The short answer
Blurry on a phone, unreadable as a small icon, or impossible to print in one colour. How to tell whether yours needs a tidy-up or a fresh start.
Most logos weren't designed for how they're used now. A lot of small-business logos were made for a sign above the door or a printed letterhead, then squeezed onto phones, social profiles and browser tabs years later. Some cope. Some quietly make the business look smaller or older than it is. Here are the five signs we look for, and what to do about each.
1. It's unreadable when it's small
Look at your logo as a profile picture on Instagram or WhatsApp, or as the tiny icon in a browser tab. That's where most people see it most often now. If the name turns into a grey smudge, or the detail disappears, the logo is doing nothing for you in those places.
The fix is often not a new logo but a second version: a simple icon or monogram that works at small sizes, used alongside the full logo. Most well-designed brands have both.
2. It only works in full colour
Plenty of places can't print your gradient: a rubber stamp, embroidery on a uniform, a receipt printer, a one-colour screen print on a tote bag, a laser-cut sign. If your logo relies on several colours or shading to make sense, those jobs either look wrong or cost more.
A good test: print it in plain black on white. If it still reads as your logo, you're fine. If it turns into a blob, it needs simplifying.
3. You have several versions and none of them match
This one creeps up on businesses. The sign has one version, the website another, the business cards a third that someone "tidied up" in 2019. The colours are slightly different on each. Customers notice, even if they can't say what's wrong: it just feels less put together.
The fix is usually cheap. Pick the best version, get it redrawn cleanly, and write down the exact colours and fonts so everyone uses the same files from now on.
4. It looks like everyone else in your trade
Every industry has its clichés: the house with a roof line for builders, the tooth for dentists, the leaf for anything natural, the coffee bean for cafés. There's nothing wrong with them as ideas, but if your logo could belong to any of your competitors, it isn't helping anyone remember you.
This is the one sign where a fresh start often makes sense, especially if you're investing in a new website or signage anyway.
5. It no longer fits what you do
Businesses change. A bakery becomes a café. A one-person freelancer becomes a small agency. A shop that sold one thing now sells ten. If your logo still describes the business you were five years ago, like a single product drawn into it or a playful style for a now-serious service, it's working against where you're going.
Tidy-up or fresh start?
Not every problem needs a new logo. Here's how we'd usually judge it.
- Signs 1, 2 and 3 on their own usually need a tidy-up: redraw it cleanly, simplify it a little, make a small icon version and a one-colour version, and fix the colours.
- Signs 4 and 5 usually need a fresh start, because the idea itself is the issue.
- If people already recognise your logo, lean towards a tidy-up. Recognition takes years to build.
- If you're about to spend money on signs, vans or a new website, sort the logo first, because changing it afterwards means paying twice.
The order matters here. We explain why in do I need a logo before a website?.
What a tidy-up involves
A tidy-up keeps the idea and the recognition you've built, and fixes how it's drawn and used. It usually means:
- Redrawing the logo cleanly as a vector file, so it's sharp at any size.
- Simplifying details that disappear when small: thin lines, tiny text, fine gradients.
- Making a compact version, often an icon or monogram, for profile pictures and browser tabs.
- Making one-colour versions in black and in white.
- Fixing the exact colours and fonts, and writing them down.
Done well, most customers won't consciously notice the change. They'll just find the business looks a little sharper everywhere.
What a fresh start involves
A new logo starts with questions, not sketches: who you serve now, how you want to be seen, what your competitors look like. Then come a few different directions, one chosen and refined, and the full set of files. The bigger job comes after: rolling it out. List every place the old logo lives (sign, website, social profiles, invoices, packaging, uniforms, vehicles) and plan the order you'll change them in, starting with the cheapest and most visible, which is usually online.
A five-minute logo check
- Look at it as a profile picture on your phone. Can you read it?
- Print it in black only. Does it still work?
- Line up your sign, website, cards and social profiles. Do they all match?
- Search for businesses like yours nearby. Does yours stand out from their logos?
- Describe your business today in one sentence. Does the logo fit that sentence?
Two or more "no" answers mean it's worth looking at properly. Our logo design service covers both a tidy-up of an existing logo and a new one, with every file you'll need, and you'll know on a free call which of the two makes sense.
