practice makeover
New Logo Anchors Marketing
The "practice makeover" is in full swing in Dr. Scott Mann's offices, which welcome spring with a brand new logo.
BY SUSAN ABRAMOVITZ, Cincinnati, Ohio

Because changing a logo is a major step for any business, doing so requires considerable thought, research and careful planning. Sometimes a logo works well for a period of time, but companies often outgrow the original design as they grow and change. This is what happened at Dr. Scott Mann's practice, InVision. He had a corporate logo, but it wasn't well suited to the technical demands or the branding direction of the practice's new marketing strategy.

This article will offer some helpful advice on how best to go about inventing or reinventing a practice logo. We'll also show you how we used this advice to update the logo for Dr. Mann's practice.

	The angular mark of Dr. Mann's old logo tends to appeal to men.
	A good logo speaks directly to the target market.

Features of a good logo

A logo serves as the anchor of your image -- the signature of your practice.

It must always appear professional and consistent so that it reassures and attracts existing and prospective patients. It must be visually appealing and distinctive so that it's memorable.

Your logo will appear in many places, so it's critical that you design it for such use. The design must look the same and remain crisp and professional in any size, whether it's applied to a business card, billboard, newspaper ad or Web site. During the creation, it's imperative that the designer works from an exhaustive list of potential applications.

Simple and elegant

A complex logo with intricate detail often loses that detail when used in a smaller size or printed in black and white. Complex designs can also prove expensive and difficult to reproduce. Also, multi-colored logos will add to printing costs, so be sure to explore this angle before choosing a logo with more than two colors.

Logos are emotional

Keep the number of people involved in a logo decision to a minimum. Make sure that they understand the communication objective of your logo and how it will represent your business. Don't try to include every nuance of your company in a logo design. Understand that the primary function of an effective logo is to convey your practice's name and image in a memorable way to your patients and prospects.

A look at the old

Technically, Dr. Mann's old logo was ineffective in large sizes because the thin letters rendered the name difficult to read from a distance. Plus, blurred letters meant to emulate "out of focus," print poorly and sometimes appear as a printing mistake. They are also difficult to read in small type and appear muddy in newspapers.

Lastly, the original InVision logo is an angular mark, which tends to appeal to the male population. Unfortunately, Dr. Mann's target market is comprised primarily of fashion-conscious women. So in developing the new mark, Ideopia paid particular attention to the colors and shape of the letters so the logo would have a wider appeal to women. A good logo speaks directly to the target market.

Focusing on the new

The new logo is distinctive because the colors are unconventional -- not standard, conservative, corporate colors. Now the color scheme will draw attention to Dr. Mann's signs wherever they're posted and they'll also be prominent on the Web, in print or on clinic jackets.

Dr. Mann operates InVision with two partners: Drs. Becky Cook Mann and Jon Gudeman in Salem and Christiansburg, Va. Dr. Mann was chosen as the winner of the Extreme Practice Makeover, sponsored by Haag-Streit USA, Ideopia and Optometric Management magazine.

Ms. Abramovitz is president of Ideopia, an advertising, interactive and brand strategy agency with a special focus on the ophthalmic field. For more on the makeover, visit www.ideopia.com/makeover.asp.

Optometric Management, Issue: May 2005