Therapist Website Mistake: Making the Logo Bigger

Huge logos are a huge mistake on psychotherapy websites. Whether you have a logo that is complex or simple, graphic or text only, or colorful or monochromatic, your logo should not be too big.

In fact, it’s no secret among marketers that bigger logos make you smaller and among designers that many clients are motivated to want a bigger logo even if they don’t recommend it.

So what’s the deal? Why are so many web design clients interested in having a bigger logo while marketing experts and designers fight to keep logos smaller?

In this article, I’ll explore common reasons we may think that logos should be bigger and the benefits of having a small logo.

Why We Think Logos Should Be Bigger When They Shouldn’t Be

Let’s examine this mistake in terms of common reasons we might believe logos should be bigger:

• “It helps people remember me.” First, let’s clarify that your logo is not your brand. If people visit your website and all you want them to remember is a flower shaped graphic, than you are not branding yourself correctly.Your brand is the feeling that people get from interactions with your marketing. Done correctly, people will remember things like your generosity, credibility, professionalism, and kindness and not just your logo.
• “The logo’s details will be lost if you make it small.” So sorry to break it to you but you have a bad logo. One of the first rules of logo design is that a logo should work at any size. In other words, size should not be required for your logo to have impact, feeling, or message.If you can’t make your logo small than you may want to consider getting a new one.
• “It was expensive.” If you invested in a graphic design package to develop your branding like your logo, business cards, and brochures, congratulations! And thanks for taking your visual presentation seriously enough to invest in visual design solutions. Great job.However, just because something was a big investment for you doesn’t mean it needs to be the biggest thing on every page of your website.
• “Another therapy website has a big logo and it looked cool.” It’s so hard sometimes not to get influenced by what our peers are doing but it’s worthwhile to resist, especially if what our peers are doing are online marketing mistakes. Things that look “cool” or “pretty” aren’t necessarily what will be effective.With website design, you have to consider what will work in the context. It’s not just a logo floating in space. It’s a logo that will take attention and space away from other, possibly more important things that also have to be on the same page.

Benefits of a Small Logo

A small logo means appropriately sized within the context of the website design. Instead of thinking in terms of so many units tall and so many units wide, think about relativity. A correctly sized logo shouldn’t be larger, or more attention grabbing, than more important elements on the page.

You can determine what is important on your website by doing website strategy with your website designer by sharing  information about who your ideal client is, what solutions you are offering to serve them, and how your website can be a tool for getting those clients to seize your solutions.

That said, here are some clear benefits to having a smaller, rather than larger, logo. These benefits hold true no matter what your website strategy will be:

• The client comes first. Website visitors are on your website because they are doing research to ease their pain. Your bridge in a circle graphic does not solve, “I’m so depressed I can’t get out of bed and haven’t showered in a week” A huge logo says, “Look at me, I’m important” and a small logo says, “I’m here when you need me.” As a psychotherapist, you need to be the latter.
• You have a more gentle presence. A smaller logo puts the client first and it also demands less of their attention – things that are bigger grab our attention more. Online, bigger things can come across as shouty. JUST LIKE THIS LOOKS LIKE I’M YELLING, a big logo will also come across as raising your voice. Go with a smaller, more gentle approach.
• Leaves more space for conversion (aka: the website elements that get you clients). You’re not selling your logo, you’re selling psychotherapy services. A logo that is smaller will take up less space meaning more space for delivering the information around your services, including an awesome CTA or marketing with helping instead of selling.

Don’t Make The Mistake Of Having a Huge Logo

Your logo, no matter what it looks like, is important to your online identity. How prevalently it’s used, where it’s placed, and also it’s relative size to other elements will also speak to who you are as a practice.

Are you loud and shouting? Are you client centered? Are you interested in showing off the money you invested in the logo? Are you interested in answering questions about how you can help?

It’s easy to get caught up in trends or what we think looks cool but keeping in mind our website strategy can keep us on track towards a website that is effective in addition to looking cool.

What do you think? Does this psychotherapy website mistake apply to your website? Is your logo taking up a lot of space? Or is it more understated?

I would love to hear from you and what you think. Reach out to me or tweet me anytime. I would love to hear from you.