What’s in a logo ?

Logo design has certainly moved on over the past few years. A logo used to be a crest like image, with tiny details that you can barely see when printed on stationery or viewing from far away. Some of the most successful brands around the world have iconic logos, and more so an iconic icon. You see a yellow ‘M’ and you know its McDonalds, an apple (with a bite out of it) you know as Apple, a tick.. and you know it’s Nike.

A modern day logo should be simple, memorable, versatile and appropriate.

Here are some different types of logo explained

Lettermarks

These are acronyms. If your business has a few words to its name, or perhaps you are in partnership with another person or business, you may wish to use a lettermark to give your brand a modern identity. Think of H&M, IBM and VAIO. These have all adopted the acronym of their full business name and implemented it as a memorable logo.

Wordmark

Similar to this is where a logo is a (sometimes) colourful but basically is a memorable display of a businesses full name. Think of Google, Disney or Virgin. These are all memorable and are instantly recognisable without even reading them.

Icon

Here you have an identifiable image that can be associated with your business. A brilliant example of this is Twitter, which has adopted a bird which represents the ‘tweets’ that people send on its social platform. Apple, with its.. well apple. Shell with its shell. These are instantly recognisable and these businesses now don’t even present their name with the icon.

The above three types of logo are versatile since they can be recognised from distance and are easily transferable on small scale print items or large format. Colour can be adapted depending on what backdrop they have. Businesses will often have a dark & light version of their logo.

Mascot

You may also consider a mascot on your logo. Perhaps the Colonel with KFC or the Michelin man. These brands are instantly recognisable by their mascot and they have adopted it into their logo.

Emblem

Less common these days, but perhaps one of the most recognisable examples of an emblem logo today is Starbucks, or Harley Davidson. These are usually very historic traditional emblems that have been integrated into a business for many years. Not many businesses will adopt this style of logo today.

Combination

Finally, there is no logo-law (!) and you may find businesses adopt a combination of these styles, and break them up depending on which format they are advertising. A business brand evolves and so will its logo with it. You should always be mindful of your businesses public appearance and how it can be improved.