This is a question that often worries business owners when they are planning to design a logo for their brand or are tweaking an old one. This question may be answered better by your legal advisors or experts on copyright and intellectual property rights aka lawyers.
The opinion on inclusion of LLC in the logo is wildly divided. There are equally passionate and logical opinions on both sides.
As per some lawyers, as an element of an organization’s entity formation, you are required to include the LLC in all your forward-facing client communication. This also includes any form of marketing communication.
However, it is not mandatory to add it to your logo. The idea is to include it in the overall communication that is being sent out. For the sake of convenience though, it may be a good idea to include it in the logo, so that you do not have to assign additional space for that information. This becomes particularly important when there is limited space to play around with.
However, there is a whole different school of thought which advises against adding ‘LLC’ into the business logo. In fact, most of the big brands like Apple, Target, Ferrari etc. do not put it up next to their logos.
Adding the company’s corporate designation next to the logo can make the overall design look unprofessional and cluttered. Unless your brand name is a household name, a cluttered logo may put a question mark on the authenticity of your brand.
However, should you choose not to include it in your logo, make sure that it is included in the business title for any legal documentation or correspondence with the customers or other stakeholders. The business card and any marketing materials should also have the full name of the entity clearly displayed on it.