I’m often asked about our logo.  At conferences, people will walk up and say they love it, or it gives them a sense of good luck and they wear our t-shirts during sporting events.  Someone even has hit three jackpots wearing a Rising t-shirt and they wear it every time they go gambling now.

Just as many people tell me it is ugly or distracting.  At a recent client implementation meeting, someone from our new account was distracted by our logo to the point they could not focus and asked where it came from.

I love the debate either way.  It means they are talking about and thinking about Rising.  In anything that matters in life, it is important to stand out from the crowd.  We did not want to have a standard conservative logo, that everybody liked, but forgot the next day. We wanted it to stand out. In the beginning, the debates and conversations are good fun. Eventually, they just know and see Rising, and think of us when they have needs we can help them solve. This is a good lesson in business and life.

It is also important that your images and symbolism represent something your team can rally around.  We want to be a powerful force for our clients, yet be the soothing part of their day they can count on.  The Rising logo was based on combining the heat and energy of the sun, with the soothing power of the ocean.  The rising wave and the rising sun are shown in a Yin and Yang pose.

Determine what you want your entity to represent.  Don’t be afraid to be true to yourself, even if it does not appeal to all people.  Those that it does appeal to, will appreciate you on a deeper level.