Logos Should Express, Not Explain
Why Your Logo Should Express, Not Explain
At Rhubarb Media, we believe every brand begins with a story. Your Story. Well Told.
Every lasting identity carries a kind of explanation within it. Not a technical one, but a symbolic one. The shapes, colors, and rhythm of a logo often reflect something deeper about a brand’s history, purpose, or character. They hint at meaning without spelling it out. This kind of explanation belongs to storytelling, not instruction.
When we design a logo, we are not trying to describe what a company makes. We are trying to express what it means. The mark becomes a visual shorthand for the story, a signal that evokes the brand’s essence and emotion. It might draw inspiration from heritage, function, or vision, but it does not attempt to explain the mechanics of the product itself.
This is the heart of story-based brand building. A strong brand communicates through layers of meaning. Its identity gives shape to belief and memory, not a diagram of its offering. The story exists just beneath the surface of the form, inviting people to feel what the brand represents rather than simply see what it does.
Beyond the Product
Every company begins with something tangible: a product, a service, or an invention. These define what a company does, and that story belongs to marketing. Marketing explains through words, imagery, and campaigns. It creates clarity and context.
Branding does something different. It gives the story its emotional signal. Through its mark, color, and tone, the brand allows people to sense what the company stands for without ever saying it outright.
When a logo tries to describe its product, it becomes tied to a single moment in time. When it reflects an idea or feeling, it becomes timeless.
Apple’s apple is not about computers. It represents curiosity and creativity.
Nike’s swoosh is not about shoes. It conveys motion and determination.
Starbucks’ siren is not about coffee. It evokes ritual, connection, and warmth.
Walter Landor once said, “Products are made in a factory, but brands are created in the mind.” A logo lives in that space, where design becomes memory and memory becomes meaning.
The Power of Symbolism
Strong branding works through symbolism. A well-designed mark does not tell the story outright; it opens a door to it.
Paul Rand wrote, “A logo derives meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around.” A logo gains its strength from what it represents and how it is lived out.
The designer’s work is to distill, not to describe. The goal is to create a form that carries the spirit of the brand in a way that feels inevitable. When this happens, a logo stops being an image and becomes an emblem of belief.
Marketing Explains, Branding Connects
Marketing and branding serve the same purpose but in different ways. Marketing explains how something works and why it matters. Branding gives those facts a heartbeat.
If marketing speaks with clarity, branding speaks with feeling. The logo becomes a visual cue that connects both voices.
Marty Neumeier once wrote, “People don’t fall in love with products; they fall in love with stories, symbols, and meaning.” That is what a logo does when it is done well. It holds the meaning that marketing later puts into words.
Meaning Over Mechanics
Milton Glaser said, “The function of art is to make the invisible visible.” That idea sits at the center of good identity design. The logo’s purpose is to make the invisible values of a company visible through shape, rhythm, and proportion.
Mechanics may change, but meaning endures. A thoughtful identity can hold that meaning for generations, becoming a familiar mark of trust and belonging.
A logo should not try to show everything a company does. It should signal the larger story that people can feel. Marketing explains the product or service. Branding turns that explanation into something people care about.
When clarity in message meets emotion in identity, a company gains more than recognition. It earns belief.
At Rhubarb Media, this is what Your Story. Well Told. truly means. Design becomes more than an image. It becomes the story’s flag, carrying memory, purpose, and meaning wherever it goes.
Designer’s Notes: The Thinkers Behind the Quotes
Walter Landor
Founder of Landor Associates, one of the most influential brand agencies in history. Landor transformed how companies think about branding, moving it from packaging and production to emotion and perception. His agency built identities for Coca-Cola, Levi’s, FedEx, and BMW.
Paul Rand
A pioneer of modern corporate identity who created the logos for IBM, UPS, ABC, and NeXT. Rand proved that design could be both simple and intelligent, that a mark could be timeless if built on concept rather than style.
Marty Neumeier
Author of The Brand Gap and Zag, and one of the first to connect design thinking directly to business strategy. His work reframed branding as the act of creating meaning rather than simply creating visuals. His ideas guide creative teams at Apple, Google, and Adobe.
Milton Glaser
Designer of I ♥ NY and co-founder of New York Magazine. Glaser believed that design should reveal the unseen—ideas, values, and emotions that words alone cannot express. His philosophy gave design its human depth.
Together, these thinkers shaped the foundation of modern branding. Each believed that a brand’s greatest strength lies not in what it shows, but in what it allows people to feel.
