Missing logo? What's the world coming to?

A month or so back I was reading Andy Rutledge's site and stumbled upon this article. I felt inclined to Andy's comments on the article at the time, as he was pointing out that, actually, the logo is the least important element on the page.

At the time I didn't really know what to think, but I trusted his judgement and tried to see it from a usability point of view. See, I like the concept of a logo. But needing it as a primary orientative feature of any place, well I wasn't sure about that.

When you go to a bookshop (let's pick Borders), the logo is the most important thing at the shop front - it is telling you where you are. Inside however, the books, music and films take priority. I don't want to see this logo everywhere, it would distract me from browsing, and sometimes buying a book of my choice. The total scenario would go something like this:

• Get a bus into town
• Walk to Borders
• Browse books
• (Pay, and) Leave
  

Simple. How much of my time is taken up by staring at the logo? 3 seconds, at most, as I'm walking to the store. There might be displays that have the Borders branding on them, but typically I'll just shoot downstairs to the technology/art section. At most I'll see 'Borders' 3-4 times whilst in the shop. The most important thing whilst I'm there is buying a book. Obviously.

Let's take a website example. Google have their logo pride of place, top centre of the page. (I don't need to link to Google do I?) Now, because it's the biggest element there, one would assume that it is, in fact, the most important thing on the page. No. People go to Google for their search capabilities, not their logo. Although, it has to be said that Google come up with nice variations on their logo from time to time.

Perhaps not such a good example.

The site in question, Toyota, is missing their logo. However, the site is definitely not missing the Toyota brand (the word is mentioned 13 times on the screenshot). I could probably ask for less Toyota in the news headlines!

In my opinion, saying that the logo is the primary orientative element is ridiculous. If anything, it's what I typed into the address bar. Perhaps there should be text confirming that I am there, but a logo isn't necessary. I don't see a logo for the application window of iTunes on OS X, only the one sitting in the dock (which I hardly look at).

More important is the navigation and content of the page. I care more about that than I do a brand. Content determines brand, not fancy graphics. The reason I visit Andy's site often is because he has very good content and offsite links. I don't go to eye the logo typography (which is, admittedly beautiful).

From a usability perspective, on the web, the logo doesn't add anything. It's only used as a differentiator - and you certainly won't be staring at it all the time you're viewing a page.