After years of working with a logo you never really liked, you finally took the leap. You hired a graphic designer to rebrand your business!
Now you have three options to choose from and you have no idea which one to go with. So you send it to your best friend, your mom, your husband, and post it in a Facebook group for feedback.
I’ve seen it countless times. And I completely understand.
There’s a lot of pressure on you in this scenario.
You’re tasked with the hard work of choosing the best logo… and it’s hard to tell which one is really the best one. Which one is going to make all your business dreams come true.
But asking your best friend for feedback is not the answer. Here’s why:
Your BFF doesn’t know your brand
No matter how close you are or how in the loop you’ve kept her, there’s no way your best friend knows the whole story as well as you do. She might know parts of your brand story, but she probably hasn’t done any research on your ideal client, isn’t sure about your place in the market, and may or may not be familiar with your business goals and vision.
The best your BFF can give you is her personal opinion. She can tell you which colors she likes, which fonts she likes, and which styles she likes. But she can’t tell you whether blue or orange attracts your ideal client. Or whether your brand tone calls for a serif or sans serif font.
Subjective advice is good if your goal is to have a nice-looking logo. But if your goal is to land on an effective logo that communicates what you’re about and draws in all the right people, this kind of feedback isn’t much help.
Your BFF doesn’t know what kind of feedback you’re looking for
You may not be looking for suggestions for a brand new logo, a different font, or different colors. But your best friend doesn’t know that. She may or may not be aware of what stage of the design process you’re in. She hasn’t been a part of the discovery calls and all the emails you’ve exchanged with your designer.
So when you ask her for feedback, she might come up with something totally off base. She might say she doesn’t like any of the options or suggest a color that you and your designer already decided against. She might say this would look really good in one of those trendy hand lettered fonts you’ve been wanting to avoid.
When you ask anyone for feedback, you’re really opening yourself up to any of their suggestions. The crazier ones you’ll be able to brush off. But some will inevitably make a little sense… and that alone could lead to a ton of confusion and second-guessing and doubt. You could be feeling really good about your logo one moment and complete unsure about it after getting feedback.
Your BFF could lead you astray
Without knowing where you’re trying to take your brand, who you want to reach, and who you want to fit in with, your best friend is really just taking guesses with her feedback. And that means there’s a very real risk she could lead you away from the best solution.
In a good partnership, you and your designer will have worked together to get familiar on all the details that will make your logo effective. It’s not just about what you or your designer personally like. It’s about using color, shape, and space to get an idea across in a way that appeals to your ideal client.
Again, by asking someone who is personally invested in you, but doesn’t know your business perfectly well, all you’re going to be able to get is feedback based on personal preferences. And your best friend’s likes and dislikes could differ from the best direction for your brand.
So what’s the solution?
You already know in your gut which logo is the best one. Trust yourself. Trust that you know your brand well enough to make a good decision about graphics.
You’ve put in the work to get clear on your brand story, your ideal client, your place in the market, and your vision and goals. You have all the information you need to make a solid educated decision about your new logo.
And if you’re not sure you know your brand well enough? Download your free Brand Clarity Assessment when you sign up for my newsletter below!
Knowing your brand is really the key to making confident decisions not just about your logo, but about everything in your business. Because when you know your brand, you just know what makes sense for it.