Take a look in the mirror. The face you see is your identity. It's how the world recognizes you -- without saying a word.

Your Company Logo works the same way. It provides instant identification.

That's why you should take great care to make sure your Logo works right and looks right every time it is displayed, because many factors can work against it.

These are the things you need to know about Logos:

1.) Make it distinctive - your Logo should absolutely be unique. People should never confused it with anyone else's.

2.) Keep it simple - think of the Nike logo, the Dell logo, the GE logo; they're all simple and strong.

3.) Make sure it looks good whether big or small - one of the biggest mistakes people make is to design a nice logo that looks great when it's 3 inches across, but they forget to test it to see how it looks when reduced in size - which often is necessary in many uses. If your Logo becomes blurry or "fills in" when it's small - say on a business card -- absolutely change it.

4.) Make sure it works in color and black & white - printing in color always costs more than black & white. If your logo HAS to be in 4-colors all the time, that's a no-no.

5.) Use your Logo everywhere - the more places and the more times you can get your Logo in front of the public, the more recognition and awareness you will build for your company.

6.) It's OK to modify it, but do it in small steps - Company Logos do evolve over time - there are books on the subject. This is natural, in particular, for companies that have been in business a long time, like GE. But each change is a small variation on the one before, so it looks the `same' -- just `better.'

So go take a look at your Logo and see if it meets are the criteria above. If not, it's time for your Logo to evolve into something better.