Testing a mark at favicon size before you commit, and what usually breaks.
A logo is judged on a big screen in a presentation and then spends its life at the size of a fingernail, in a browser tab, an app icon or a WhatsApp avatar.
Detail disappears first
Thin strokes vanish, gradients turn to mud, and fine gaps between letters close up. Anything that depends on a subtle inner shape will read as a blob. The test is trivial: export the mark at 16 and 32 pixels, look at it on a phone, and see whether it is still recognisable as yours.
Design a mark, not a lockup
A full horizontal lockup with a wordmark cannot shrink. The identity needs a compact symbol or monogram that carries recognition on its own, sized and spaced deliberately rather than cropped from the main logo at the last minute.
Contrast survives, colour does not
Check the mark in one colour, reversed on dark, and in greyscale. If it only works in the brand gradient it will fail on an embroidered shirt, a stamp, a fax and half the places it ends up. Strong shape contrast is what makes a small logo legible.
Ask for the favicon and app icon as part of the original brief. Retro-fitting them later is how good logos end up with bad small versions.
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