Fix One Thing: Stop Making the Building Do the Logo’s Job
A picture shows where your library is. A logo shows WHO your library is.
Libraries love putting their buildings in their logos. I understand why. The building may be historic, beloved, or one of the most recognizable places in town. But being meaningful does not automatically make it a useful logo.
In fact, the more architectural detail a library tries to preserve, the less useful the result usually becomes.
A picture shows what something looks like. A logo identifies an organization. Those two jobs are not the same.
A Logo Has to Work Much Harder
A photograph of your building may look perfectly fine at the top of your website. It may also work well in scenarios like a brochure, annual report or social media post. But a logo has to work with much less forgiving conditions, such as:
On a library card
On a mobile screen
In an email signature
On a printed envelope
In black and white
On a sign viewed from across a parking lot
On a pen, tote bag, button, or name badge
A detailed photograph or architectural illustration usually falls apart when it is reduced to the size of a postage stamp. I have seen library logos that include every window, column, tree, stair, and lamppost in front of the building. At website-header size, most of that detail disappears. Many details turn into visual clutter and the image may become little more than an indistinct blob. A logo should become simpler and clearer when viewed at a small size, not harder to understand.
Recognition Is Not the Same as Identification
Library staff sometimes defend a building image by saying, “Everyone recognizes our building.”
Maybe they do. But which everyone?
Longtime residents may recognize it. New residents may not. People who use digital library services but rarely enter the building probably won’t. Visitors from a neighboring community almost certainly won’t.
A person shouldn’t have to recognize the building before the logo makes sense. The logo is supposed to create recognition.
Your Library Is More Than Its Building
There is also a larger problem with using the building as the logo: it defines the library by its real estate.
A public library is not just a physical place. It provides crucial services, many of which can be accessed online. When the building becomes the library’s primary symbol, it quietly suggests that the physical place and what it provides are the same thing.
They are not. The building houses the library. It does not define the full scope what the library actually does.
Your Building Still Has a Job
None of this means you should stop using photographs of your library building. Good building photography can still help people to recognize the location and feel more comfortable before visiting.
Use the building on your website’s location page. Feature it in community stories. Include it in historical materials, reports, or social media posts. Just don’t ask it to be your library’s logo.
A photograph documents a place. A logo identifies an organization. And, your library needs both! It just should not confuse one for the other. Remember: Loving the building is not a design strategy.