The Un-branding of a Town
In a recent trip to Hilton Head, SC, I noticed a pretty big detail as we drove down the streets of the town. For one, there were a ton of businesses from large commercial retailers to small family owned shops. And two, they were all tucked away behind a thick row of trees and bushes, this was deliberate and by designed. The big thing that stuck out to me was no business had a large stand along sign. All the businesses from grocery stores to restaurants shared a sign and they were updated with logos that appeared in gray or beige. That made me think about the power of name recognition and a strong identity. It’s a great exercise to see how your logo stacks up when its used as one color, but adding it to the mix of a couple other one color logos will really help it stand up on its own. It’s an exercise I plan on adding to my creative process on the next logo design. Here are couple picks of our trip.
