If you've ever looked at a new website design and thought "the logo needs to be bigger," you're not alone. It's one of the most common pieces of feedback designers hear, common enough that it's become an industry joke. But the instinct behind it is worth paying attention to, because it's rarely actually about the logo's size.
Here's what that feeling usually means, and what to ask for instead.
The design doesn't have enough else going for it
If your logo is the one thing on the page you feel good about, of course you want it bigger. That's not a strange reaction; it's a completely reasonable response to a design that isn't giving you much else to hold onto. The fix isn't a bigger logo. It's a stronger design underneath it: better use of color, better photography, better layout, better copy. When the whole page is working, the logo doesn't have to do all the work by itself.
Nothing else on the page feels like your brand
A logo is a visual stand-in for your brand, not the brand itself. When a design leans entirely on the logo to feel "on brand," it's often because nothing else in the design is doing that job: no distinct color palette, no consistent type choices, no photography style or visual pattern that's recognizably yours. This is exactly what a real brand identity is supposed to solve: a consistent visual language across your site and marketing that makes your business recognizable, with or without the logo doing the heavy lifting. The more of that a design has, the less pressure there is on the logo to carry it.
You love your logo, and that's fair
Sometimes this one is simple: you're proud of your logo and want it front and center. That's a reasonable preference, not a design flaw, and a good designer should be able to accommodate it without derailing the rest of the page. It's worth separating "I want my logo more prominent because I like it" from "something about this design feels off"; they call for different conversations.
Sometimes the logo actually is too small
Occasionally the feedback is just correct. If your logo genuinely reads as an afterthought, squeezed into a header with no breathing room, or shrunk down to the point it's hard to read on mobile, it needs more room. This is also a good moment to ask whether the logo itself is working, or whether it's time for an updated identity rather than a bigger version of one that isn't serving you well.
A better question than "make it bigger"
The next time that instinct shows up, try asking instead: "does this page feel like my brand?" If the answer is no, a bigger logo won't fix that; a design with more brand-specific elements will. If the answer is yes and the logo still feels too small, that's useful, specific feedback a designer can actually act on.
Not sure if your site reflects your brand?
If you're looking at your current website and something feels off but you can't quite name it, get in touch. I can take a look and tell you honestly whether the fix is a bigger logo, or something else entirely.