Designing a logo appears to be a simple part of creating your brand. But the right logo is what people remember (or don’t remember) or laugh at or simply don’t give a second thought to. This may sound like overdoing it, but every aspect of your brand needs to be well-thought-out and part of the bigger picture.
Many famous logos incorporate founding elements of their company into the images or words (e.g. Porsche uses a coat of arms in its logo. Stuttgart was the capital of the Free People’s State of Wurttemberg. And Stuttgart, where Porsche was founded began as a horse farm).
One of the most critical parts of the branding process is the logo. But with so many choices, how do you go about creating your design? First, you contact the experts, then you decide what you want to represent your brand. How powerful is up to you. But different styles portray different meanings. Let’s get started by looking at four different types of logos.
Typographic
A typographic logo is all about the letters and words, hence the very definition of the word typography which is to arrange type. But typography is most definitely an art. It involves more than simply typing out your company’s name and switching between the Microsoft Word font options.
A well-designed typographic logo takes mere letters and turns them into art. Aesthetics is critical in typography. It melds form and function together. It is also important to view typography as more than merely an array of fonts. If the process only required a change of font, the uniqueness of the design would be lost. Many typographic logos tend to incorporate a combination of types.
Icon
To give you an immediate visual, some examples of icon logos include Apple, Twitter, Nike, Pepsi, Target, BP, Mercedes, and Shell. Think of when you see these images, you don’t need the letter name of the company to know who is being represented. Icons are also known as symbols.
Using a symbol allows a company to take a common object and associate their brand with it. This way, the object itself is already known to the public. Making a few changes to the object to make it unique creates the perfect icon logo.
A lot of brands choose to have an icon and a name logo, and each is used for different marketing purposes. The companies mentioned above have earned decades of attention, thus earning the ability to morph their brand icon into a solo image design.
But the usefulness of an icon nonetheless holds true: consumers take in and comprehend pictures a lot faster than words or phrases. It is like, “Boom!” there is your company, right in their face. Another benefit is the lack of need for translation. A picture is a picture in any language.
Combination
The logo designs come together in a combination style. Think of Amazon, NBC, or Macy’s. All of these use typography AND an icon or symbol to represent their brand. Consider how unique these designs are: if you were to remove the letters, but keep the shape, it is likely that everyone could still figure out what company it is.
The benefit of the combination style is it uses both visual elements and the written word to appeal to every viewer of the logo. This design also allows the icon to be broken off and used as well as the words to be used by themselves.
Lettermark
Lettermark’s are to logos what icons are for pictures. Companies use lettermarks to express their brand in almost any image that is made of letters. Consider companies that use only a few letters to express their brand: McDonald’s, IBM, Google, Motorola, IKEA, and others.
Lettermarks exclusively use letters or typography. They use initials or the name of the company as the logo itself. Longer company names benefit from the lettermark because it shortens the length. Also, a common company name can be expressed more uniquely and hence differentiated from others. The lettermark style also often takes part of the original logo and places the focus on just that first letter, or rearranges the name in a unique fashion.
Does Your Logo Need a Lift? Ready to Make a Strong First Impression?
Choosing a logo takes time. Consider the needs of your logo: Do you need a certain size or the ability to put it on products, etc.? Maybe you need more consistency across platforms or mediums? Proactive or reactive, these logo design considerations will help you figure out the direction to go. And for the rest of the solution:
Let us implement our ROI maximizing process, where we: Analyze, Define, Design, and Activate your perfect custom design. We offer a variety of creative services to complement, enhance, and promote your overall brand and brand message. If you’re ready to stand out from the competition, contact us today!
