“Mr Rabbit,” our clients ask us, leaning back in leather chairs in our dark, atmospherically smoky office, (don’t worry, it’s just carrot scented candles) “If my company’s name has LTD in it, doesn’t that mean that it has to be in my logo, too?”

“Please,” we reply, leaning forward and folding our paws on our large wooden desk, “Call me White. Mr. Rabbit was my father.”

But here’s the short answer: No. Your company’s logo does not need to have LTD in it.

And that’s not just an optional exclusion, either. From a design perspective, it’s often the better choice.

While putting LTD in a logo isn’t unusual in certain industries, such as in the trades or very traditional sectors like law or accounting, it isn’t regular practice in most fields.

Just think about some of the world’s largest retail brands.

Do McDonald’s, Apple, or Coca-Cola’s logos have LTD in them?

Lettuce save you a hop down the Google rabbit hole. They don’t! Instead, they just feature powerful, bright colour,  geometric dynamism, and eye-catching simplicity.

So if you want your brand to hop like the big guys do, why would your logo do what theirs don’t?

There are a few common reasons why people think their logos need to say LTD in them.

The first is the (often misguided) impression that having this legal suffix in your logo will make your brand seem more professional.

Here’s some paws for thought. Most companies in New Zealand are Limited Liability Companies. But very few of them feature LTD in their logo. Just have a look around next time you’re out at the shops. (And bring us some salad while you’re out there, won’t you?)

You’ll see that most big retailers don’t use LTD in their logo at all. So if you want to play on the same field as them, why not follow their approach?

Other business owners assume that having LTD in their logo is a legal requirement.

But your logo isn’t the same thing as your company’s legal name. It’s just a graphic used to represent your business.

That’s why it can take a shortened form of your company name, the name you trade as, or even just an abstract shape or symbol!

While LTD is part of your company’s full name, (that’s why your mum only uses it when she’s very angry and it’s going to be grounded) this only needs to be spelt out on all legal documentation.

That means that you do have to make sure that any invoices, contracts, tax records, and declarations of war include LTD after your company’s name, but that’s not a requirement for your NZ logo design. It’s part of your marketing efforts, not your legal safeguards.

Your logo is a vital part of your branding. It’s a clear, powerful visual symbol that summarises what your company’s all about. It’s a representation of your key values, your ethos, and the associations you want your customers to have with your brand.

Just think about the sense of prestige you feel when you see the sleek, modern ‘T’ on a Tesla; the aspirational, trendy design conveyed by a silver apple; the primal yearning for nuggets invoked by a pair of golden arches against a red background.

(We wish they had more carrot burgers ourselves, but that’s neither hare nor there.)

A picture’s worth a thousand words. Most logos you see don’t use any at all. Many modern companies simply use abstract, geometric designs or symbols.

(Just look at ours.)

We suggested that having LTD in your logo can actually be counterproductive. Why’s that the case?

As we mentioned, your logo forms an important part of your marketing strategy. You’ll also notice that most of the famous logos we mentioned feature sleek, streamlined, simple imagery, with rarely more than a few colours or shapes.

That’s important.

That’s because most logos will show up on a whole different range of platforms – in a whole different range of sizes.

As your brand’s visual identifier, your logo needs to be consistent, whether it’s a tiny browser favicon a few pixels across or on a massive billboard two metres high.

This means that if your logo features large amounts of text, it will have a complex, cluttered design that can become distorted when shrunk to a small size.

Plus, it won’t stick as well in your clients’ minds. Here’s our bunnies’ rule of paw: You should be able to sketch your logo quickly and easily on the back of a napkin in the time it takes for you to finish off a slice of carrot cake.

Can’t do that? Time to wipe it off, order another slice, and try again.

Here at White Rabbit, our design bunnies are the experts in helping get your brand noticed.

We know what’s what when it comes to great graphic design. With years of experience creating exceptional designs across the print and digital spaces, we can help you come up with a logo that’s sure to set you apart from the competition.

You’ll stand out better than a rabbit’s ears. No LTD required.

Just click the button below to get in touch with us and find out how we can help you.