By Amari, Founder, Luxbranding
Why the knot will not set you apart
Stafford Borough Council's civic history tells how the knot became the town's. The Dukes of Buckingham, of the Stafford family, used the knot of rope as a badge and gave it to their retainers and servants as a livery and a means of recognition. The townspeople, as their liegemen, used it too, until it was included in the borough's coat of arms, and it still appears on the arms of Stafford Borough after the 1974 reorganisation.
In other words, the knot was a logo long before the word existed, and it did its job: it told people which household you belonged to. For a business today, that is the problem. A knot in your logo says Stafford first, and so does every other logo that borrows it. We draw the main mark from your business instead. If customers should know you are local, say so in words, in a short descriptor line, which can change as you grow; a borrowed knot cannot.
The same goes for the county as a whole. If you work across Staffordshire, from Stafford and Stone to Lichfield, leave place names out of the main mark so it stays right when you take on work further afield.
Read next: Check whether a business name is free
House styles adjusted to the street
Stafford Borough Council's shopfronts and advertisements guidance (adopted April 2018) expects brands to fit the building. Retailers will be required to modify their corporate or standard house styles where they are not compatible with the character of the building or its context, and garish and fluorescent colours are very unlikely to be approved, nor colours that clash with the signage next door. Check the current version with the council before you order a sign.
So a fluorescent green or a hot pink may suit your website and fail on your shopfront. We choose palettes with that in mind: a main colour that still looks like you when it is deepened for a sign, and a single-colour version of the logo, included with every order, for the times only one colour will do.
Read next: What logo colours say to customers
Solid letters and one sign
The guidance allows no more than one projecting or hanging sign per building, says projecting box signs are not considered appropriate on listed buildings or in conservation areas, and, in a conservation area, prefers timber and metal to modern shiny finishes such as acrylic and applied vinyl. Individual timber or metal lettering is often appropriate, and open neon tubing and intermittent illumination should be avoided.
Each of those points asks the same of a logo: solid letters that can be cut from timber or metal, and an icon strong enough to carry a hanging sign on its own. A mark drawn as a fine neon outline has nothing to fall back on there. Every logo we deliver includes an icon-only layout and vector files a signmaker can cut from. See everything included in Logo Design.
Read next: Shopfront signage design
Identities from our studio
Frequently asked questions
Should my logo use the Staffordshire knot? +
Only if the knot is genuinely part of your story, and even then we would make it your own. The knot is on the borough's coat of arms, so it says Stafford rather than your business. If local matters, say Stafford or Staffordshire in a small descriptor line instead.
Can my sign be neon? +
Stafford Borough Council's guidance says open neon tubing should be avoided in its shopfront areas, and prefers individual timber or metal letters. We draw solid letterforms that can be cut and lit from outside, which suits that guidance and still reads well online.
Will my brand colour be accepted on a Stafford shopfront? +
Most colours can work, but the guidance says garish and fluorescent colours are very unlikely to be approved and that house styles may need to be adjusted. We make sure your logo works in a deeper shade and in a single colour, so the sign can follow the guidance without looking like a different business.
How many hanging signs can I have? +
The guidance says no more than one projecting or hanging sign per building, with an exception for a shop with two street frontages. That one sign usually carries the icon alone, which is why every logo we design includes an icon-only layout.
Do you work with businesses across Staffordshire? +
Yes, online, wherever you are in the county. Shopfront guidance differs by council: Stafford Borough's covers Stafford and Stone, while Cannock, Burton and Lichfield each sit under a different council. Tell us your street in the brief and we will make sure the logo suits the sign it will go on.
Logo design in other towns and cities: Lichfield · Manchester · Bromsgrove
Amari · Founder, Luxbranding
Founder of Luxbranding, a UK online creative agency since 2019. Specialising in brand identity, web design, SEO, and digital marketing for clients in the UK and internationally.
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