse and Egyptian cultures.

However, the original meaning of the swastika in these cultures, no matter how positive, was erased from human emotional sensors by Adolf Hitler. Hitler's flipped version draws a negative connotation - even while viewing the original version.

That's why achieving a positive logo is so important for businesses. It can take just one negative association to hinder success.

Especially if you're launching a new business.

Creating an attraction

Kathy Dreiling, co-owner of The Picnic Basket, a Colorado Springs catering company and a Muir client, was faced with that challenge. She feels her company can handle all catering needs, but Dreiling said the name didn't reveal everything the company can do.

So the owners created Cravings, a sister company, to handle larger events. The Picnic Basket sector will handle less formal activities, such as box lunches and company picnics.

In order to inform the public of the company move, Dreiling sought a different logo for Cravings.

"We were trying to achieve a more sophisticated, elegant and contemporary look," she said. "We want the logo to say strength, that we're new and creative, and we can handle anything."

It took a couple of variations, $2,000, and about five months of fine-tuning to perfect the logo.

"I bet we went through 20 adaptations with different colors, fonts and backgrounds. But I like the results," Dreiling said.

"I know the logo is stirring curiosity, and that's worth a million. As long as they're asking questions, I know it'll bring in business."

For a new company like Cravings, the results won't be in until the fiscal year is up; but for both new and long-term companies, it's up to consumers to decide if the product lives up to the packaging.

Trained for communication

The way society has been raised on logos isn't anything new. It's a common thread through the experience of human communication.

"In the Southwest, you see a lot of spiral figures and hunched flute players," said Todd McMahon, staff archaeologist for the Colorado Historical Society's office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.

"These symbols all meant something different at certain time periods and for certain cultures."

The power of logos and symbols has moved unchanged through evolution - from cave walls to Windows desktops - simply because humans are visually reliant on information to help them make choices.

"Rock art goes back thousands and thousands of years to the early existence of man. Humans have this need and ability to communicate in art," McMahon said.

"For example, in Egyptian hieroglyphics, they are a combination of images that have transpired into an alphabetic language - it's critical for humans to express themselves in that manner."

But how do logos work?

In some cases, a logo can draw people to it through emotional, cultural or psychological reactions to certain shapes or symbols.

For example, arrows, sharp angles and forward-slanting lines may connote a fast-moving, cutting-edge company or product.