Few brands reach adulthood with the same face with which they began life. Financial pressure and budget constraints at the start of a brand often do not allow the use of a professional designer. A friend or relative or someone artistic (most often with no skills except art as a subject in school) is given the task of creating a brand (designing a logo). Bad designers, personal taste, and non-designer interference (“I want to show it to my wife/PA and ask her opinion”) also lead to errors along the way.
Uninteresting, rigid and boring shapes, such as squares, circles and impractical long and thin horizontal or vertical formats, are often a problem. The size of the name in relation to other graphic elements and paylines or tagline may be off. Tastes, trends and fashions change, as do your brand elements.
A typeface design in vogue 10 years ago may have since fallen out of favor; one of the dangers of using types that have been overused and therefore tire and pass. A classic type design or, better yet, a type designed for your brand is much better. It’s undated, unique, and gives your brand some insulation from fads.
There’s nothing wrong with correcting and refining your visuals to align with your brand positioning, but do so sparingly. Evolve your brand and position it for tomorrow to avoid unnecessary changes. Subtle changes are not easily noticed, and sometimes a facelift is welcome, while a revolution could cost your brand its life.
Sure, if the brand reflects a dated and dated image, the best time to update it is now. The longer you wait, the more it will cost you, and the more you will speak with a forked tongue. But understand the cost implications.
Things have to be really dire to justify a revolution; like a nuclear power plant that had a rapid reactivity excursion. A revolution is also bloody and expensive because you have to start from the beginning, from scratch. Kill the old brand and create a new brand. That means spending all that money, time, and effort again, and then some more. All of this done while your competitor takes advantage of your self-imposed disadvantage. Do you remember Lenin and Stalin? Be careful, you could be a victim of your own revolution.
If it is not broke, do not fix it. I’ve seen perfectly good brands (logo designs) changed for no good reason or just personal dislikes. This leads to date rape: some savvy marketing executive violating the mark to show their worth and justify their extra benefits. Get a second, third, and fourth opinion from a reputable design specialist before switching; otherwise, change to marketing executive. You could be flushing the baby out with the bathwater.